Putin announced attacks against Ukraine on Thursday in the same suit as his Monday speech, prompting speculation his war declaration was pre-taped

• Putin's attire during his war declaration suggests his speech may have been pre-taped.
• Both a Monday and a Thursday video show the Russian president wearing the same attire.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's attire during his Thursday war declaration suggests his speech may have been pre-taped.

Putin on Thursday said he decided to launch a "special military action" against Ukraine, in a video that aired early Thursday morning in Russia.

But during a televised address on Monday, Putin appeared to wear the same outfit as he denounced Ukraine's sovereignty, argued that Ukraine was a creation of the Soviet Union, and announced military intervention in eastern Ukraine.

Both videos were filmed with Putin apparently sitting in the same spot, at the same table, wearing the same outfit: A black blazer with a white dress shirt and a maroon tie.

The similar attire and location prompted speculation that the declaration of a military assault against Ukraine was taped earlier.

Some analysts thought they found proof the address was pre-taped, citing metadata from an official video.

However, Aric Toler, an analyst with the publication Bellingcat, said this was based on data from a different video, and that the Kremlin video's data showed a creation date of February 24, leaving it unclear when the video was filmed.

Other elements of Russia's actions on Ukraine have been scrutinized for apparent discrepancies in their timings. Documents from separatist leaders in Luhansk and Donetsk requesting aid from Russia, made public on February 23, bore signatures from the day before.

The Kremlin also admitted that a dramatic Security Council meeting in Moscow on Februayr 23, on deciding whether to recognise the separatist regions as independent states, had been recorded a full five hours before it was broadcast.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's ambassador to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya, delivered a searing response to Putin's action at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council late on Wednesday night.

"About 48 minutes ago, your president declared war on Ukraine," Kyslytsya said to Russia's UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya.

Hours after Putin's declaration on Thursday, Ukrainian officials said that the country was being targeted by airstrikes.