Russian President Vladimir Putin put his nuclear forces on increased alert on Sunday in an unprecedented escalation of tensions with the West. Russia’s massive conventional military assault on Ukraine entered its fourth day with fighting in the streets of the country’s second-largest city. Here are the things to know about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the security crisis in Eastern Europe: RUSSIA PUTS NUCLEAR FORCES ON ALERT In a shocking move that immediately unearthed fears many thought permanently buried from the Cold War, Putin ordered Russian nuclear weapons prepared for increased readiness to launch, ratcheting up tensions with Europe and the United States over the conflict that is dangerously poised to expand beyond the former frontiers of the defunct Soviet Union. The Russian president told his defense minister and the chief of the military’s General Staff to put the nuclear deterrent forces in “special regime of combat duty.” He said that leading NATO powers had made “aggressive statements” toward Russia in addition to stiff economic sanctions and cutting leading Russian banks from the SWIFT banking system. RUSSIA AND UKRAINE TO HOLD TALKS After rejecting Putin’s offer to meet in the Belarusian city of Homel on the grounds that Belarus was facilitating the Russian assault, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to send a Ukrainian delegation to meet with Russian counterparts at an unspecified time and location on the Belarusian border. The announcement comes hours after Russia announced that its delegation had flown to Belarus to await talks. Ukrainian officials initially rejected the move, saying any talks should take place elsewhere than Belarus, a country that has allowed Russia to use its territory as a staging ground for the invasion of Ukraine. Zelenskyy, who has refused to abandon the Ukranian capital of Kyiv, named Warsaw, Bratislava, Istanbul, Budapest or Baku as alternative venues for talks, before accepting the Belarus border. The Kremlin added later that Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had offered to help broker an end to fighting in a call with Putin. It didn’t say whether the Russian leader accepted. FIGHTING SPREADS IN UKRAINE Attempting to lay siege to Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, Russian forces focused on cutting off the country’s southern coast and isolating it from the sea, while also probing the inner defenses of Kharkiv, a Ukrainian city close to the Russian border. Ukrainians awoke Sunday to street fighting in the northeastern city of 1.4 million located only 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) south of the border with Russia. Regional authorities administration said that Ukrainian forces had engaged Russian troops inside the city and asked civilians not to leave their homes. The immediate fate of the Russian advance was uncertain, but with Ukrainians volunteering en masse to fight back alongside regular army units, it seemed that the city’s defenses offered stiff resistance. Having already ordered men between 18-60 years old not to leave the country, Ukrainian officials said Sunday that they were releasing prisoners with military experience who want to take up arms for their country. The ground attack came after Russians blew up a gas pipeline in Kharkiv, according to Ukrainian officials who ordered residents to cover their windows with a damp cloth given the “environmental catastrophe” it posed. Britain’s defense ministry said while overnight skirmishing in Kyiv had been less intense than on Friday night, Russian […]

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