In the face of a bombardment of Western retaliation for his war on Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin put the nuclear deterrent of Russia on full alert on Sunday. Ukraine claimed it had repelled Russian ground forces attacking its major cities.
The US warned Putin was escalating the war in a “completely intolerable” manner, despite indicators that the largest assault on a European state since WWII was not yielding quick tactical gains, but rather a broad and coordinated Western response.
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“This is exactly the kind of manufactured threats President Putin has been using since the beginning,” -Jen Psaki (White House press secretary)
Negotiations with Moscow will take place near the Belarusian-Ukrainian border, according to the Ukrainian president’s office. “I don’t really believe in the outcome of this meeting,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated. “But let them try,” he said, “so that no single citizen of Ukraine has any question that I, as president, tried to stop the conflict.” The Kremlin announced that negotiations had begun.
Nearly 400,000 Ukrainian citizens, mostly women and children, have fled to neighbouring nations as missiles rained on Ukrainian cities. On Sunday, hundreds of people were stuck in Kyiv, waiting for trains to transport them west, away from the violence.
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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg discusses Russian President Vladimir Putin ordering his deterrence forces, which includes nuclear arms, to be placed on high alert (CNN)
“President Putin is continuing to escalate this war in a manner that is completely intolerable,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told CBS.
According to a US defence official, Washington is trying to figure out what Putin’s announcement means in concrete terms, but it has heightened the risk of a miscalculation.
Instead of American intelligence sources, the Pentagon learnt of the increased Russian alert via Putin’s broadcast announcement, according to a senior US defence official.
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THIRTEEN Ukrainian soldiers bravely told a Russian warship to “go f**k yourselves” before they were brutally massacred after refusing to surrender
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, and the senior U.S. commander for Europe, General Tod Wolters, convened a pre-scheduled meeting at 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT) shortly after Putin’s speech to address the Russian president’s decision.
Despite the fact that Washington was still gathering facts, Putin’s move was concerning, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “It’s effectively putting forces in play that, if there’s a miscalculation, could make things much, much more hazardous,” the official added. “That support is going to go forward,” the official said when asked if the US would continue to give military assistance to Ukraine following Putin’s announcement.
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