Russia Ukraine War: According to the US, Putin’s shift in Russia’s nuclear policy is an “unacceptable” escalation, with the rouble likely to plummet on Monday as a result of global sanctions.
Russia Ukraine War: day 5, what’s going on?
In reaction to what he called “aggressive declarations” by Nato members, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military leadership to put nuclear deterrent forces on high alert. The US slammed Putin’s decision, saying he was “creating threats that don’t exist in order to justify greater action.”
When markets reopen on Monday, the rouble is expected to fall by at least 25% as a result of the unprecedented penalties declared by the US and the European Union over the weekend. Sberbank Europe, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sberbank Russia, which is majority-owned by the Russian state, is failing or likely to fail, according to the European Central Bank.
According to Russian news sources, Belarus ratified a new constitution in a referendum, surrendering the nation’s non-nuclear status at a time when the country has become a launchpad for Russian soldiers invading Ukraine. The decision might conceivably allow Russia to reintroduce nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil for the first time since the Soviet Union fell apart. The constitutional reform package also prolonged President Alexander Lukashenko’s reign.
This Monday, a Ukrainian team will meet with Russians on the Belarusian border “without preconditions,” though Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he sees little chance of serious conversation.
According to Ukraine’s interior ministry, 352 Ukrainian citizens, including 14 children, were murdered during Russia’s assault. A total of 1,684 individuals have been injured, including 116 children, according to the report. The government did not provide any information on the number of people killed or injured in Ukraine’s armed forces. Hanna Malyar, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, claimed Russian forces had lost roughly 4,300 troops, a figure that could not be independently verified.
On Sunday, satellite footage revealed a huge deployment of Russian ground forces, including tanks, advancing in the direction of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, from a distance of around 40 miles (64 kilometers). The city is still under Ukrainian control. Maxar Technologies claimed the photographs indicated a deployment that spanned more than 3.25 miles (5 kilometers) and included hundreds of military vehicles. According to the report, the convoy carried gasoline, supplies, and armored equipment including tanks, infantry combat vehicles, and self-propelled artillery.
Ukraine has agreed to meet with Russia for peace talks “without preconditions,” according to Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office.
The Ukrainian president expressed his skepticism about making progress, but added, “Let’s try, so that no citizen of Ukraine has any question that I, as president, sought to end the conflict while there was ever a possibility.”
Ukraine will receive arms from the EU. Sweden, which hasn’t delivered weaponry to a country in armed conflict since the Soviet Union invaded Finland in 1939, is among the European countries sending military assistance to Ukraine.
The EU intends to limit its airspace to Russian planes, including oligarchs’ private jets. The EU will also prohibit Russian state-run television outlets RT and Sputnik from broadcasting.
The UN General Assembly will hold a rare emergency special session on Monday in reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the first time the security council has made such a request in 40 years.
More than 368,000 people have left Ukraine to neighboring nations, according to the UN refugee agency. According to the UN, up to 4 million people might become refugees if the situation worsens.
Thousands of lives are at risk, according to the World Health Organization, due to dwindling oxygen supplies in Ukraine.
Mikhail Fridman and Oleg Deripaska, two Russian oligarchs, have spoken out against Putin’s invasion. “I am passionately committed to the peoples of Ukraine and Russia, and I consider the current situation as a tragedy for them both,” Fridman added. Peace discussions should start “as soon as feasible,” according to Deripaska.
The battle has left Pope Francis “heartbroken,” and he appeared to target Putin by denouncing those who “believe in the diabolic and perverted logic of weaponry.”
The UK will give an extra £40 million in humanitarian help to Ukraine, while the US has announced a fresh humanitarian aid package at roughly $54 million (£40 million).
According to an independent monitoring organization, Russian police detained over 1,400 individuals during anti-war rallies on Sunday, bringing the total number of arrests to almost 4,000.
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