MOSCOW

Russia on Friday announced partial restrictions on access to Facebook.

In a written statement, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) accused the social media platform of imposing restrictions on various Russian news sites.

The statement noted an application had been made to the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, saying it decided to impose a partial restriction on access to Facebook.

Russia had also imposed access restrictions on Twitter in March 2021.

Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine entered its second day on Friday, with the latest reports indicating that Russian troops were heading toward the capital Kyiv from several directions.

Putin had ordered the military intervention on Thursday, just days after recognizing two separatist-held enclaves in eastern Ukraine.

He claimed that Moscow had no plan to occupy the neighboring country, but wanted to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to install a puppet government and said Ukrainians will defend their country against Russian aggression.

Tensions started escalating late last year when Ukraine, the US and its allies accused Russia of amassing nearly 150,000 troops on the border with Ukraine.

They claimed Russia was preparing to invade its western neighbor, allegations consistently rejected by Moscow.