This is the moment police manhandled an elderly woman protesting in Russia against the attack on Ukraine.

Video taken on February 24 evening in Saint Petersburg – Russia’s second-largest city – shows police in riot gear carrying the hapless protester from the ground and carting her off amid a sea of onlookers.

Another clip shows how officers yanked around a female protester by the hood of her jacket before shoving away an older woman who was caught in the middle of the chaos.

Independent Russian human rights monitor OVD-Info said around 340 people were arrested in Saint Petersburg. It said at least 1,391 protesters have been detained as protests denouncing the invasion of Ukraine erupted across 51 cities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine’s Donbas region. He said in a public address on Thursday: ‘We decided to launch a special military action aimed at demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine.’

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pleaded for peace, but added that Ukraine will defend itself from any invasion attempts. He said: ‘If they attack, if they try to take our county – our freedom, our lives, the lives of our children – we will be defending ourselves.’

Ukraine said it had killed ‘around 50 Russian occupiers’ while the large-scale attack left at least 137 civilians and soldiers dead, and 316 more injured.