February 28, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley took part in a virtual meeting of NATO’s Military Committee in Chiefs of Defence on Monday amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a readout from Joint Staff spokesperson Col. Dave Butler said. 

The leaders discussed “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is undermining global security,” the readout said. “The United States’ commitment to defending NATO territory is ironclad and the United States will continue to bolster our posture to better defend our NATO Allies.”

The US has sent additional troops and military assets to NATO countries in the past few weeks as the situation in Ukraine has worsened. 

The Secretary of Defense ordered the deployment of 7,000 US service members to Europe on Feb. 25, a senior defense official told reporters. 

Dramatic satellite images released by Maxar Technologies on Monday evening showed a massive 40+ mile long convoy of Russian military vehicles snaking along roadways northwest of Kyiv. 

It’s easy to trace where those hundreds of tanks, towed artillery, armored and logistical vehicles came from. Just follow the roads.

In Ukraine, northwest of Kyiv, all roads lead to Belarus. The roadway and bridge at Chernobyl — the town, not the failed nuclear reactor — ends in Belarus. Every other major road northwest of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, ends in Belarus, which borders northern Ukraine.

Russian buildup of troops: For weeks prior to its invasion of Ukraine, Russia amassed its forces in Belarus.

Hundreds of Russian military vehicles, aircraft and helicopters were moved to the former Soviet state in order to participate in what the two allies described as joint exercises. But after the maneuvers ended, the Russian forces didn’t go home.

In fact, additional satellite imagery from Maxar showed that Russia continued to increase the amount of military vehicles, air power and weaponry in Belarus. From the city of Brest in the country’s east, to Gomel in the west, Russian forces kept popping up at air bases, in towns and in even in fields on satellite images and social media.

Pontoon bridge: Satellite images even showed that Russia constructed a pontoon bridge across the Pripyat River in the greater Chernobyl exclusion zone, which spans Ukraine and Belarus. The day the invasion into Ukraine began, additional satellite images from Capella Space showed Russia began moving dozens of military vehicles across that bridge.

Military power: The sheer length of the convoy is massive and speaks to the amount of the military power the Russians have amassed to try and take Kyiv.

It also speaks to Belarus’ activity in supporting and carrying the invasion — and responsibility for it.

That military power could not have been amassed by the Russians without the permission, and assistance, of Belarus.

Australia will send missiles as part of a $50 million package of lethal and non-lethal aid to help Ukraine repel Russian forces, according to Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Morrison told a news conference Tuesday that anti-armor missiles are proving extraordinarily effective for Ukrainian forces.

“We are answering the call from President (Volodymyr) Zelensky: he said we need ammo, not a ride and that’s exactly what we’re doing… we’ll provide 50 million US dollars to support Ukraine, lethal and non-lethal support… we’re talking missiles, we’re talking ammunition,” Morrison said.

A further $25 million will go toward humanitarian support and helping international organizations meet the needs of people fleeing violence inside Ukraine, he said.

Tuesday’s announcement follows a raft of measures by the Australian government to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, including placing sanctions on Russian individuals.

Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that he is proud of Ukrainian citizens for defending their country and sees the battle ahead as a fight for its future.

Klitschko said Kyiv is under a “non-stop” attack by Russian troops and what he called “Russian aggression groups.”

“We listen to explosions every hour during last night, all last night, the last four days. People are very nervous, they spend a lot of time in bunkers,” he said.

Calling Ukrainian soldiers “heroes,” Klitschko said he is proud of the country’s army and civilians who have taken up arms to defend the capital.

“So many thousands of civilians come and build civilian defenses. People take the weapons and are ready to defend our homes, defend our families, defend our future and our country. And I am very proud,” he said.
“We are ready to fight and ready to die for our home country, for our families because it’s our home. It’s our future and somebody wants to come into our home and steal our future from us.”

Klitschko said he was “not ready” to answer how long Kyiv could hold out against the Russian invasion but added it could be a “long time.”

In a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the mayor said Ukraine used to be part of the Soviet Union and it doesn’t want Russia back.

“We see our future as a democratic, modern European country. That’s it. No discussion. It’s our goal. We’re fighting for that. We’re fighting for our country. We’re fighting for our dream,” he said.

Klitschko is a former heavyweight boxing champion known as “Dr. Ironfist” and has been mayor of Kyiv since 2014.

Russian tennis players are calling for an end to their country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a WTA veteran ranked No. 14 in the world and 2021 French Open finalist, said on Twitter she was not afraid to state her position: “Stop the violence, stop the war.” 

Daniil Medvedev, who became the world No. 1 in men’s singles on Monday, said he had “mixed emotions” about his feat.

“It’s a huge honor to take over this spot. I’m sure everyone can understand it comes with mixed emotions that it happens this week,” he said on Twitter.

Anastasia Potapova, who was scheduled to play Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in the opening round of the WTA 250 event in Monterrey, Mexico, on Tuesday said professional athletes “are essentially becoming hostages of the current situation.”

“Playing tennis is our choice and our dream, to which we go daily, practicing, and constantly trying to be better in our results. I’m sorry, but even though I am a stranger to politics, I am against grief, tears and war,” she said.

Context: Svitolina said she will not play in the match Tuesday and refuses to play any Russian or Belarusian player, saying she wants tennis organizations to follow the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee to accept Russian or Belarusian nationals only as neutral athletes.

Andrey Rublev, who wrote “No War Please” on a camera at an ATP 500 event in Dubai and later went on to win the tournament, said on Twitter: “Now it’s not about tennis.”

Meanwhile, American tennis player Amanda Anisimova, ranked No. 42, whose mother and late father were from Moscow said on Twitter there is “#nohumanity” and “no words for what is happening.”

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday the G7 nations will urge the international community to unite against Russia.

Kishida said the G7 nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States — and their partners had also agreed to help Ukrainian refugees following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

As a Prime Minister hailing from Hiroshima and representing a country that had suffered nuclear attacks in the past, Kishida said any use of nuclear force is unacceptable.

During World War II, the US dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing about 116,000 people in total in the initial blasts, according to the US Department of Energy.

Kishida said US President Joe Biden initiated the virtual talks between G7 leaders, Poland, Romania and NATO.

Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion has shown strength that has surprised many observers, but one international expert pointed out how historical precedent bodes poorly for Moscow should its forces be unable to subdue Ukraine quickly under current Russian troop levels.

“The Russian army is overextended and in a precarious position if Ukraine becomes a protracted war,” Seth Jones, vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in a social media post.
“Assuming 150,000 Russian soldiers in Ukraine and a population of 44 million, that is a force ratio of 3.4 soldiers per 1,000 people. You can’t hold territory with those numbers,” Jones said.

Jones compared the current Russian force ratio to occupations after previous wars around the world, saying successful occupations had force ratios that were “astronomically higher.”

For example, he said:

“High numbers of troops and police are critical to establish basic law and order,” Jones said.
“In fact, the number of Russian soldiers in Ukraine aren’t even enough to hold any major cities for long.”

And if Russian occupiers face a guerrilla war in the event the Ukrainian government falls, the odds won’t be in Russia’s favor, he said.

“They will be in serious danger of being picked apart by Ukrainian insurgents.”

Disney, Hollywood’s largest and most influential movie studio, is pausing the release of its theatrical films in Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Given the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the tragic humanitarian crisis, we are pausing the release of theatrical films in Russia, including the upcoming ‘Turning Red’ from Pixar,” a Disney spokesperson said in statement on Monday.
“We will make future business decisions based on the evolving situation.”

Disney had multiple films set for release in Russia in the coming months. That includes Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” on May 5 and Pixar’s “Lightyear” on June 16.

Although Russia is not a major movie market like China and the United States, the move to pull films from the country, at least for the time being, is notable and could prompt other movie studios to follow suit.

Read the full story:

(L-R): Rachel McAdams as Dr. Christine Palmer, Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange, and Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez in Marvel Studios' DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.

Related article Disney will stop releasing films in Russia | CNN Business

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has condemned reports of “Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian cities and mounting civilian deaths,” according to the State Department.

Blinken made the comments while on a call with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Monday.

“The Secretary offered steadfast solidarity with the Ukrainian people, who are bravely resisting and repelling a brutal, premeditated, and unprovoked Russian invasion, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price.

US administration officials warned lawmakers in classified briefings Monday that a second wave of Russian troops will likely consolidate the country’s positions within Ukraine and by sheer numbers be able to overcome the Ukrainian resistance, according to two people familiar with the briefings.   

The officials also said Russia was likely to lay siege to Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and predicted ugly scenes of urban warfare, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

Putin’s mental state: Questions about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s mental state arose during the briefings, but were not clearly answered by the administration officials, the sources said.

GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley, who attended the Senate briefing, confirmed Putin’s mental state came up, but he declined to elaborate on what was shared.

He did say, however, that regardless of the briefing, he personally is worried about Putin’s mental state.

The Biden administration officials were more upbeat about the unity emerging from Western countries, both in terms of sanctions as well as weapons coming from nations like Germany that were opposed to such a move just a few days ago, the sources said. 

The White House is closely monitoring the Russian military convoy that, according to new satellite images released by Maxar, has reached the outskirts of Kyiv and appears to be more than 40 miles long.

Multiple officials told CNN they are not only concerned by the size of the convoy, but also by the increase in violence, civilian casualties and indiscriminate killings in recent days. 

Officials who were surprised by the fierce Ukrainian resistance when Russia invaded now fear the situation is becoming “a lot more challenging” for them. 

In recent days, US President Joe Biden instructed Secretary of State Antony Blinken to release up to $350 million in immediate support for Ukraine’s defense, but officials have also acknowledged privately that getting new aid to Ukraine will be more difficult than it was previously when it could be flown directly to Kyiv. 

From TikTok videos of tanks in Belgorod to Telegram clips of strikes near Kyiv, social media footage has played a key role in the news coverage of Ukraine, revealing new attacks and military movements.

But making sure the videos and images are real, accurate and correctly labeled is crucial amid a misinformation campaign that surrounds Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.

CNN’s investigative team has been monitoring the constant stream of information from social media by using several tools to filter through the noise and select relevant videos for our coverage to geolocate and verify.

Watch how CNN’s investigative team verifies photos and video from social media:

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Brazil is creating a “humanitarian passport” to welcome Ukrainian refugees, President Jair Bolsonaro said in a Monday interview with radio station Jovem Pan.

Bolsonaro said the measure should be in place in the next day or two and is part of the country’s efforts to welcome “all refugees” from Ukraine.

The President, who’s been adamant in adopting what he called a “neutral” position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said he hoped the conflict would end soon and that Brazil wants “peace all over the world”.

Bolsonaro also said Brazil hosts a large Ukrainian community, including about 600,000 people in the southern state of Paraná.

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia’s term as president of the United Nations Security Council ends at midnight ET Monday and he concluded his presidency by calling into question the veracity of statements about Ukraine made by his colleagues. 

“I would like to say … I was surprised, because just the reports and videos and information in Ukraine — some of them are taken as fact. And others … fully-reliable, unquestionably reliable — are being considered inaccurate, unreliable,” Nebenzia said in translated remarks. 

Nebenzia has maintained multiple times on the Security Council floor that Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine has not targeted civilian infrastructure and there is no evidence of civilian deaths caused by the Russia military.

He repeated these claims on Monday, stating the “tide of dirty lies replicated in Western mass media unfortunately have become a dangerous mark of our time.”

Fact check: A senior US defense official told reporters that Russian forces are “causing civilian harm and they are striking civilian targets.” And social media videos, photos and satellite images analyzed and geolocated by CNN confirm that on several occasions densely populated areas have been hit by Russian forces.

In his final public remarks to the Security Council on Monday, Nebenzia also called February a “busy month” during which not every issue achieved consensus. 

“Abomination”: Ukrainian UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said in his remarks Monday that he welcomed the end of Nebenzia’s term.

“I’m looking forward to midnight, even though midnight is the most dangerous time right now because that’s when most of the attacks take place. But I’m looking forward to midnight, when this abomination, occupation of the seat of the president of the council will be over,” Kyslytsya said. 

The presidency of the council rotates between members every month. United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the UN Lana Zaki Nusseibeh will begin her presidency on Tuesday for March.

A bipartisan group of senators is urging the Biden administration to extend a form of humanitarian relief, known as Temporary Protected Status, to Ukrainians in the US. 

“In light of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, we respectfully request that your administration promptly take all necessary steps to ensure that Ukrainian nationals present in the United States are not forced to return to Ukraine, including the designation of Ukraine for Temporary Protected Status (TPS),” the senators wrote in a letter to President Joe Biden. 

TPS applies to people who would face extreme hardship if forced to return to homelands devastated by armed conflict or natural disasters, therefore the protections are limited to people already in the US.

Russia and Belarus have been suspended from all international rugby and cross-border club activities until further notice, the sport’s governing body said Monday.

Additionally, the Rugby Union of Russia has been suspended from World Rugby membership until further notice, World Rugby said on its website.

“World Rugby reiterates its condemnation of Russia’s aggressive invasion of Ukraine and the facilitation of this action by Belarus,” the organization said.
“The global rugby family is united in standing in solidarity with everyone affected by these deeply disturbing events and joins the global community in calling for the restoration of peace.”

The United States is offering more support to help Ukraine resist Russia, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Early Tuesday morning local time, a tweet from the minister’s verified account referenced a conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. 

Kuleba tweeted, “In our call, @SecBlinken affirmed that the U.S. support for Ukraine remains unfaltering. I underscored that Ukraine craves for peace, but as long as we are under Russia’s assault we need more sanctions and weapons. Secretary assured me of both. We coordinated further steps.”

Last week, US President Joe Biden unveiled a set of harsh measures against Russia, saying: “Putin chose this war.”

Blinken announced further actions against Russia on Monday, including barring Russian financial institutions — such as the Russian Central Bank – from making transactions in American dollars. The US also imposed sanctions on the state-owned Russian Direct Investment Fund, calling it a “known slush fund” for Putin and his inner circle.

Washington also put sanctions on people it described as “corrupt billionaires” and their families who are close to the Kremlin.

US House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said a top line for new funding to Ukraine has not been decided on yet because Congress is still waiting to be told what is needed. 

“I don’t know the answer to that,” Hoyer told CNN, when asked if there has been any movement or decisions made on allocating more funding for Ukraine. “It’s being discussed and it ought to be what they need,” he said.

Asked if he is waiting for a direct number from the President Hoyer said, “I think we’re really waiting for a determination as to what’s needed. And I think the number ought to be what’s needed.”

Hoyer said this funding could be allocated through a separate supplemental or be included in the overall spending bill, as long as it is expedited.

Ukraine welcomes the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to open an investigation into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said Sergiy Kyslytsya, the country’s ambassador to the UN.

“We welcome the statement issued today by the ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, on the situation in Ukraine — his statement about his decision to proceed with opening an investigation,” Kyslytsya told the UN Security Council. “Given the expansion of the conflict in recent days, it is [the ICC prosecutor’s] intention that this investigation will also encompass any new alleged crimes, falling within the jurisdiction of his office, that are committed by any party to the conflict on any part of the territory of Ukraine.”

Kyslytsya said the ICC prosecutor “will also be asking for the support of all state parties and the international community as a whole as his office sets about its investigation” and will be calling for additional budgetary contributions to support the investigation.

New satellite images from Maxar Technologies show the Russian military convoy that has reached the outskirts of Kyiv is even longer than it previously measured.

Maxar said late Monday the convoy is more than 40 miles long. Earlier Monday, Maxar said the convoy took up roughly 17 miles of roadway.

Maxar told CNN earlier Monday the large military convoy consisted of armored vehicles, tanks, towed artillery and other logistical vehicles. 

Maxar attributed the updated convoy length to additional satellite imagery they collected and analyzed. Maxar said data and imagery taken Monday shows the convoy stretches from the Antonov airbase — about 17 miles from Kyiv’s city center — to just north of Pribyrsk, Ukraine.

To put a point on how far away Pribyrsk is from the Ukrainian capital, the small town is closer to the Ukraine-Belarus border and the failed nuclear reactor at Chernobyl than to Kyiv.

The company noted it saw plumes of smoke rising from a number of homes and buildings north and northwest of Ivankiv, near the roads where the convoy is traveling. At this time, it’s unclear what has caused the plumes of smoke. 

According to Maxar, in some areas the roadways are so choked with military vehicles it’s actually causing traffic jams.

On Sunday, Maxar had measured the convoy — then near Ivankiv, Ukraine — at roughly 3.5 miles long.

Ukrainian parliament member Kira Rudik told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that Monday’s negotiations with Russia at the Belarus-Ukraine border resulted in “heavier air strikes” in Kyiv.

Rudik, who is located in Kyiv, said that the strikes were “anticipated” because Russian President Vladimir Putin’s words cannot be trusted.

“Tonight, there was ‘peaceful negotiations,’ that obviously resulted in heavier air strikes after — right after the negotiation ended up. And right now, the air strikes intensified and there are more of alarms for the whole night. We anticipated this because — let me give you some tips and tricks on talking to Putin. When he says, ‘I want peace,’ this means, ‘I’m getting my troops to kill you.’ If he says, ‘It’s not my troops,’ it means, ‘It’s my troops and I am gathering them.’ And if he says… ‘I’m retreating,’ this means ‘I’m regrouping and getting more troops to kill you,’” she said.

“So it’s not news for us when he went on a ‘peaceful negotiation’ … that it will end up bringing more troops, destroying more buildings and trying to kill more Ukrainians,” Rudik explained.

She added, “So, I spent my day today really gathering everything that I can so the resistance team that I formed can survive the siege if there will be one. And we anticipate that there will be a siege in Kyiv.”

Rudik also said that Putin will be “raising the stakes” in the coming days.

“Our first fear is on the air force attacks that will be intensifying. And we have seen that today, already. So tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, there will be more of them to create terror and to create fear. Which we expect. That’s why we are not afraid. Second, is he bringing more forces and he will actually try to close in and out to Kyiv. This is something that we are fighting from our side to make sure that he cannot close the entrances and exits to the city. This is where the resistance comes in. And of course, we will be trying to get into the negotiations,” Rudik said.

Watch Ukraine MP Kira Rudik’s interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer:

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Photographer Timothy Fadek has been in Ukraine since January, documenting the country’s crisis both before and after the Russian invasion.

He spent his Monday in the capital of Kyiv, which had been under a citywide curfew since Saturday.

Fadek watched as many citizens boarded trains to flee to the western part of the country while Russian forces moved closer to the city. 

Others stayed behind, ready to join the resistance. Volunteers continue to sign up for the Territorial Defense Forces, Ukraine’s military reserve. 

One of Fadek’s photos shows Iryna, a 55-year-old woman who was a bank teller before the war. She’s now stationed at the group’s headquarters.

In another photo, women add plastic foam particles to Molotov cocktails so that the bombs will stick to their targets better.

See more photos from Ukraine:

Cars burn after Russian military strike, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in central Kyiv, Ukraine October 10, 2022. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

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Related gallery Photos: Russia invades Ukraine

Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina has announced that she will not play Tuesday in her match in Monterrey, Mexico, and is also refusing to play any Russian or Belarusian players.

Svitolina’s announcement came Monday via her social media channels, where she also called on tennis organizations to follow the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to accept Russian or Belarusian nationals only as neutral athletes.

“I believe the current situation requires a clear position from our organizations: ATP, WTA and ITF,” Svitolina — referencing the Association of Tennis Professionals, the Women’s Tennis Association, and the International Tennis Federation — posted on social media Monday.

“As such, we – Ukrainian players – requested to ATP, WTA and ITF to follow recommendations of the IOC to accept Russian or Belarussian nationals only as neutral athletes, without displaying any national symbols, colours, flags or anthems.”

Svitolina, who once reached a career-high of No. 3 in the world in women’s singles, is currently ranked 15th. She is scheduled to face Russian Anastasia Potapova on Tuesday, in the opening round of a tournament in which she is the No. 1 seed.

“Accordingly, I want to announce that I will not play tomorrow in Monterrey, nor any other match against Russian or Belarussian tennis players until our organizations take this necessary decision,” Svitolina added.

“I do not blame any of the Russian athletes,” she said. “They are not responsible for the invasion of our motherland. Moreover, I wish to pay tribute to all the players, especially Russians and Belarussians, who bravely stated their position against the war. Their support is essential.”

You can read Svitolina’s social media post below:

TikTok has blocked Russian-backed outlets, such as RT and Sputnik, in the European Union, a spokesperson for the social media company tells CNN. 

The action follows a similar moves by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.

White House Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics Daleep Singh highlighted a series of sanctions the administration was imposing on Russia Monday, telling MSNBC in an interview the administration expects moves to expel Russian banks from SWIFT and freeze the assets of the Russian Central Bank are “going to change the strategic calculus.” 

“Let’s look at the course [that Russian President Vladimir Putin is] on — what Russia is looking at is double digit inflation, 15 to 20%, right now Russia is looking at a very deep recession,” he said.

“Russia is looking at a complete isolation from the global economy, from the global financial system, and from global technology. It’s looking at a fortification of NATO’s eastern flank. It’s looking at Europe diversifying away from Russian energy, and it’s looking at a West that is more energized and unified and determined than any point in the post-Cold War era. At some point the strategic failure, we think, will dawn upon Putin and the de-escalation may have a chance. But until then, we’ll continue to impose costs, Singh said.

Still, Singh said, the goal “is not to impoverish the Russian people,” instead slamming Putin for making “an act of war.”

“Our efforts are strategic choice, and we can change our strategic calculus at any moment, either through economic sanctions being removed or by engaging in in diplomacy and a peaceful resolution of this crisis,” he told MSNBC. “But that’s a key difference. He’s using brute physical force. We’re making a set of strategic decisions that make this a failure for Putin,” he said.

He also acknowledged Americans might see costs from sanctions, but encouraged viewers to “think of the alternative.”

Singh added, “What would be the cost of unchecked aggression in the heart of Europe? Think of the uncertainties that would cause, the chilling effect it would cause, the questions that will be asked about which country is next, which bully is next to exert a sphere of influence?”

Inside a briefing with members of the US House of Representatives, Rep. Ruben Gallego said briefers walked members through the potential timeline that some cities in Ukraine could fall. He declined to lay out specifics given the classified nature of the briefing but reiterated the number of Russian troops makes it a distinct possibility. 

He also said there was a long line of questions members had including about how the resupply was going. 

A member who declined to speak on the record because it was a classified briefing told CNN the estimates officials gave for when some cities could fall was “alarming.”

Rep. Dan Crenshaw also confirmed that the timeline for cities to fall was given, but said they were just “estimates” and that the Ukrainians are fighting “way harder” than anyone has estimated, making it hard to know for sure.

Alexandra Ustinova, the member of Ukrainian parliament Rada, became emotional as she called for direct financial action against Russian oligarchs, more humanitarian aid, and a no-fly zone, following her meeting with US House members.

She also spoke about her own situation, as she is pregnant, acknowledging that she will probably give birth in America. 

“We were talking about specific needs for our country,” in the meeting with the House Ukrainian Caucus, she said. “These can be divided into financial needs — which means we need sanctions, and we need personal sanctions against Putin and his close allies and their families.”

On the Russian oligarchs, particularly those in the US and other nations abroad, she said, “we need to seize their accounts, we need to take the money from them. If this is not being done, in a very short period of time, they’re not going to react.”

“Second, we need humanitarian support,” she continued. “People are literally sitting in Kyiv, in Kharkiv, in other cities without food, electricity, in cold weather without any heat.”

Tearing up, Ustinova said, “This is impossible, this is the 21st century in the middle of Europe where women have to deliver babies in bomb shelters, and they have nothing to eat after that.”

“One of the most important, key things Ukrainians are dreaming about is the no-fly zone over Ukraine,” she added. “If we do not have a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which means that Russians would not be able to use their missiles over Ukraine, to use their airplanes, they will probably erase Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities from the map.”

Ustinova said that the financial sanctions against Russia “have to be more specific, and they have to be stronger. 

“If we are talking about cutting Russia off SWIFT, it has to be about all Russia banks. So far, from what we know, it’s going to be only partial, it’s going to be 5 or 8 banks. That means we leave a huge loophole for them, and they will be using it,” she said. 

As she wrapped up her on-camera comments, Ustinova talked about how popular support for Ukraine has forced the international community to get involved.

“People who started going out on the streets in all countries, made them actually start talking, start sanctioning, start sending us ammunition, start sending us arms,” said Ustinova, using Germany as an example, “We had 100,000 people in Berlin, and they changed their mind.”

Ustinova said, “people make their politicians not think of politics and polls, but think of people’s lives, and this makes a huge difference, because basically right now people on the streets are protecting citizens of Ukraine from being shot down to death, making their government’s take action. And I’m really grateful for that.”

Asked if she will return to Ukraine soon, she said she plans to continue meetings in DC.

“We need the support with our sky. We need to protect our babies in Ukraine who are being born in the bomb shelters—I’m sorry,” she broke off, turning away, in an emotional moment.

The National Hockey League (NHL) announced Monday that it is suspending its business relations in Russia, effective immediately.

In a statement, the NHL said:

“The National Hockey League condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and urges a peaceful resolution as quickly as possible. Effective immediately, we are suspending our relationships with our business partners in Russia and we are pausing our Russian language social and digital media sites. In addition, we are discontinuing any consideration of Russia as a location for any future competitions involving the NHL.”

“We also remain concerned about the well-being of the players from Russia, who play in the NHL on behalf of their NHL Clubs, and not on behalf of Russia. We understand they and their families are being placed in an extremely difficult position,” the league added.

There are dozens of active Russian players in the NHL, including superstars Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin.

At least nine civilians have been killed by Russian rocket attacks Monday in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. The mayor said this includes the deaths of three children. 

“Today we had a very difficult day. It showed us that it’s not just a war, this is a massacre of Ukrainian people,” he said on his Telegram account.

“The missiles hit residential buildings, killing and injuring peaceful civilians. Kharkiv has not seen such damage for a very long time. And this is horrible,” he said.

Terekhov said four people came out of shelter to get some water and were killed.

A family of two adults and three children were burned alive in their car, he said. Another 37 people were injured.

The Kharkiv city administration gave the same numbers.

There have been at least 406 reported civilian casualties in Ukraine, including at least 102 killed just within the past few days, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said Monday, citing numbers from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. 

Griffiths addressed the UN Security Council via teleconference from Geneva on Monday, adding that the real number of civilian casualties “could be considerably higher, as many reported casualties have yet to be confirmed.” 

“The picture is grim — and could get worse still. Aerial attacks and fighting in urban areas are damaging critical civilian facilities and disrupting essential services such as health, electricity, water and sanitation, which effectively leaves civilians without the basics for day-to-day life,” Griffiths said. 

Humanitarian efforts on the ground: There are currently 119 humanitarian organizations operating in Ukraine, though their capacity to provide assistance has been limited due to military action, according to Griffiths. He also called for “assurances from parties to the conflict that humanitarian workers and movements will be protected even during the most severe days of the conflict and not waiting for the conflict to subside.” 

Griffiths also announced that the UN Secretary-General will launch a humanitarian appeal on Tuesday with two components:

Grandi said Monday that his office has already received over $40 million in donations from private citizens and companies from around the world. 

“I am counting on governments to do the same – and quickly. Ukrainians – and countries hosting refugees from Ukraine – cannot wait,” Grandi said.

There are currently 520,000 refugees from Ukraine in neighboring countries and the figure has been rising “exponentially, hour after hour,” Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told the UN Security Council on Monday.

Grandi, who addressed the council via teleconference from Geneva, said he has worked in refugee crises for almost 40 years and has “rarely seen such an incredibly fast-rising exodus of people — the largest, surely, within Europe, since the Balkan wars.”

“Over 280,000 have fled to Poland. Another 94,000 to Hungary, nearly 40,000 are currently in Moldova; 34,000 in Romania, 30,000 in Slovakia; tens of thousands in other European countries. We are also aware that a sizeable number have gone to the Russian Federation,” Grandi said.

Grandi said the UN’s humanitarian workers have been relocated and military attacks might force them to move again. 

“The situation is moving so quickly, and the levels of risk are so high by now, that it is impossible for humanitarians to distribute systematically the aid, the help that Ukrainians desperately need,” Grandi said. “Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected and spared, and humanitarian access must be granted for those delivering aid to those impacted by war. A failure to do so will compound the already extraordinary levels of human suffering,” he said.

Ukrainian Ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, left today’s meeting with US House members of the Ukrainian caucus feeling that they were on “the same page,” with the House. 

“We have very good understanding,” she added. 

“The United States has been very helpful in helping us supplying the financial assistance, defensive military assistance, but also being a great leader of the anti-war coalition on sanctions. And we just discussed what are we doing now, what can we do more, and we can continue doing more on all of this,” Markarova said.

Asked what more the United States can do, Markarova emphasized Ukraine’s need for more weapons and the continuation of sanctions against Russia. “We work actively with the administration, the President, and also with Congress on getting more weapons, so we need more weapons,” she told reporters. “And we are not asking anyone to fight for us, we are defending our country ourselves. But we need all the support that all civilized world can give us to actually continue effectively fighting, and also sanctions,” she said.

She added, “We believe Russia, which is now acting like Nazi Germany in WWII, essentially killing innocent civilians — today they shot into a again into not only residential areas but also the orphanages and schools and kindergartens, horrible — they have to pay the price. They have to be isolated.”

Leaving the meeting, Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley told reporters that what they heard from the ambassador was “a message of thanks and appreciation,” and added, “they need more sanctions and they need more supplies.”

“I want to give the administration a lot of credit, and I think the ambassador just did,” he said, “of unifying the West, and moving forward on sanctions that work, and supplying them with materials they need.”

Quigley emphasized he believes the ambassador’s message is, “When you’re dealing with this kind of threat, hope and prayers matter. But when you’re dealing with Putin, hope and a Stinger and a Javelin are even better.”

His colleague, Rep. Brad Sherman, seconded this. “They would like more. I think they are thankful for what we’re doing, and it appears as if we are doing not only the right amount of money for now, but the right mix of weapons,” he said.

“Obviously the Ukrainians would like us to do everything,” said Sherman. “That includes a no-fly zone. But frankly, a no-fly zone means dog fights between American and Russian pilots, and that’s dangerous.”

Later, he noted, “certainly in the back of my mind as others discussed the no-fly zone was the fact that once you have Americans shooting at Russians and Russians shooting at Americans, you are down a very dangerous road.” Sherman noted that the Ukrainians pushed for this option, but he sees it as “one step too dangerous.”

Asked about energy proposals discussed in the meeting, Sherman said, “We talked about strengthening the sanctions by preventing the entire world from buying oil and natural gas. Obviously from a Ukrainian standpoint, that’s an important step. It’s not a step that our European friends have been willing to take.”

A member of Ukraine’s Rada, or parliament, was also in attendance, Alexandra Ustinova.

“We are very grateful for all the support Ukraine gets right now and receives from the international community and from the United States who are the driving, leading force in protecting Ukraine,” she told reporters, “But unfortunately we need more help with every passing day, because we understand Putin becomes more aggressive, and something that seemed impossible a week ago to the whole normal world is a reality to my country today,” Ustinova said.

As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to call for a no fly zone in Ukraine, the White House said Monday afternoon that US President Joe Biden remains firm in his commitment to keep US troops out of the conflict.

“The President has been very clear that he is not intending to send US troops to fight a war with Russia. And I think what’s important to note here is that is essentially what this would be a step toward, because a no fly zone would require implementation,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

“It would require deploying US military to enforce, which would be a direct conflict, potentially a direct conflict, and potentially a war with Russia, which is something we are not planning to be a part of,” she said.

Other US officials have also said US enforcing a no fly zone in Ukraine is currently off the table. 

US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the Biden administration “has made clear” the US will not “put boots on the ground,” she told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”

“We’re not going to put American troops in danger. That means we’re not going to put American troops in the air as well, but we will work with the Ukrainians to give them the ability to defend themselves.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he is analyzing the results of Monday’s talks with a Russian delegation, which lasted five hours.

“There can be fair negotiations if one side does not hit the other side with rocket artillery at the time of negotiations. So far, we do not have the result we would like to get. Russia has stated its position, and we have declared counterpoints to end the war. We received some signals. When the delegation returns to Kyiv, we will analyze what we have heard and then we will decide how to proceed to the second round of talks,” Zelensky said in a message posted to his Facebook page.

Turkish minister of foreign affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Monday evening that Turkey warned “all countries, that have coast to Black Sea, or not, not to let warships pass through the straits” according to Turkey’s state-run news agency Anadolu. 

On Sunday, Çavuşoğlu said Turkey recognizes Russia’s invasion as “war” which gives Turkey certain control over the straits that connect the Black Sea, Marmara and Aegean.

“We warned all countries, that have a coast on the Black Sea or not, not to let warships go through the straits,” Çavuşoğlu told reporters after a Cabinet meeting in Ankara, Anadolu reported.

“To date, there has been no request for passage through the straits [since the war started],” Çavuşoğlu said according to Anadolu. “Until today, the Russians were asking whether we would implement Montreux if needed. We told them that we would apply it word by word,” he added.

“If Turkey is not a party to the war, it has the authority not to allow the passage of the belligerent countries’ ships through the straits. If the warship is returning to its base in the Black Sea, the passage is not blocked,” he explained. 

More background on Montreux: The 1936 Montreux Convention gives Turkey the authority to ban warships of all countries, regardless of they are party to war or not and regardless they have a coast on the Black Sea or not, to pass from the straits during times of war if Turkey is a party of the war or if Turkey says it is under threat.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday called for the “complete closure of the sky for Russian missiles, aircraft and helicopters.”

“Evil, armed with missiles, bombs, and artillery, must be stopped immediately, destroyed economically. To show that humanity is able to defend itself, it is necessary to consider a complete closure of the sky for Russian missiles, aircraft, helicopters,” he said in a message posted to his Facebook page.

“A state that commits crimes against civilians cannot be a member of the UN Security Council. For such a state the entrance to all ports, canals, airports in the world must be closed. Such a state should not receive hundreds of billions for energy exports. To buy Russian goods now is to pay for killing people,” Zelensky added.

France’s Elysée Palace says it fears that Ukrainian civilians will be “massively” targeted in a Russian invasion, a spokesperson has said.

The concerns were revealed during a briefing with journalists on Monday, coming just after French President Emmanuel Macron’s phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The spokesperson also expressed willingness to support Ukraine’s aspirations to join the EU amid the escalation of the Russian offensive in Ukraine. 

As for the call between Macron and Putin, the spokesperson noted that it is “advisable to maintain all possible options to try to get out of the current spiral.” 

The palace spokesperson described Putin as “following a logic of offense. So in the current situation, there are very serious risks of seeing Russia extend its operations with a considerable human, political, strategic and economic cost.”

After a follow-up question, the spokesperson added: “There are good reasons to fear that civilians will be targeted more massively and without precautions by the Russians.”

The Elysée Palace spokesperson also commented on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s public request that the European Union consider admitting Ukraine as a member.

“There is a consensus among us that the European Union will emerge transformed from this ordeal, from this crisis,” the spokesperson said. “In this context, I believe that everyone is well aware of the fact that Ukraine is a country in the heart of Europe, that Ukraine is a country whose destiny is important to us, whose democratic choice is important to us and that we want to be able to support its aspirations.” 

However, they coached the palace’s support by noting that, “we must be careful not to make promises that we cannot keep, not only to Ukraine, but also to all the countries around Russia that have close relations with Europe, which are themselves European countries.”

Representatives from the three African nations on the UN Security Council — Kenya, Ghana, and Gabon — all condemned discrimination against African citizens at the Ukrainian border during a UNSC meeting at the UN HQ in New York City Monday afternoon 

“In the unfolding emergency, there have been disturbing reports about the racist treatment of Africans and people of African descent seeking to flee Ukraine to safety. The media is covering these appalling incidents and several states have confirmed that their citizens are suffering such treatment. We strongly condemn this racism and believe that it is damaging to the spirit of solidarity that is so urgently needed today. The mistreatment of African peoples on Europe’s borders needs to cease immediately, whether to the Africans fleeing Ukraine or to those crossing the Mediterranean,” Kenyan Ambassador to the UN Martin Kimani said Monday.

Kimani added that the Security Council needs “to be able to understand that there are actors who want to magnify this story for cynical reasons that have nothing to do with the wellbeing and safety of Africans.” He also thanked Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia for allowing Kenyan citizens fleeing Ukraine visa-free entry into their countries. 

Ghanaian Deputy Ambassador to the UN Carolyn Oppong-Ntiri echoed the sentiment in her remarks, calling for the facilitation of persons fleeing Ukraine “without discrimination” and to provide them with humanitarian assistance, “including medical care in line with the principles of humanity, neutrality, and impartiality.” 

The UN Ambassador from Gabon called reports of racism “unacceptable.” 

“We ask for the respect of the dignity and for equitable treatment of all people in dire circumstances. It is an opportunity for my country to recall the African Union appeal for respect of international law that requires equal treatment for all people who cross international borders in conflict areas,” Ambassador Michel Xavier Biang said Monday. 

CNN’s Pooja Salhotra contributed to this report.

In a late night address Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that in five days, 56 missile strikes and 113 cruise missiles were launched in Ukraine by Russian forces.

He added, “Today, Russian forces brutally fired on Kharkiv from jet artillery. It was clearly a war crime.”

“Kharkiv is a peaceful city, there are peaceful residential areas, no military facilities. Dozens of eyewitness accounts prove that this is not a single false volley, but deliberate destruction of people: the Russians knew where they were shooting.”

“There will definitely be an international tribunal for this crime — it’s a violation of all conventions. No one in the world will forgive you for killing peaceful Ukrainian people,” he said.

The White House said US President Joe Biden and world leaders “recognized the bravery of the Ukrainian people in the face of Russian aggression and discussed their continued support to Ukraine, including security, economic, and humanitarian assistance,” during a secure call Monday. 

Joining Biden on the call, according to the White House, were:

The White House said the group “also discussed their coordinated efforts to impose severe costs and consequences to hold Russia accountable while working to maintain global economic stability, including with regard to energy prices.” 

The European Union has included a pair of key individuals among its latest list of sanctioned persons.

These two men are:

In a press release published Monday, the European Council said it’s adding a further 26 persons and one entity “to the list of persons, entities and bodies subject to restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”

Additional restrictive measures — including the freezing of assets and the institution of travel bans — were also placed on:

The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell said in the press release that with these sanctions the EU is “targeting all who are having a significant economic role in supporting Putin’s regime and benefit financially from the system.” 

Borrell added that the sanctions will “expose the wealth of Putin’s elite” and ensure that those “who enable the invasion of Ukraine will pay a price for their action.”

This follows a host of new measures imposed by the EU on Russia last week, which included a ban on transactions with the Russian Central Bank and a ban on overflight of the EU airspace amongst other things.

In total, restrictive measures have now been imposed on 680 individuals and 53 entities, the EU said.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday the US has taken steps “to address any impact on the global markets, global oil markets, that we expect could happen, expect at the time could happen, and could continue to happen as a result of President Putin’s invasion.”

Though she declined to weigh in on specific details, telling CNN’s Phil Mattingly doing so “wouldn’t be constructive to our overarching objectives,” Psaki cited officials’ recent visit to Saudi Arabia, telling Phil “there has been an ongoing discussion about steps that we can all take as a global community to address any volatility in the market.”

She also said that the decision to sanction some of Russia’s largest banks and back expulsion from SWIFT was part of an effort to ensure actions were “maximizing the impact on President Putin, the Russian elite, the economy, while minimizing it on the global markets and the American people.”

“I mean, even if you look at the impact on the energy sector, you know, we have we have taken steps, we have not taken some steps on energy sanctions, in part because we weighed that,” Psaki said. “That doesn’t mean that they’re off the table, they remain on the table, but Europeans for example, are very concerned about further price spikes on gas.”

Some more context: Oil prices surged above $100 per barrel after Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine, piling pressure on a global economy already reeling from rampant inflation. Russia is the world’s No. 2 oil producer and a major exporter of natural gas. Supply disruptions could drive retail prices higher, making it more expensive for people around the world to fuel their cars and for Europeans to heat their homes. Gasoline prices are already at record levels in parts of Europe.

“So sanctioning energy would affect Russia’s income stream, certainly that would be a reason to do it, but would also have extreme consequences on the world energy markets, particularly for our allies in Europe,” Psaki acknowledged Monday, adding the administration has “additional steps we could take, but we consider all of those factors as we make determinations.”

The United States has asked 12 Russian United Nations diplomats to leave the country due to their alleged engagement in “activities that were not in accordance with their responsibilities and obligations as diplomats,” Ambassador Richard Mills, Deputy Representative of the United States to the United Nations, said during a UN Security Council meeting Monday afternoon. 

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia responded by saying Mills’ explanation of the expulsions was “not satisfactory.” 

The US Mission to the UN also said in a statement that the 12 Russian diplomats were “intelligence operatives…who have abused their privileges of residency in the U.S. by engaging in espionage activities that are adverse to our national security.”

“We are taking this action in accordance with the headquarters agreement. Today’s action has been in the works for several months,” US Mission spokesperson Olivia Dalton said.

Nebenzia first announced the news of the expulsions during an earlier press briefing at the UN Monday afternoon. He said he did not know which 12 diplomats were among those asked to leave, but said US officials visited the Russian Mission to the UN and delivered a letter demanding that they leave the country by next Monday, March 7.

“I’ve just received information that the US authorities have undertaken another hostile action against the Russian Mission to the United Nations grossly violating their commitments on the host country agreement that they undertook,” Nebenzia told reporters. “They just visited the Russian Mission and gave us a note prescribing us to do what they demand.”

CNN has also reached out to the State Department for more information.

CNN’s Kylie Atwood and Pooja Salhotra contributed to this report.

The UK’s communication regulator is launching 15 investigations into Russia Today (RT), the Kremlin-backed news channel.

The announcement same Monday via a statement.

Ofcom — the UK’s communications regulator — said it had “observed a significant increase in the number of programs on the RT service that warrant investigation under our Broadcasting Code.”

Last week, UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries asked Ofcom to review RT’s operation in Britain. The regulator replied to Dorries saying it had “stepped up our oversight” in light of the “serious nature of the crisis in Ukraine.”

The investigations “relate to 15 editions of the hourly News program broadcast on RT on 27 February 2022 between 05:00 and 19:00 inclusive” and will be – “expedited, given the severity and urgency of the current crisis,” Ofcom said Monday. 

Ofcom’s Chief Executive Melanie Dawes added that “given the serious, ongoing situation in Ukraine, we will be concluding our investigations into RT as a matter of urgency.”

The regulator acknowledged that “when reporting on an armed conflict” it can be “difficult for broadcasters to verify information and events” but that it is “imperative that they make every effort to do so.”

The International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands, will open an investigation into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “rapidly as possible,” ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan said in a statement Monday.

Following a preliminary examination into the situation, Khan said he confirmed that there is a reasonable basis to “believe that both alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Ukraine.” 

In a statement Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry lashed out against the EU’s plans to provide arms to Ukraine, adding that Russia will continue to ensure the realization of its national interests despite sanctions.

“EU citizens and structures involved in supplying lethal weapons and fuel and lubricants to the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be responsible for any consequences of such actions in the context of the ongoing special military operation. They cannot fail to understand the degree of danger of the consequences,” the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement read.

The statement went on to diminish Western sanctions, saying that Russia will continue to ensure the realization of its national interest.

“Another myth that had been propagated by the EU in the past — that their unilateral restrictions, which are illegitimate under international law, are not directed against the Russian people — has been finally dispelled. Brussels functionaries, who until recently portrayed themselves as our country’s ‘strategic partner’, are not hiding any longer: they intend to inflict maximum damage on Russia, hit its weak points, seriously destroy its economy and suppress its economic growth,” the statement read.

The statement continued: “We want to assure you it will not. The actions of the European Union will not go unanswered. Russia will continue to ensure the realization of its vital national interests without regard to sanctions and their threats. It is time for Western countries to understand that their undivided dominance in the global economy is long a thing of the past.”

A western official told CNN there was a “failure on the first day to destroy Ukraine’s air defenses” by Russia and that it was “well behind the schedule it set,” for the invasion. Russia has about half the forces it massed on Ukraine’s borders “forward and operating in Ukraine,” the source added.

Earlier on Monday a senior US defense official said that it is their assessment Russia has committed nearly 75% of its military power that it had arrayed around Ukraine ahead of the invasion.

The official said they were concerned with the “risks that come with a lack of Russian progress” especially the “use of rockets today and tube artillery — in Kyiv and Kharkiv — which risks being far more indiscriminate.”

The official said while there had been “some progress in the south” — with forces that come out of Crimea having some gains — “in other areas we have not seen a lot of progress in maneuver.”

The official declined to give a figure for Russian casualties but noted that in the first days Russia’s defense ministry denied having any, but later had to admit to some. They said this was “what we would assess to be a significant number of casualties. Their ability to hide that is over. The impact of this operation will be seen and felt back in Russia itself.”

A missile strike earlier today on Vasylkiv, Bila Tserkva and Kalinovka in the Kyiv region destroyed a five-story dormitory and two five-story residential buildings, Ukraine’s Ministry of Interior said.

Three state emergency service units are on their way to provide assistance to the dormitory that was hit in Bila Tserkva.

Emergency service units are not en route to the two five-story residential buildings in Vasylkiv and Kalinovka because the shelling is ongoing.

After Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia’s deterrence forces — including its nuclear weapons — have been placed on high alert, the Pentagon responded by calling the announcement “as unnecessary as it is escalatory.” 

The response was issued by Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby during a briefing on Monday.

Kirby went on to note that the Pentagon is “reviewing and analyzing” Putin’s announcement.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is “comfortable with the strategic deterrent posture of the United States, and our ability to defend our homeland and our partners,” Kirby also said.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the Russian forces are trying to move closer to Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, but still are outside of the city center.

“But clearly we continue to see Russian forces move on — or try to move closer to so they can move on Kyiv from the ground,” Kirby during a briefing at the Pentagon on Monday. “We still assess that they’re outside the city center, and but, what we know clearly, that they have intentions with respect to Kyiv.”

Ukrainians are “resisting quite effectively around Kyiv,” Kirby added. “They’ve made it a tough slog for the Russians to move further south.”

Kirby could not say specifically that a Russian convoy that has been seen on satellite imagery is headed for Kyiv, but he said “it clearly appears to, just anecdotally, as just a piece of their desire to continue to move on the capital.”

Norway will provide $226 million in humanitarian assistance and military equipment to Ukraine.

The Norwegian government announced the support measures in a statement Monday, saying that this “extraordinary allocation to Ukraine is intended to enhance the efforts of humanitarian actors to help the most vulnerable groups, including children.”

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre condemned Russia’s “military attacks in Ukraine,” which he said were “causing widespread loss of life and suffering in the civilian population, destroying vital infrastructure and forcing people to flee their homes.”

As far as military aid is concerned, Norway will send “military equipment such as helmets and bulletproof vests to Ukraine.” The equipment was all requested by Ukraine and can be sent quickly, Norwegian Defense Minister Roger Enoksen added. 

He highlighted the plight of the Ukrainian people “fighting for survival against a superior military force.”

“Russia’s attack on Ukraine is threatening European security in a way we have not experienced since the second world war. It poses a threat to the norms, values and principles on which our democratic societies are founded,” Enoksen continued.

Norway is joining the European Union to impose “harsh sanctions against Russia,” according to the statement, adding that further sanctions announced Monday “will also target Belarus.” 

Norwegian Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum is also set to ask the Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the Government Pension Fund Global, to “freeze all its investments in Russia immediately” and divest from Russia. 

Norway’s final move is closing its airspace to Russian airlines, joining a host of other European airlines in doing so. 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged G7 and other world leaders to continue to provide Ukraine with defensive weapons and to keep up the pressure on Putin’s regime.

Following a call with world leaders Monday, a Downing St. spokesperson said the leaders all agreed that Ukraine’s “valiant resistance” to Russian troops is “truly inspirational.”

Johnson also “underlined the need for an international response to the emerging humanitarian crisis, including through supporting Ukraine’s neighbours to deal with large numbers of Ukrainians escaping violence in the country,” according to the statement.

The prime minister stressed the need to keep hitting Russia with trade restrictions and sanctions including SWIFT, a messaging service that connects financial institutions around the world.

The leaders agreed to “pursue every avenue to ensure that Putin fails in his ambitions,” the statement said.

A Russian military convoy that was outside of Ivankiv, Ukraine, on Sunday has since made it to the outskirts of Kyiv, satellite images show.

On Sunday, the convoy was roughly 40 miles northwest of the Ukrainian capital, according to images provided by Maxar Technologies.

Maxar said that roughly 17 miles of roadway is chocked full of the convoy, which consists of armored vehicles, tanks, towed artillery and other logistical vehicles.  

The private US company said the convoy was located on the T-1011 highway at Antonov air base around 11:11 a.m local time.

Antonov is roughly 17 miles from the center of the Ukrainian capital.

The Antonov air base was the site of intense fighting on Thursday. It’s also the site where the largest plane in the world — the Antonov AN-225 Mriya — was kept. The Ukrainian government has said that Russian military destroyed the plane.

The Russian military claimed Monday that its armed forces have hit 1,146 Ukrainian military installations since the beginning of the “special operation,” Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, the spokesperson for Russian Ministry of Defense, said in a statement.

Among the targets were “31 command posts and communication centers, 81 S-300, Buk M-1 and Osa anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as 75 radar stations. Operationally, tactical aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces hit six columns of armored vehicles of the Ukrainian armed forces,” he said.

Additionally, “311 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 42 aircraft and helicopters (including on the ground), 51 multiple launch rocket systems, 147 field artillery pieces and mortars, 263 units of special military vehicles were destroyed,” Konashenkov added.

Konashenkov also said troops have advanced further in both pro-Moscow regions in eastern Ukraine.

“The grouping of troops of the Luhansk People’s Republic during the day continued to conduct offensive operations in the direction of the settlement of Kremennoye, moving forward for another 3 kilometers. In the past day, the units of the Armed Forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic advanced 16 kilometers and captured the settlement of Zamozhnoye,” Konashenkov said.

Over the past 24 hours, another 110 Ukrainian servicemen have voluntarily laid down their arms, the Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman concluded. 

CNN could not verify that statement, and the Russian military has made incorrect claims regarding its military operations in the past. 

France is moving its embassy from Kyiv to Lviv, the country’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced Monday.

“We have decided at the request of the President of the Republic to transfer our embassy, which until now has been in Kiev, and because of the risks and the threats on the Ukrainian capital, the embassy is transferred to Lviv towards the west. The ambassador remains in Ukraine to support our nationals and also the Ukrainian authorities,” Le Drian told CNN affiliate BFMTV. 

“Threats were important enough to relocate,” the French foreign minister added.

After Russian President Vladimir Putin put deterrence forces, including Russian nuclear forces, on alert, Le Drian said, “It’s a useless, disproportionate threat.”

“It’s a threat that he had already made on Feb. 24 when he announced the first operations. It’s a threat that he has just renewed,” he said. “It’s a threat of escalation which makes no sense and that goes against the commitments made very publicly by Russia to measure major strategic risks at the beginning of 2022.”

More than 120,000 people fled Ukraine’s western border in the past 24 hours, according to the Ukrainian border control service.

This figure is more than double the number of daily crossings compared to prior to the Russian invasion.

In a tweet, the service reported that before the “aggravation of a humanitarian situation,” 50,000 people crossed the border — on average — each day.

CNN’s Phil Mattingly broke down the costs that are piling up for Russia and Vladimir Putin as more sanctions are handed down. Mattingly said that the decision by a coalition of Western and Asian countries to “freeze all assets” from the Russian central bank was the “most dramatic step yet.”

“Think of the Russian central bank as the heartbeat of the Russian financial system. And this is when you talk to officials, what they are pointing to most. Over the last several years, President Putin has built up the fourth-largest foreign currency reserve in the world — 630-plus billion dollars and part of the reason was to insulate from western sanctions,” Mattingly reports. 

Mattingly said that these reserves essentially allowed Putin and Russia “to prop up their own currency” and allow them “to provide liquidity to their banks.” 

“This would allow them to be viewed as sanctions-proof — No longer when you go directly at the central bank and start to freeze assets across the globe,” Mattingly said. 

Mattingly pointed out that a sanction like this is extremely rare.

“Now when you want to figure out how rare this is to target a country’s central bank. Look at the countries targeted before. Venezuela, Iran, Syria, all viewed as maligned actors. The difference here, no country, the scale of Russia’s economy, $1.7 trillion … has ever been targeted with sanctions like this before.” 

“It just underscores the moment we’re in right now and the scale of the response,” Mattingly added. 

Watch it here:

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The International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced Monday that the organization will not hold any events in Belarus this year “due to Russian aggression against Ukraine.”

The announcement comes on the heels of the tennis governing body’s decision to indefinitely cancel all events in Russia, a ruling that was revealed on Friday.

“We are constantly monitoring events and remain in active discussion with the ITF tennis family, the ITF Board, and security experts to decide and align around our next course of action,” the ITF said in a statement to CNN on Monday. “We stand united with the population of Ukraine. Right now, our priority remains the safety of all those participating in our events. We will of course be providing more information as soon as possible.”

The ITF has also postponed the World Tennis Tour M15 event that was due to take place in Ukraine in April “amidst heightened security concerns.”

Battered by intense shelling, peppered with gunfire and then … everything goes quiet.

Along Ukraine’s strategic Black Sea coast, Russian forces are playing a strange game, testing defenses, spilling blood and raising tensions but failing to drive home any significant gains.

The small city of Mykolaiv, located on an inlet that would be a useful access point for Russians to bring in troops and supplies, was on Monday picking up the pieces from a weekend of heavy fighting that saw Ukrainian hardware destroyed and civilians targeted.

Broken glass and burnt-out tanks littered the streets. The skyline was dominated by the unusual site of a raised road bridge, the structure elevated for the first time in years to hamper any further ground incursions.

And in the air, as well as the sound of intermittent air raid sirens, the mystery of what Russia’s probing attacks in Mykolaiv and other Black Sea towns are trying to achieve.

They’ve clearly managed to instill fear. Ukrainian troops were on edge in the wake of the fighting, wary of the threat of saboteurs. As CNN toured the city, we saw people pulled from cars and thrown to the ground, suspected to be infiltrators.

Ukrainian troops were trying to put on a brave face. Guarding the wreckage of military vehicles, clearly hit by a ballistic missile with significant firepower, one soldier initially claimed they were Russian before admitting they belonged to Ukrainian forces.

The fighting along this region of the Black Sea has been some of the most intense in Ukraine in the past few days, with unconfirmed reports of Russian paratroopers on the ground, as well as very visible blasts lighting up the skyline.

Yet, in similar strikes on other towns, it’s been almost the same picture. Intense Russian bombardment followed by a pause that has allowed the Ukrainian side to claim victory.

Read the full story here.

Finland will provide 2,500 assault rifles, 150,000 cartridges for attack rifles, 1,500 single-shot anti-tank weapons and 70,000 combat ration packages to Ukraine, the Finnish government said in a news release on Monday.

“The situation in Ukraine is extremely difficult because of Russia’s military attack and there is an immediate need for defense [material],” the statement said.

The country announced on Sunday that it would send bulletproof vests, composite helmets and first aid equipment to Ukraine.

China’s Permanent Representative to the UN Zhang Jun called on parties to exercise restraint, step up diplomatic efforts, and notably said he supports the European Union, The North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Russia resuming dialogue including the “legitimate” security concerns of all, including Russia.

Ambassador Jun said he supports dialogue resuming between EU, NATO and Russia “bearing in mind the notion of indivisible security properly addressing the legitimate security concerns of all parties including Russia, striving to forge a balanced effective and sustainable European security mechanism so as to achieve lasting peace and stability for the European continent.”

“The Cold War has long ended,” he told the General Assembly hall, and “the Cold War mentality” he said “should be abandoned.”

“Nothing can be gained from stirring up a new cold war, but everyone will stand to lose,” Jun said.

Of the situation in Ukraine, Jun said it has “evolved to a point which China doesn’t wish to see” and is “not in the interest of any party.”

“The immediate priority is for all parties to exercise restraint, prevent further worsening of the situation, while stepping up diplomatic efforts aiming for a political solution,” he said.

He also welcomed the start of direct talks between delegations. He said Ukraine should serve as a bridge of communication between east and west, rather than a frontline

He reiterated that the safety of civilian life and humanitarian needs should be guaranteed.

Shell said on Monday it plans to exit its equity partnerships with Russian state energy giant Gazprom in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to a statement, Shell intends to exit its joint ventures with Gazprom and related entities, including its 27.5% stake in the Sakhalin-II liquefied natural gas facility, its 50% stake in the Salym Petroleum Development and the Gydan energy venture. The company will also end its involvement in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, the statement added.

“We are shocked by the loss of life in Ukraine, which we deplore, resulting from a senseless act of military aggression which threatens European security,” said Shell’s chief executive officer, Ben van Beurden.

“Our decision to exit is one we take with conviction,” he said adding that “We cannot — and we will not — stand by. Our immediate focus is the safety of our people in Ukraine and supporting our people in Russia. In discussion with governments around the world, we will also work through the detailed business implications, including the importance of secure energy supplies to Europe and other markets, in compliance with relevant sanctions.”

At the end of 2021, Shell had around $3 billion in non-current assets in these ventures in Russia, according to the company.

“We expect that the decision to start the process of exiting joint ventures with Gazprom and related entities will impact the book value of Shell’s Russia assets and lead to impairments,” said Shell in the statement.

The UK foreign office has advised against all travel to Russia, according to updated travel guidance published Monday. 

The foreign office said they have updated their guidance due to “the lack of available flight options to return to the UK, and the increased volatility in the Russian economy.”

British nationals already in Russia should “be aware that it may not be possible to fly directly to the UK, or via EU countries,” and they are advised to amend travel plans accordingly, the advisory added.

The number of canceled flights to and from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport rank the highest worldwide as western governments continue closing airspace to Russian aircraft.  

One in every five departing and arriving flights from Sheremetyevo have been canceled as of 12:30 p.m. ET Monday, according to data on flight tracking site FlightAware. The airport is the largest in Russia, according to its website.

Russian carrier Aeroflot has canceled one-quarter of its Monday flight schedule and delayed another 10% of flights, FlightAware said.

Europe and Canada have banned Russian flights from entering their airspace, leaving some aircraft to take circuitous routes. 

Late Sunday, Aeroflot Flight 111 from Miami to Moscow “violated the prohibition put in place” by Canadian aviation officials.

“We are launching a review of the conduct of Aeroflot and the independent air navigation service provider, NAVCAN, leading up to this violation,” Transport Canada tweeted. “We will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action and other measures to prevent future violations.”

Aeroflot has now canceled the same flight scheduled for Tuesday.

On Friday, Delta Air Lines announced it was ending its codeshare booking partnership with Aeroflot. Delta said it would re-accommodate passengers on the handful of flights impacted by the move.

Russian national football teams and club teams have been suspended from competition until further notice by global football governing body FIFA and European football governing body UEFA. 

“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine,” the joint statement said on Monday. “Both (FIFA and UEFA) Presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people.”

Shortly after this joint announcement, UEFA said it has ended its partnership with the Russian state-owned energy company, Gazprom, across all competitions, effective immediately.

UEFA made the announcement on Monday, saying, “The decision covers all existing agreements including the UEFA Champions League, UEFA national team competitions and UEFA EURO 2024.”

The mayor of the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolayiv has written on Facebook, urging civilians to come out and “resist” as a “significant” amount of Russian armor is reported to be headed towards them. 

Sirens are reportedly going off in the city.

Twitter will now label all content that contains links to Russian state media and will demote that content algorithmically, the company said, as tech platforms have come under greater pressure to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The move goes beyond previous steps that Twitter has taken in years past to label Russian state media accounts on the platform.

Since the invasion began, the “overwhelming majority” of Russian state media content appearing on Twitter has been shared by individuals, not the state media organizations’ own accounts, the company said. Over the past week, individuals have shared more than 45,000 tweets per day containing media from Russian state outlets. 

Monday’s change will mean that any link shared by a user to a Russian state media organization’s website will automatically receive a label, warning viewers that the tweet “links to a Russia state-affiliated media website.”

 “In addition to the label, we will reduce the visibility and amplification of this content site-wide, no matter who it comes from,” said Twitter spokesperson Trenton Kennedy. “This means that Tweets sharing state media content won’t be amplified — they won’t appear in Top Search and won’t be recommended by Twitter.”

Content from state media outlets of other countries will also receive the same treatment “in the coming weeks,” Kennedy added.

More context: Twitter has not permitted advertising by state-run media outlets since 2019, and the company suspended all ads in Ukraine and Russia last week amid the unfolding crisis to prioritize public safety information. 

The move follows requests by government leaders for tech giants to clamp down on pro-Russian propaganda, including by applying algorithmic controls that limit the amplification and recommendation of Russian-backed media.

See how other social media companies are responding to Russia’s invasion here.

On Sunday, Russia’s close ally Belarus held a referendum, the result of which – in theory – opens the door for the former Soviet republic to host nuclear weaponry. 

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, newly independent states in addition to Russia appeared on the map with nuclear weapons stationed on their territory: Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

The prospect of three new countries armed with nuclear weapons alarmed world leaders, and with the signing of the Budapest Memorandum in 1994, the three agreed to give up their nuclear arsenals in exchange for security guarantees.

The vote in a referendum to approve a new constitution allows Belarus to shed its non-nuclear status. But does that mean it can acquire nuclear weapons? After all, the country does not have a weapons complex for designing, building or testing nuclear weaponry. 

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko seems to be hinting at something else: stationing Russian warheads on Belarusian soil. 

Addressing journalists at a polling station in Minsk on Sunday, Lukashenko said he could ask his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to “return the nuclear weapons” Belarus formally gave up when his country signed up to the Budapest Memorandum.

“If America, or you France, two nuclear powers, start transferring nuclear weapons to Poland or Lithuania, on our borders… I will go to Putin so that he will return to me the nuclear weapons that I, without any special conditions, gave to them,” Lukashenko said. 

Poland and Lithuania do not possess nuclear weapons.

It’s unclear what plans Russia may have, in practice. But it’s worth noting that, days before Russia started its invasion of Ukraine, Lukashenko sat in the Kremlin situation center with Putin to observe nuclear drills, watching the launch of a series of missiles at different test ranges. 

There are several layers of irony in the nuclear rhetoric over Belarus. In stating his case for the invasion of Ukraine, Putin has made a baseless claim about supposed Ukrainian aspirations to acquire nuclear weaponry, something the Kremlin leader cast as an existential threat. 

And it’s worth remembering that Ukraine gave up its own nuclear stockpile in exchange for security guarantees to its territorial integrity from several countries – including Russia – that Putin has now broken.

The Biden administration wants to “reduce the rhetoric and deescalate” after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his country’s deterrence forces – which include nuclear arms – be placed on high alert, the White House said Monday. 

“We’ve seen this pattern from President Putin over the course of the last several months and even before then, where he manufactures the threat in order to justify a greater aggressive action,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told MSNBC.

“The Russians – President Putin included as the leader of Russia – have committed to taking steps to reduce nuclear threats,” she added. “Everybody knows that that is not a war that can be won.” 

Psaki said the US has its “own preparations” and “own ability and capacity to defend the United States,” but has not changed alert levels. 

“We have not changed our own alerts, and we have not changed our own assessment in that front, but we also need to be very clear eyed about his own use of threats,” she said. “What we want to do right now is reduce the rhetoric and deescalate.”

The administration is also doubling down on the decision not to use US troops to create a no-fly zone in Ukraine, calling it “not a good idea” and “not something the President wants to do.”

The implementation of a no-fly zone by the US military “would essentially mean the US military would be shooting down planes, Russian planes,” Psaki said. “That is definitely escalatory that would potentially put us into a place where we’re in a military conflict with Russia.

US President Joe Biden will talk about the situation in Ukraine during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, she confirmed.

Biden would talk about “the fact that the President has built a coalition of countries around the world to stand up to Russian aggression, to stand up to President Putin, to put in place crippling sanctions, that will be a part of what people will hear in the speech. That wouldn’t have been the case three months ago,” she said. 

“If we look back at history,” she continued, “President Obama gave a speech during the worst financial crisis of our lifetime. President Bush gave a speech shortly after the worst terrorist attack on our homeland ever. It’s always about expressing how you’re going to lead the country.” 

She said there would be new policy proposals in the speech.

Several large detonations were heard around 6:40 p.m. local time Monday to the east of the Kyiv’s city center.

They were the largest explosions heard Monday.

They were followed by sirens going off across the city.

Russian and Ukrainian talks have ended in Belarus and the two parties have returned to their capitals for consultations, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s adviser, Mikhaylo Podolyak, told reporters after the talks.

“Ukrainian and Russian delegations held the first round of negotiations. Their main goal was to discuss ceasefire and the end of combat actions on the territory of Ukraine. The parties have determined the topics where certain decisions were mapped out. In order for these decisions to be implemented as roadmap, the parties are returning for consultations to their capitals. The parties discussed holding another round of negotiations where these decisions can develop,” he said Monday.

In the last few moments, three large explosions were heard in Kyiv.

The UK will ban all Russian vessels from entering its ports, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said on Monday.

“Today I’ve written to all UK ports asking them not to provide access to any Russian flagged, registered, owned, controlled, chartered or operated vessels,” Shapps said in a tweet.

Shapps shared a letter addressed to all UK ports stating that the “Department for Transport does not consider it appropriate for Russian vessels to continue to enter UK ports,” after its’ “unprovoked, premeditated” attack against Ukraine.

“The maritime sector is fundamental to international trade, and we must play out part in restricting Russia’s economic interests and holding the Russian government to account,” Shapps continued. 

Shapps said legislation would follow to implement the change.

US security assistance to Ukraine has continued to arrive, including within the last day, a senior defense official said Monday morning.

Without detailing exactly what type of assistance is going in, the official said it includes both ground and airborne defensive capabilities. 

Over the weekend, the same official said that ground convoys and routes are options the US has evaluated for sending in assistance in light of the contested airspace over Ukraine.

In the period before the invasion, the US had sent in Javelin anti-armor missiles and approved the transfer of Stringer anti-aircraft missiles from NATO allies to Ukraine.

The US has not seen any efforts by Russian forces to “interdict” security assistance the US is sending to Ukraine, according to the senior defense official, despite Russian efforts to capture the airports around Kyiv.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly characterized the US’ assistance involving Stringer anti-aircraft missiles.

Russian forces are “causing civilian harm and they are striking civilian targets,” a senior US defense official told reporters Monday, but it is unclear “whether it’s intentional and directed,” the official added. 

“We’re not making apologies here for the Russians, we obviously see that residential areas and civilian targets are being struck, there’s no question about that, you can see with the, just in plain sight, in terms of the imagery that’s coming out of Ukraine,” the official said. 

But as for “whether it’s intentional and directed, we’re just not in a position to be able to confirm that,” the official added. 

US officials have not seen Belarusian troops “being readied to move into Ukraine” or “that they are moving or are in Ukraine,” a senior US defense official told reporters Monday. 

The forces inside Ukraine are Russian. Russian President Vladimir Putin has “just under 75% of the combat power that he had assembled” for this invasion inside of Ukraine right now, the official said. 

CNN reported earlier that Ukrainian intelligence indicates Belarusian “readiness to maybe participate directly” in the invasion of Ukraine, “in addition to allowing Russians to use their territory as well as letting them cross the border.”

A second source close to the Ukrainian government told CNN that in addition to the Ukrainian intelligence, the Biden administration has also conveyed to the Ukrainian government that Belarus is preparing to invade Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had a call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, initiated by the French side on Monday, the Kremlin said in a statement.

During the call, the two sides “had a serious and thorough exchange of opinions around the situation in Ukraine,” the Kremlin said.

“French side has expressed its known views” about its hope for a quick settlements through dialogue and negotiations, the Kremlin readout stated. “Vladimir Putin has stressed that such a settlement is only possible with unconditional consideration of Russia’s legitimate defense interests, including recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea, solving tasks of demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine and ensuring its neutral status.”

The readout added that Russia is open for negotiations with Ukraine.

It also claimed that the Russian Armed Forces do not pose any threat to civilians [in Ukraine] and blames the threat on Ukrainian nationalists. 

“Russian President has stressed that the Russian Armed Forces do not threaten civilians and do not strike civilian objects. The threat comes from Ukrainian nationalists who use the civilian population as a human shield, deliberately place striking weapon systems in residential areas, and who intensified shelling of cities in Donbas,” the statement read.

Putin and Macron agreed to remain in contact, the readout concluded.

More background: The ongoing Russian assault has inflicted widespread suffering and casualties on the Ukrainian population. The UN’s Refugee Agency said Monday that more than 500,000 refugees had so far fled Ukraine to neighboring countries amid Russia’s ongoing invasion and military aggression.

The number of known civilians killed in Ukraine is at least 352, with 14 of those children, Ukraine’s Ministry of Interior said Sunday.

A senior US official told reporters Monday that Russian forces are “causing civilian harm and they are striking civilian targets,” but it is unclear “whether it’s intentional and directed,” the official added.

US has not seen “anything specific” since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that he ordered his country’s deterrence forces, including nuclear weapons, on high alert on Sunday, a senior US defense official told reporters Monday.

“We’re still monitoring and watching this as closely as we can, given President Putin’s announcement yesterday,” the official said. “I don’t believe we’ve seen anything specific as a result of the direction that he gave.”

“We remain comfortable and confident in our own strategic deterrence posture,” the official added.

It is possible that the Russians could take a “more aggressive approach” in their attempts to take the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv, because they are frustrated that their progress has slowed and they’ve faced resistance from Ukrainians there, a senior US defense official told reporters on Monday.

“Certainly, they have been slowed and they have been frustrated by their lack of progress on Kyiv, and one of the things that could result is a reevaluation of their tactics and the potential for them to be more aggressive and more overt in both the size and the scale of their targeting of Kyiv,” the official said in response to a question from CNN’s Barbara Starr. 

The official said they have “not seen” that more aggressive approach “yet” from the Russians, but “the frustrations could lead to a more aggressive approach.” 

“We still believe that Kyiv is an objective for them. It’s impossible to speculate as to how they may or may not change their plans going forward,” the official said.

The Russian forces are now “roughly 25 km out of Kyiv,” a senior US defense official told reporters Monday morning eastern time. 

Russian forces are “advancing on the ground and trying to get closer to Kyiv.” Russian forces “clearly want to encircle Kyiv from multiple locations, not just the north, but to move around it as well from the south,” the official added. 

“The Ukrainians are putting up continued and sustained and stiff resistance in and around Kyiv, and we certainly don’t see any slackening off on their part either,” the official said.

Germany has vowed to take in all Ukrainian refugees who flee from a Russian invasion of their country.

“We will take in all Ukrainians fleeing,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock at a joint news conference with her Slovenian counterpart Anze Logar on Monday. “We are helping fleeing people from Ukraine. We are standing at the borders to bring help to the people and to bring people to all European countries.”

Baerbock also promised more humanitarian help to Ukraine.

Ahead of the UN General Assembly in New York this week, Baerbock asked all countries who “believe in the Charta of the United Nations” to isolate the Russian leadership for its invasion of Ukraine.

“Today it is already the fifth day of Putin’s war against Ukraine and innocent people in Ukraine. He has brought incredible sufferings upon Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands are fleeing, millions fear for their lives and their future. As atrocious as these pictures are, they make us more decisive! Ukraine does not stand alone, Europe, the Western Union of Values firmly stands at the side of the brave Ukrainians,“ Baerbock said.

In a major policy shift, Germany promised weapons to Ukraine on Saturday.

“Putin’s war has thrown us into a different era. We will re-evaluate previous certainties and therefore we will help Ukrainians with weapons and other equipment,” Baerbock added.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has launched an emergency operation to provide food assistance to people within Ukraine and in neighboring countries following an official request from the Ukrainian government, the UN agency said Monday. 

The organization is calling for $570 million USD in order to provide support to refugees fleeing violence amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. 

“We are deeply concerned for the impact of hostilities on the lives and livelihoods of civilians,” Margot van der Velden, WFP’s Director of Emergencies, said in a statement. 

“As the situation evolves, there is a need to ensure that affected communities have continued access to any humanitarian support they may require and that the safety of humanitarian staff on the ground is guaranteed,” she added. 

According WFP staff in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, “food supplies are running low” and grocery store shelves are “almost empty,” the statement added.

“Food shortages will be another obstacle facing residents of Kyiv, many of whom have taken shelter in metro stations,” the WFP added. 

The UN agency has stated that its food assistance operation is also set to cover Romania and Poland initially, with the possibility to extend to Moldova and Slovakia. 

Earlier on Monday, the UN’s Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said more than 500,000 refugees had so far fled Ukraine to neighboring countries amid Russia’s ongoing invasion and military aggression.

Britain will seek to suspend Russia from international policing body Interpol, the UK Home Secretary Priti Patel told parliament on Monday.

“The Ukrainian government has today requested that the Russian government be suspended from its membership of Interpol, and we will be leading all international efforts to that effect,” Patel said.

Interpol is a global agency that facilitates police across its 195-member countries to collaborate on criminal investigations.

The Russian advance on the Ukrainian capital city Kyiv “remains slowed,” but Russian forces moved five kilometers (about three miles) closer to the city center since yesterday.

The Russian forces are now “roughly 25 kilometers out of Kyiv,” a senior US defense official told reporters Monday morning eastern time. That is about 15 miles.

“Their advance on Kyiv still appears to be their main line of effort, and we expect that they’re going to want to continue to move forward and try to encircle the city in coming days,” the official said.

Taking Kharkiv “remains an objective” for the Russians, and “they continue to try to advance on” the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, but the Russians have not taken either city yet, the official said.

“The current belief is that if they can get Kharkiv and they can get Mariupol, if you draw a line between those two cities, you can see that that would allow them to section off the eastern part of Ukraine,” the official said.

The US has not seen “anything specific” since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that he ordered his country’s deterrence forces, including nuclear weapons, on high alert on Sunday, a senior US defense official told reporters Monday. 

“We’re still monitoring and watching this as closely as we can, given President Putin’s announcement yesterday,” the official said. “I don’t believe we’ve seen anything specific as a result of the direction that he gave.”

“We remain comfortable and confident in our own strategic deterrence posture,” the official added.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres addressed the UN General Assembly Monday in its first emergency meeting since 1982, saying of the Russian invasion “enough is enough.”

“The fighting in Ukraine must stop,” he said.

The top UN leader also called Russian putting nuclear defenses on alert “a chilling development.”

“The mere idea of a nuclear development is simply inconceivable,” Guterres said, adding “nothing can justify the use of nuclear weapons.”

He said United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has estimated a half a million Ukrainians have fled the country, and there are credible reports of damage to residential buildings and critical civilian infrastructure. The UN leader called the death of civilians, including children, “totally unacceptable.”

Guterres expressed hopes that direct talks between Ukraine and Russian delegations would welcome an immediate stop to the fighting and a diplomatic solution.

“The sovereignty of Ukraine must be respected,” he said earlier.

A residential neighborhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, has been hit by a rocket attack on Monday, according to Ukrainian officials and multiple social media videos geolocated by CNN. 

The videos show multiple rockets exploding closely together in a residential part of the Saltivka neighborhood in north-east Kharkiv, close to a supermarket.

One video shows a rocket booster lodged in the street pavement, as civilians look on. 

According to the Kharkiv City Council, the latest shelling of the city has left one female civilian dead, and 31 wounded. The wounded are made up of 15 servicemen and 16 civilians, according to the city council in a news statement.  

Dan Kaszeta, a London based defense specialist and an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said the images are consistent with a multiple rocket launch system attacks.

“The appearance of at least one image of a rocket booster section lends credence to this having been a rocket attack,” he said. 

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s head of the ministry of internal affairs, said “Kharkiv has just been subjected to massive Grad shelling! Dozens of victims.” 

He described the situation as “a nightmare.”

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova also took to Facebook to describe the situation in the city. “It’s more hellish in Kharkiv today than it was yesterday.”

Venediktova posted a video showing a missile that hit a kitchen window and tore off the leg of a woman who later died in hospital, she said.  

More background: Over the last few days, the Kharkiv City Council has recorded 44 wounded, including 20 servicemen, and a total of seven killed. The seven fatalities include two servicemen and five civilians.

CNN is reaching to the Russian authorities for comment on today’s attack. 

On Monday, CNN witnessed on the Russian side of the border south of Belgorod at least three ‘Uragan’ multiple rocket launchers heading towards the Kharkiv front line. They saw three launchers and a loading vehicle with missiles on it.

On Friday, Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov sought to reassure the world about civilian casualties on day two of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Nobody is going to attack the people of Ukraine,” he said during a heated news conference, telling CNN that there were “no strikes on civilian infrastructure.”

Russia is facing universal condemnation and increased sanctions from countries across Europe over its unprovoked assault on Ukraine, and more moves are being announced each day.

If you’re just reading in today, here’s a look at the latest actions by European countries against Russia:

EU closes its airspace to Russia, including the private jets of oligarchs

On Sunday, the EU announced it is closing its airspace to Russia, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

“We are proposing a prohibition on all Russian-owned, Russian-registered and Russian-controlled aircraft. These aircraft will no more be able to land in, take off or overfly the territory of the European Union. This will apply to any plane,” von der Leyen said. 

“Our airspace will be closed to every Russian plane. And that includes the private jets of oligarchs too,” she added.

The UK has also banned Russian private jets from its airspace on Friday.

Russian state media outlets banned

Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell also announced a ban for Russian news outlets Russia Today and Sputnik.

Speaking in a joint news conference in Brussels on Sunday, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy announced that the bloc would ban the two outlets in a bid “to fight” Russian disinformation.

“Today we are taking a crucial step to turn off the tap for the Russian’s information manipulation in Europe by banning Russia Today and Sputnik from broadcasting in the European Union,” Borrell said. “We are killing the snake on its neck.” 

Central bank reserves of Russia blocked by new sanctions

More than half of the central bank reserves of Russia will be blocked as part of new EU sanctions against the country, Borrell said Sunday.

Measures against neighboring country, Belarus will also be “reinforced,” Borrell said, in return for its role in “facilitating the Russian assault against Ukraine.”

Von der Leyen also announced that the EU will provide finance to purchase weapons for Ukraine, adding that this is the first time the bloc has ever done so.

Borrell said the EU is doing so “because this war requires our engagement in order to support the Ukrainian army.”

“We asked for SWIFT and we asked for arms and now we are delivering on both sides,” the diplomat remarked.

Switzerland will forego “Swiss neutrality” and adopt the same sanctions as EU against Russia

On Monday, Switzerland announced that it will forego its commitment to “Swiss neutrality” in favor of adopting sanctions against Russia, Swiss Federal President Ignazio Cassis said, adding that Switzerland’s sanctions will be in line with those already adopted by the European Union. 

“The Swiss Federal Council has decided today to fully adopt EU sanctions,” Cassis said during a news briefing. “It is an unparalleled action of Switzerland, who has always stayed neutral before.”

“Russia’s attack is an attack on freedom, an attack on democracy, an attack on the civil population, and an attack on the institutions of a free country. This cannot be accepted regarding international law, this cannot be accepted politically, and this cannot be accepted morally,” Cassis added. 

Norway’s energy giant Equinor to exit its partnerships in Russia

Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor will stop all new investments in Russia and begin to exit its joint ventures there, the company said in a statement Monday.

“We are all deeply troubled by the invasion of Ukraine, which represents a terrible setback for the world,” said Anders Opedal, president and CEO of Equinor.

The company said it had $1.2 billion in long-term investments in Russia at the end of 2021. It has operated in Russia for more than 30 years and has a cooperation agreement with Russia’s state-owned oil company Rosneft. 

This is significant because the Norwegian government owns two-thirds of Equinor, according to the company’s website. On Sunday, the Norwegian government also announced in a statement that it will ask its sovereign wealth fund to divest from Russia. The fund describes itself as one of the world’s largest, holding 1.5% of all shares in global listed companies.

Several European football associations announce they will not play international football fixtures against Russia until further notice

Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland and Albania followed in the footsteps of England, Czech Republic, Sweden and Poland in refusing to face Russia at any level of international football.

The United Nations General Assembly is meeting now as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues. In his opening speech, General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid of Maldives renewed his call for immediate ceasefire, the first since 1982.

He called on the parties to use “rare” dialogue opportunity to “meaningfully and rapidly de-escalate” situation.

The US State Department has once again urged Americans not to travel to Russia on Monday, citing “the unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces in Ukraine.”

The alert also noted “the potential for harassment against U.S. citizens by Russian government security officials, the embassy’s limited ability to assist U.S. citizens in Russia, COVID-19 and related entry restrictions, terrorism, limited flights into and out of Russia, and the arbitrary enforcement of local law.”

The alert comes after the department told Americans in Russia to considering “immediately” departing the country while there are still commercial flights leaving the country.

The security alert on Monday reiterated those warnings.

“Due to Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine, an increasing number of airlines are cancelling flights into and out of Russia, and numerous countries have closed their airspace to Russian airlines. In addition, air space around southern Russia is restricted and a number of airports in the area have closed,” the alert said. “U.S. citizens located in or considering travel to the districts of the Russian Federation immediately bordering Ukraine should be aware that the situation along the border is dangerous and unpredictable.”

Given the “ongoing armed conflict” fighting on the border of Russia and Ukraine the alert also advises against traveling by land from Russia to Ukraine.

Earlier Monday, the State Department is also allowing non-emergency employees and family members to depart the US embassy in Russia due to safety and security issues.

The State Department is expected to hold a press briefing at 2 p.m. ET.

The latest shelling of the city of Kharkiv has left one female civilian dead and 31 wounded, according to the city council.

The wounded are made up of 15 servicemen and 16 civilians, according to the city council in a news statement.

Over the last few days, the city council has recorded 44 wounded, including 20 servicemen, and a total of seven killed. The seven fatalities include two servicemen and five civilians.

More background: Ukrainian forces successfully repelled a Russian advance on Sunday on a strategic airfield near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which has been under near-constant attack.

Read more about where things stand in Russia’s invasion here.

The CEOs of several major companies took to Twitter over the weekend to express their feelings about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, tweeted on Saturday, “Yes, it’s the weekend. But in Ukraine it’s anything but a weekend. Think for a minute of the children, the mums and dads, the young men and women bravely trying to defend their country, the wounded and the dying. Let all our thoughts be with them all this weekend.”   

Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted last week, “I am deeply concerned with the situation in Ukraine. We’re doing all we can for our teams there and will be supporting local humanitarian efforts. I am thinking of the people who are right now in harm’s way and joining all those calling for peace.”   

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff tweeted a picture Friday of his great-grandfather, who he said was born in Ukraine, adding that “tonight my soul is rocked & I am crying for my family & friends in Kiev who are now displaced on the streets reminding me of my great grandfather Issac Benioff born in this great city. Will we ever love thy neighbor as thyself? May the one who brings peace bring peace to all.” 

Other CEOs offered not just words of solidarity, but also action. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky tweeted on Monday that the company is working with its hosts to house up to 100,000 refugees fleeing from Ukraine, free of charge. 

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, asked Telsa CEO Elon Musk via Twitter on Saturday to provide Ukraine with Starlink internet satellites as the country suffered power outages due to the invasion. 

“Starlink service is now active in Ukraine,” Musk tweeted in response. “More terminals en route.” 

Fedorov also tweeted letters to the CEOs of Apple, Rakuten and PayPal, requesting that the execs block their companies’ services in Russia. 

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke separately to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and afterwards to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Monday.

The call with Putin lasted an hour and 30 mins, according to the Élysée Palace.

Macron said he pressed for the “need to implement an immediate ceasefire.”

Belarus is emerging as a key player to watch in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian intelligence suggests Belarus is showing “readiness to maybe participate directly” in Russia’s invasion, “in addition to allowing Russians to use their territory as well as letting them cross the border” into Ukraine, a Ukrainian government official told CNN.

Belarus and Russia have close military ties, and Russian troops recently deployed to Belarus for extensive military drills.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said last week that Belarusian troops could join the invasion “if it becomes necessary.”

Here’s what you should know about Lukashenko, the man at the helm of this nation that lies between Russia and European Union member Poland:

Elected president in Belarus’ first democratic election in 1994 after the fall of Soviet Union, he has ruled for more than a quarter of a century. But subsequent elections have been marred by allegations of strong-arm tactics and voting irregularities and were won by suspiciously wide margins.

Late 2020 was marred by months of protests and violence across the country after a disputed election as riot police fired warning shots into the air, used stun grenades and arrested more than 200 people to deter tens of thousands of Belarusians who marched through Minsk on Sunday to demand the veteran leader leave power.

He rejected the accusations that the vote was rigged and said he has no intention of quitting.

“Europe’s last dictator”: Called “Europe’s last dictator,” his iron grip on his country has become increasingly forceful. His public appearances are tightly controlled and he is generally surrounded by fawning countrymen.

Lukashenko has increasingly strengthened his alliance with Putin, who has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in financial aid — Kremlin support that is likely to come with strings.

In an exclusive interview with CNN in 2021, Lukashenko told CNN what could happen if there’s ever a provocation against the two countries:

“If we need to, Belarus will turn into one military base for Russia and Belarus in order to withstand your aggression, if you decide, or if any one country decides to attack. And you should be clear on this, I have never made any secret of it.”

Canada will being sending an additional $25 million in military aid to Ukraine, Mélanie Joly, minister of foreign affairs, and Anita Anand, minister of national defense, announced in a joint news release Monday.

Ukraine directly requested aid from Canada for further protective equipment for items like gas masks, body armor, night vision gear and helmets, the release states.

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) will also be providing two C-130J tactical airlift aircraft and a team of 40-50 personnel for at least two weeks to help NATO’s efforts in Europe.

“We are working with our allies to ensure Ukrainian military personnel are properly equipped and together with our partners in Poland, we are working to deliver necessary military materials without delay,” Joly said. “We will continue to provide support to the Ukrainian people as they fight to defend their nation and its freedom.”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Monday recommended that Russian and Belarusian athletes be banned from competing in all international sporting events. 

“In order to protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants, the IOC EB recommends that International Sports Federations and sports event organisers not invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions,” read a statement.

“The IOC EB strongly urges International Sports Federations and organisers of sports events worldwide to do everything in their power to ensure that no athlete or sports official from Russia or Belarus be allowed to take part under the name of Russia or Belarus,” the statement said.

“Russian or Belarusian nationals, be it as individuals or teams, should be accepted only as neutral athletes or neutral teams. No national symbols, colours, flags or anthems should be displayed,” the statement continued.

The IOC also announced that it had also withdrawn the Olympic Order from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin was awarded the highest award of the Olympic Movement in 2001.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko and Dmitry Kozak, deputy chief of staff of the presidential executive office, have also been stripped of their titles.

The IOC said the decision had been made as a result of “the extremely grave violation of the Olympic Truce and other violations of the Olympic Charter by the Russian government in the past.”

Russia’s Olympic Committee (ROC) said Monday it strongly disagreed with the IOC’s decision to ban Russian athletes from competing in all international sporting events. 

A statement issued on the ROC’s website said the decision “contradicts both the regulatory documents of the IOC and the [Olympic] Charter […] and the spirit of the Olympic movement, which is designed to unite, not divide, especially when it comes to athletes and equality of participants in the Olympic movement.”

“For its part, the Russian Olympic Committee intends to consistently defend the rights and interests of Russian athletes and provide all necessary assistance to our national federations to challenge the discriminatory decisions of the respective international federations,” the statement added.

The ROC said it would contact individual international sporting federations for an official response to the IOC’s announcement as “it is international sports federations that have the authority to admit athletes to international competitions in the corresponding sport.”

US stocks were broadly lower Monday morning. Wall Street is worried about the impact of more economic sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine and the fact that Russia has put nuclear weapons forces and other deterrents on high alert.

Defense stocks were among the few standouts, rallying after Germany announced plans to increase its military spending.

Here’s how things looked when US markets opened:

Switzerland has announced that it will forego its commitment to “Swiss neutrality” in favor of adopting sanctions against Russia, Swiss Federal President Ignazio Cassis said Monday, adding that Switzerland’s sanctions will be in line with those already adopted by the European Union. 

“The Swiss Federal Council has decided today to fully adopt EU sanctions,” Cassis said during a news briefing. “It is an unparalleled action of Switzerland, who has always stayed neutral before.”

“Russia’s attack is an attack on freedom, an attack on democracy, an attack on the civil population, and an attack on the institutions of a free country. This cannot be accepted regarding international law, this cannot be accepted politically, and this cannot be accepted morally,” Cassis added. 

Speaking after an extraordinary meeting of the Swiss Federal Council, Cassis stressed that “in these dark days,” Switzerland stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and hopes that sanctions will encourage the Kremlin to “change its mind.”

“To play into the hands of an aggressor is not neutral. Having signed the Geneva convention of human rights, we are bound to humanitarian order,” Cassis said. “Other democracies shall be able to rely on Switzerland; those standing for international law shall be able to rely on Switzerland; states that uphold human rights shall be able to rely on Switzerland.”

Switzerland will freeze the assets of “listed persons” and will also bring into force an entry ban for those highlighted by the EU’s packet of sanctions, according to the Swiss Federal President.

Cassis said that Switzerland was closing its airspace to all flights from Russia, including private jets, with the exception of humanitarian flights, search flights and emergency situations. 

Swiss Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said entry ban will impact “oligarchs of Russian or Ukrainian nationality who are particularly close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

“These are five persons with strong economic connections into Switzerland,” Keller-Sutter highlighted, but said because of privacy reasons, she was not naming those oligarchs.

The defenders of Snake Island in the Black Sea, who were initially feared dead, are “alive and well,” according to the Ukrainian Navy. 

On Monday, a statement from the Navy said that the soldiers on the island, also known as Zmiinyi Island, repelled two attacks by Russian forces but in the end were forced to surrender “due to the lack of ammunition.”

The statement went on to say that Russian forces have completely destroyed the islands infrastructure: lighthouses, towers and antennas. 

Over the weekend, the Ukrainian Border Guard Service said they had received information that all 82 soldiers may be alive. 

Russian state media also showed the arrival of the Ukrainian soldiers in Sevastopol, Crimea, where they are being held. 

More background: Snake Island sits about 30 miles (48 kilometers) off the southern tip of the Ukrainian mainland in the northwestern Black Sea. It’s about 185 miles (300 kilometers) west of Crimea, the Ukrainian territory that Russia annexed in 2014.

Though it is only about 46 acres (18 hectares) in size, a report last year from the non-partisan Atlantic Council think tank called it “key to Ukraine’s maritime territorial claims” in the Black Sea.

Here’s a look at where the island is located:

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will travel to Poland and Estonia, the prime minister’s office said on Monday. 

A spokesperson for the prime minister told journalists during a lobby briefing that Johnson will travel to the two countries on Tuesday to speak with his Polish and Estonian counterparts. He is also set to meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday, the spokesperson added.  

The prime minister will also speak with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and G7 leaders later Monday, according to the spokesperson.  

Several European football associations announced Monday that they will not play international fixtures against Russia until further notice.

Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland and Albania followed in the footsteps of England, Czech Republic, Sweden and Poland in refusing to face Russia at any level of international football.

The Swiss FA said in a statement that its decision would extend to the women’s national team’s opening group stage game of the 2022 UEFA Women’s Euros on July 9 against Russia.

The Scottish FA said that its president Rob Petrie had sent “a message of support, friendship, and unity” to his counterpart at the Ukrainian Association of Football.

The two nations are due to meet on March 24 in their 2022 FIFA World Cup play-off semifinal in Glasgow.

The Football Association of Ireland offered its “unequivocal support to Ukraine’s FA,” adding that Ireland’s national stadium – Aviva Stadium – will be lit up in the colors of the Ukrainian flag later Monday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has canceled his visit to Geneva for the session of the UN Human Rights Council, because of the European Union’s ban on Russian aircraft, the Russian Mission in Geneva said Monday. 

The EU confirmed its decision to shut down its airspace to Russia on Sunday. The ban is part of the measures in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

“Our airspace will be closed to every Russian plane. And that includes the private jets of oligarchs too,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday.

Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor will stop all new investments in Russia and begin to exit its joint ventures there, the company said in a statement Monday.

“We are all deeply troubled by the invasion of Ukraine, which represents a terrible setback for the world,” said Anders Opedal, president and CEO of Equinor.

The company said it had $1.2 billion in long-term investments in Russia at the end of 2021. It has operated in Russia for more than 30 years and has a cooperation agreement with Russia’s state-owned oil company Rosneft. 

Why this matters: This is significant because the Norwegian government owns two-thirds of Equinor, according to the company’s website. On Sunday, the Norwegian government also announced in a statement that it will ask its sovereign wealth fund to divest from Russia. The fund describes itself as one of the world’s largest, holding 1.5% of all shares in global listed companies.

Five days into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it seems things haven’t gone exactly to plan for Vladimir Putin so far.

Western intelligence officials briefed repeatedly over the weekend that Russian forces have encountered “stiffer than expected” resistance from an outmanned and outgunned Ukrainian military.

Russia has thus far failed to take key cities across Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv. On Sunday, Ukrainian forces successfully repelled a Russian advance on a strategic airfield near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which has been under near-constant attack.

In addition to a fierce fightback from Ukrainian forces and civilians, the Russian invasion has suffered logistical challenges, with soldiers on the front line running short of fuel, ammunition and food.

“They are having problems,” a NATO official said of the Russian forces, pointing to the alliance’s latest intelligence. “They lack diesel, they are proceeding way too slow and morale is obviously an issue.”

But a senior US defense official told reporters on Sunday that Russia has only used two-thirds of the total combat power applied to the mission, leaving a significant amount of forces available to press the offensive.

And on Monday, a miles-long convoy of Russian military vehicles was bearing down on the Ukrainian capital, while Kyiv’s intelligence also suggests Belarus is prepared to join the Russian invasion, according to a Ukrainian official.

Representatives from Ukraine and Russia were meeting Monday on the Belarusian border. In those talks, Ukraine will insist on an “immediate ceasefire” and the withdrawal of Russian troops — though, realistically, no one is expecting that to happen.

Putin, it seems, hasn’t just misjudged Ukraine’s ability to defend itself, but also just how hard a line the international community would take against Russia in the event of an invasion.

For years, the Russian president has faced very little pushback from the West over his illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea, his brutal support for the Syrian regime and acts of aggression in other countries.

For all their strong words of condemnation for Putin and his regime, Western countries still bought gas from Russia, offered a safe haven to Russian oligarchs and retained relatively normal diplomatic relations with Moscow.

But this time around — despite a few early rocky patches which saw Western nations accused of not hitting Russia hard enough — Putin has faced an unusually united Western alliance.

Read more here.

The Russian Civil Aviation Authority has closed off its airspace to the carriers of 36 countries, it said in a statement on Monday

According to the agency, the decision was taken in response to the bans imposed by European states on carriers or flights registered in Russia.

Read more about the bans here.

More than 500,000 refugees have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries amid Russia’s ongoing invasion and military aggression, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said Monday. 

“UNHCR is working with partners and local authorities to provide humanitarian aid and support those in need,” UNHCR added in a Tweet. 

In an earlier tweet, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said neighboring countries must urgently share this responsibility “in concrete ways.” 

The European Union has shown “unity and firm action” in a way “never seen before” in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said Monday while speaking from a mobile refugee camp at the Siret border point in Romania.

“I also see the need for the European Commission to step up when it comes to support in funding, in personnel and in other aspects,” she said.

The White House is watching actions taken by Belarus closely and is prepared to levy more sanctions on the country amid reports that Belarusian forces could join Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, a senior administration official said.

“We’re watching those events very carefully,” the official said when asked about reports of intelligence showing Belarus is prepared to join the Russian invasion.

“We’ve said to the extent Belarus continues to aid and abet Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, they will also face consequences,” the official said. “We’ve already rolled out some of those measures. Those costs will continue to ratchet much higher.”

Dan Horovyi, a member of the orthodox Jewish Karlin Stolin community, has been staying in the basement of the community synagogue with his wife and two-year-old son.

“When all this started, we knew we had to do something, and thank God we had a place to hide— not just a place to stay alive but a place to live,” he told CNN. “We could stay here for a month with no problems.”

He added that the family had everything they needed there.

“This place is open to our community, other Jewish communities in Kyiv, and we also have people who are not Jewish also staying with us,” he said.

Battles have continued throughout Monday near several key Ukrainian cities, even as delegates from Ukraine and Russia sat down for talks.

It’s early afternoon in Kyiv. Here’s what you need to know if you’re just joining us.

The US is taking immediate action on Monday to prohibit US dollar transactions with the Russian central bank and fully block the Russian direct investment fund, senior administration officials said, taking aim at some of Russia’s most powerful means of mitigating the effect of sanctions.

The steps are meant to prevent Russia from accessing a “rainy day fund” that officials said Moscow had been expecting to rely upon during the invasion of Ukraine. Instead of using the reserves to buffer a plummeting Ruble, Russia will no longer be able to access the funds it keeps in US dollars.

The sweeping new sanctions, taken with Germany, France, the UK, Italy, and Canada, European Union and others, come as Russia’s economy is already in freefall.

“No country is sanction proof,” a White House official said. “Putin’s war chest of $630 billion in reserves only matters if you can use it to defend his currency, specifically by selling those reserves in exchange for buying the ruble.”

“After today’s actions that will no longer be possible, and fortress Russia will be exposed as a myth.” 

In a phone call with reporters Monday morning, a senior administration official said the move was “the culmination of months of planning and preparation across our respective governments across technical, diplomatic and political channels, including at the highest levels.”

“We were ready and that’s what allowed us to act within days, not weeks or months of Putin escalation,” the official said. 

“Our strategy, to put it simply, is to make sure that the Russian economy goes backward as long as President Putin decides to go forward with his invasion of Ukraine,” a second senior administration official said.

In a bid to mitigate the impact of the sanctions on US and European energy consumers, the Treasury Department will exempt most energy-related transactions from the sanctions, a significant carve-out in the sanctions.

One official called the ongoing sanctions a “vicious feedback loop that’s triggered by Putin his own choices and accelerated by his own aggression.” 

The sanctions also fully block the Russian Direct Investment Fund and its CEO, Kirill Dmitriev. Officials said they were, “symbols of deep seated Russian corruption and influence peddling globally.” 

“Today’s actions represent the most significant actions in the US Treasury is taken against an economy of this size and assets of this size,” another official said. “What also makes this asset significant is not just the amount of assets or the size of the country we’re targeting, but the speed at which our partners and allies have worked with us to enact this response.”

Asked about potential additional sanctions on Belarus, which appears poised to elevate its role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an official said the US is watching events “very carefully” and that sanctions on Belarus would “continue to ratchet much higher.”

The US is suspending operations at the US embassy in Belarus and also allowing non-emergency employees and family members to depart the US embassy in Russia due to safety and security issues resulting from Russian aggression towards Ukraine, Secretary of State Tony Blinken said in a statement. 

“The U.S. Department of State has suspended operations at our Embassy in Minsk, Belarus and authorized the voluntary departure (“authorized departure”) of non-emergency employees and family members at our Embassy in Moscow, Russia. We took these steps due to security and safety issues stemming from the unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces in Ukraine,” Blinken said on Monday morning. 

Blinken cited the department’s highest priority being the safety and security of US citizens, including US government personnel worldwide.

Some background: CNN reported overnight that a Ukrainian government official said that Ukrainian intelligence indicates Belarusian “readiness to maybe participate directly” in the invasion of Ukraine. This “in addition to allowing Russians to use their territory as well as letting them cross the border” into Ukraine. A second source close to the Ukrainian government tells CNN that in addition to the Ukrainian intel, the Biden administration has also conveyed to the Ukrainian government that Belarus is preparing to invade. 

“The Department of State continually adjusts its posture at embassies and consulates throughout the world in line with its mission, the local security environment, and the health situation. We ultimately have no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens, and that includes our U.S. government personnel and their dependents serving around the world,” Blinken said.

European Union defense ministers will on Monday discuss plans for member states to jointly finance and coordinate the delivery of defensive weapons to Ukraine, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said Monday. 

“Half a billion euros [$560 million] will be devoted to providing defensive arms, high-calibre arms, and anti-tank [equipment] — all kinds of agreements in order to repel the aggression,” Borrell said. 

“We have to coordinate what we are doing and what we can do additionally with these resources,” he added. 

Borrell’s remarks, ahead of a virtual meeting of EU defense ministers on Monday, come after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU would, for the first time, finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to a country that is under attack. 

Addressing reporters in Brussels, Borrell said that Ukrainian forces are “resisting” Russia’s invasion in parts of the country – including Kyiv, Kharkiv and Mariupol – with Russia’s forces suffering a “high toll” in casualties, according to the EU representative. 

“But we have to provide ammunition, we have to provide high calibre guns and anti-tank equipment,” Borrell continued. 

The EU foreign affairs chief also stressed that the international community cannot allow a situation where a “powerful country smashes their neighbor using its military capacities.”

“If we allow this, it is the law of the jungle,” he added.

In Ukraine’s capital, Andrii Tereshko says he has been feeling frustrated as he waits to enlist to fight for his country, “but the line is too long.”

The 26-year-old software developer wanted to join territorial defense units but he was met with long wait lines on Sunday.

“They took 100, then told us to come tomorrow. Today, I tried to enlist but they said they are full and they don’t have more weapons,” he told CNN.

When the tensions started escalating, Tereshko says everyone was scared because he, like many else, didn’t know what to expect.

“But we always hoped that nothing would happen. No one expected full-scale invasion,” he said. “When I woke up on Thursday to full-scale invasion, I was less scared … When war started, I felt like I focused more. There is only one thing now — protect my country. That’s the only thing now.”

Americans overwhelmingly favor increased economic sanctions against Russia and broadly support further action to stop Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but most oppose direct US military action, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS.

Eighty-three percent of Americans said they favored increased economic sanctions against Russia in response to the invasion, with just 17% opposed.

New sanctions and economic restrictions aimed at Russia were announced by the US and other countries while the poll was in the field on Friday and Saturday. Support for increased sanctions in the new poll stands well above the 67% who favored the same in 2014 amid Russia’s incursion into eastern Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea.

A smaller majority, 62%, also wanted to see the US do more to stop Russian military action in Ukraine, with 38% saying the country has already done enough. But the public is opposed to direct military action by the US: Only 42% were in favor of such a move should sanctions fail to work, with 58% opposed.

Among those who said the US should do more to stop Russia’s military incursion, though, 58% were in favor of the use of military action if sanctions failed.

There’s little sign that the public is rallying around President Joe Biden’s response to the crisis, despite the broad support for the type of sanctions his administration has put in place. Just 42% said they trust Biden at least moderately to make the right decisions regarding the situation in Ukraine, about on par with his overall approval rating in recent polling. These results, like most of Biden’s numbers, are deeply polarized, with 84% of Democrats but just 9% of Republicans saying they trust his decision-making at least moderately.

Read the full story here:

People take part in a protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine outside the White House in Washington, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Related article CNN poll: Most Americans want US to do more to stop Russia, but most also oppose direct military action

Several Russian media websites appear to have been hacked and at least three are currently displaying an anti-war message. 

“Dear citizens. We urge you to stop this madness, don’t send your sons and husbands to certain death. Putin makes us lie and puts us in danger,” a message written in Russian on the Forbes Russia, Fontanka, Takie Dela websites and seen by CNN says.

“We have been isolated from the whole world, oil and gas are no longer traded. In a few years, we will be living like in North Korea,” it added. 

The message is signed by Anonymous, the hacking collective, and by a group who say they are “journalists who care.”

“This message will be deleted and some of us will be sacked or even jailed. But we can’t put up with this any longer,” they said. 

State news agency TASS, Kommersant and Izvestia also had their websites hacked and are currently down. Reuters reported that the TASS website was also displaying the same anti-war message. Social media users, reported seeing the same message on the Kommersant and Izvestia websites. 

CNN cannot independently verify the Reuters and social media reports as the message appears to have been taken down.

Unexploded grenades, smoking vehicles and dead bodies litter a scorched bridge near Kyiv after a Russian attack was repelled by Ukrainian forces.

CNN’s Matthew Chance walked through the aftermath of the scene on Monday, where charred debris litters the ground and the remains of Russian soldiers lay abandoned on the tarmac. 

Heavy-duty military vehicles were reduced to rubble in the fighting, with Western anti-tank missiles assisting in the Ukrainians’ defence, Chance said.

“Ukrainian officials and Ukrainian soldiers who I’ve been speaking to over the last couple of hours are absolutely enthused by this victory,” Chance said.

“It’s not just here. We’ve seen instances all over the country where Ukrainians have really pushed back against the Russians, and it’s really made them feel that they can win this war.”

Russian forces have encountered “stiffer than expected” resistance from the Ukrainian military as well as unexpected difficulties supplying its forces, two senior US officials with direct knowledge told CNN on Sunday.

But Chance added that the question remains: “What will Russia do now?” He predicted a strong likelihood that Moscow could “double down and go in much harder” in response. “That is the big risk now for the Ukrainian military.”

Watch the CNN report here:

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The Vatican is willing “to facilitate” a dialogue between Ukraine and Russia to end the war, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said Monday. 

Parolin, who is the number one ranking Vatican official after Pope Francis, told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that he believes that “there is still and always room for negotiation. It is never too late.” 

Parolin added that the Vatican has been following with “great attention the events in Ukraine,” and that it offers “its willingness to facilitate dialogue with Russia, is always ready to help the parties to resume this path.”

Pope Francis once again on Sunday spoke on the conflict during his weekly Angelus prayer and asked the faithful to pray and invited “all to make March 2, Ash Wednesday, a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Ukraine.”

Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei welcomed delegations from Ukraine and Russia for talks on Monday, assuring delegates that they should feel “completely safe.”  

“Dear friends, the President of Belarus asked me to welcome you and to provide everything for your work, as agreed with President Zelensky and President Putin. You may feel completely safe here. This is our sacred duty,” Makei said. 

“President Lukashenko sincerely hopes that, during today’s talks, it will be possible to find solutions to all the questions of this crisis. All Belarusians are praying for this. Any proposals, in terms of organizing today’s meeting, will be considered and absolutely fulfilled,” he added. “We look forward to the results.”

The exact location of the talks between Russia and Ukraine on Monday has been kept secret for security reasons. 

The talks are in Belarus, but the only location that has been announced is that they are on the banks of the Pripyat river in the Gomel region of Belarus. 

Russian authorities have detained a total of 5,942 people for participating in anti-war protests across the country since the Kremlin ordered an invasion of Ukraine, independent monitoring site OVD-Info said on Sunday. 

According to the latest data, 2,802 people were detained for taking part in unsanctioned demonstrations in 57 cities throughout the country on Sunday, OVD-Info also reported. In Moscow alone, 1,275 people were detained.

So far there have been no indications of protests on Monday.  

Under Russian law, large demonstrations require protesters apply for a permit, which has to be submitted no more than 15 but no less than 10 days before the event. Heavy fines – and in some cases even prison time – can be imposed on those who protest without a permit.

Individuals are allowed to stage solo protests, but it is not unheard of for people to be detained for those as well.

On Thursday, Russia’s Investigative Committee warned that participation in any anti-war protest was illegal. It also said that offenses could be entered on participants’ criminal records which would “leave a mark on the person’s future”

Talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Belarus began just before 1 p.m. Ukrainian time (6 a.m. ET) on Monday.

Ukraine’s delegation includes several high-ranking officials, but not Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky himself.

The country demanded an “immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian troops” in the lead-up to the meeting.

Moscow’s stock exchange will not open Monday, the Russian Central Bank said, after the country’s currency plummeted in the wake of Western sanctions.

“Due to the current situation, the Bank of Russia has decided not to open a stock market section, a derivatives market section, or a derivatives market section on the Moscow Exchange today,” the statement from the bank read. 

The Russian Central Bank also said it would announce the opening times for Tuesday on the day, at 9:00 a.m. local time (1 a.m. ET) 

The suspension of trading comes after the Russian currency, the ruble, plunged nearly 30% on Monday, as markets began to assess the impact of sanctions imposed by the United States and NATO allies on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. 

Long lines have been forming at supermarkets across Kyiv, after a 36-hour curfew lifted in the Ukrainian capital Monday.

The curfew was in place from 5 p.m. on Saturday until 8 a.m. on Monday morning and required all residents to stay at home.

A CNN producer who went to three supermarkets said the lines were extremely long and that shelves were emptying fast. 

One person in a queue told CNN: “I think everyone in Ukraine is confused. I didn’t expect what happened, to happen. I am between feeling scared and totally angry.” 

Many food stores were shuttered since bombings in Kyiv started last week. People have reported shortages of certain supplies. 

Kyiv municipal authorities said grocery stories will be open and city public transport system will run at limited capacity.

The Kremlin declined to comment Monday on the progress of Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine, referring questions on the matter to the military.

“I don’t think this is the time to sum up the results of the [military] operation, we need to wait for completion of the operation,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with journalists.

The Russian military has acknowledged casualties but has not given exact figures.

Moscow’s invasion has encountered “stiffer than expected” resistance from the Ukrainian military as well as unexpected difficulties supplying its forces, two senior US officials with direct knowledge told CNN on Sunday.

Official civilian death toll reaches triple figures: The latest toll for civilian deaths in Ukraine stands at 102, with 304 people injured, but the true figure is feared to be “considerably higher,” the UN’s Michelle Bachelet said Monday. 

The death toll includes seven children, Bachelet said, adding: “Most of these civilians were killed by explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and air strikes.” 

According to Bachelet, 422,000 people have fled Ukraine, while other civilians still in the country are “forced to huddle in different forms of bomb shelters, such as underground stations, to escape explosions.” 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the European Union on Monday to “urgently admit Ukraine” to the bloc.

“We appeal to the European Union to urgently admit Ukraine using a new procedure,” Zelensky said in his latest video message.

“We are grateful to partners for standing with us. But our goal is to be with all Europeans and, to be equal to them. I am sure we deserve it. I am sure it is possible.”

Zelensky said he spoke on Sunday with the Presidents of Portugal, Lithuania, France and Poland as well as the Prime Ministers of Belgium, Spain and the United Kingdom. “Support of our anti-war coalition is unconditional and unprecedented,” Zelensky said. 

Russia’s currency crashed to a record low against the US dollar Monday as the country’s financial system reeled from crushing sanctions imposed by Western countries in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

The ruble lost more than 30% of its value to trade at 109 to the dollar at 2.30 a.m. ET after earlier plummeting as much as 40%. The start of trading on the Russian stock market was delayed.

The latest barrage of sanctions came Saturday, when the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada said they would expel some Russian banks from SWIFT, a global financial messaging service, and “paralyze” the assets of Russia’s central bank.

President Vladimir Putin’s government has spent the last eight years preparing Russia for tough sanctions by building up a war chest of $630 billion in foreign currency reserves, but his “fortress” economy is now under unprecedented assault and at least some of that financial firepower is now frozen.

“We will also ban the transactions of Russia’s central bank and freeze all its assets, to prevent it from financing Putin’s war,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement Sunday.

The collapse in the currency prompted the Russian central back to implement emergency measures on Monday, including a huge hike in interest rates to 20% from 9.5%.

Read more here:

An employee handles 5000 ruble banknotes inside an Otkritie Bank FC PJSC branch in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. UniCredit SpA is interested in a potential takeover of rescued Russian lender Otkritie Bank, as Chief Executive Officer Andrea Orcel explores M&A opportunities to improve the groups profitability. Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Related article Russia's ruble crashes as its banking system reels from sanctions

The stage is set for a meeting between Russia and Ukraine Monday on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, near the Pripyat River.

Is this a diplomatic breakthrough or a political sideshow while Russia continues its offensive in Ukraine?

Let’s be clear what this isn’t: The meeting is not a summit between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Instead, it’s a meeting between delegations from both sides. Zelensky’s office said Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko called the Ukrainian President Sunday and offered safety guarantees, saying Lukashenko had “taken responsibility for ensuring that all planes, helicopters and missiles stationed on the Belarusian territory will remain on the ground during the Ukrainian delegation’s travel, meeting and return.”

But can Ukraine accept any guarantees from Lukashenko? This is the same leader whose authorities forced down a Ryanair flight over Belarusian airspace last year, alleging a “security alert,” and arrested a young Belarusian dissident, prompting international outcry.

Monday’s planned meeting follows a flurry of statements from the Kremlin, which claimed earlier the Ukrainian side had countered Russia’s proposal to meet in Belarus with a proposal to meet in Warsaw and then dropped contact. Zelensky’s office denied claims they refused to negotiate.

What should we expect from talks? Zelensky himself on Sunday set low expectations for the meeting, and it is tempting to guess that the meeting on the border will yield little. But it does offer Putin at least some potential room for an exit from the war in Ukraine, if his troops continue to encounter battlefield setbacks against Ukrainian forces.

Putin’s offensive is still in its very early days, and Russia can commit more combat power to Ukraine. Quite ominously, Ramzan Kadyrov, the pro-Kremlin leader of Russia’s Chechnya region, called on the Russian military Sunday to expand its offensive in Ukraine.

Read the full analysis here:

Ukrainian troops inspect the site following a Russian airstrike in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Related article Analysis: Is the Ukraine-Russia meeting a path forward or political sideshow?

Ukraine demanded an “immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian troops” on Monday as the country’s delegation arrived for talks with Russia at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, a statement from the Ukrainian presidency said. 

The delegation includes several high-ranking officials, but not Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky himself.

The Ukrainian delegation has arrived to the area at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border for talks with Russia, the Ukrainian Presidency announced Monday morning. 

According to a statement, the delegation includes, among others, the Minister of Defence Oleksiy Reznikov, adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podoliak and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Mykola Tochytskyi.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is not part of the delegation.

The Russian military announced an “open and safe” corridor for Ukrainian civilians to leave the capital, Kyiv, on Monday.

“We appeal to the people of Kyiv. All civilians in the city can freely leave the capital of Ukraine along the Kyiv-Vasilkov (Vasylkiv) highway. This route is open and safe,” Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, the spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Defense, said in a statement.
“Once again, I want to emphasize that the armed forces of the Russian Federation strike only military targets. The civilian population is not in danger.”

At least 352 civilians in Ukraine have been killed since the invasion began, including 14 children, according to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry. Ukrainian authorities have accused Russian forces of targeting civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings and schools.

Konashenkov’s statement also included a baseless claim that the Ukrainian government was using Kyiv residents as a “human shield,” repeating an allegation that Ukrainian “nationalists” have deployed artillery in residential areas of the capital.

CNN teams on the ground in Kyiv have seen firsthand Ukrainian civilian volunteers — even members of Parliament — taking up arms and making preparations to defend the capital.

Russian troops “have slowed their offensive” but are still pushing forward in Ukraine, according to a statement from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Monday. 

“During the air-offensive operation, the enemy continued engaging military and civilian airfields, military command points, air defense systems, important critical infrastructure, populated centers, and units in the area of defense,” the statement read.

The statement added that Ukrainian forces were repelling Russian attacks, “forcing the enemy to abandon the offensive.”

As of Monday, artillery fire from one of the Ukrainian brigades had destroyed more than five Russian convoys, the statement said.

CNN is unable to independently verify these claims.

Desertion claims: The statement also said “the enemy is demoralized and sustaining heavy losses,” and that “frequent cases of desertion and disobedience were noted.”

“The enemy realized that propaganda and reality were different. The occupiers are afraid of us. Defenders of Ukraine continue to maintain a stable defense,” it said.

On Sunday, Russia acknowledged a number of injuries and deaths among their troops for the first time since the invasion began, but did not provide precise numbers.

The bulk of Russian ground forces are still more than more than 30 kilometers (about 19 miles) north of Kyiv, the UK’s Ministry of Defense said in a tweet on Monday.

Russia’s advance was “slowed by Ukrainian forces defending Hostomel airfield, a key Russian objective for day one of the conflict,” the ministry said.

“Heavy fighting continues around Chernihiv and Kharkiv however both cities remain under Ukrainian control.
“Logistical failures and staunch Ukrainian resistance continue to frustrate the Russian advance.
“Despite continued attempts to suppress details of the conflict from the Russian population, the Russian Armed Forces has for the first time been forced to acknowledge suffering casualties.”

Some context: For the first time since the beginning of the invasion, Russian authorities acknowledged a number of deaths and injuries among their forces in Ukraine on Sunday — but did not provide precise numbers.

Russia also claimed the losses were “considerably lower” than those seen in Ukrainian forces.

The United Kingdom will immediately impose more sanctions against Russia, banning British entities from undertaking financial transactions involving the Russian Central Bank, the Russian National Wealth Fund and its Ministry of Finance, the government said in a statement Monday.

London will make further designations this week, the statement said.

The measures — enacted in concert with the United States and European Union — will prevent the Russian Central Bank “from deploying its foreign reserves in ways that undermine the impact of sanctions imposed” by the UK and its allies, and will “undercut its ability to engage in foreign exchange transactions to support the Russian rouble,” the statement said. 

Raft of sanctions: Monday’s punitive action follows earlier British sanctions against members of the Russian Parliament who voted in favor of recognizing the independence of two pro-Moscow separatist republics in eastern Ukraine, and an earlier raft of measures against five Russian banks and three wealthy individuals announced by the UK Prime Minister.  

“Our package of sanctions, the strongest economic measures the UK has ever enacted against Russia, will inflict devastating consequences on President Vladimir Putin and Russia,” the statement said.

The Russian Central Bank will raise its key interest rate from 9.5% to 20% per annum, it said in a statement on Monday.

“External conditions for the Russian economy have drastically changed,” the bank said in the statement. “The increase of the key rate will ensure a rise in deposit rates to levels needed to compensate for the increased depreciation and inflation risks.”
“This is needed to support financial and price stability and protect the savings of citizens from depreciation.”

A Russian presidential aide said talks between Russia and Ukraine near the Ukraine-Belarus border are anticipated to begin at noon Moscow time (4 a.m. ET) on Monday, Russian state news agency TASS reported. 

Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who is leading the Kremlin’s delegation, said his team was “ready for negotiations immediately after their (the Ukrainian side’s) arrival.”

Separately, Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Medinsky as saying the logistics for the Ukrainian delegation were “very difficult,” with the arrival time being postponed several times.

More on the meeting: The two delegations will meet near the Pripyat River at the border. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko called Zelensky on Sunday and offered safety guarantees, saying Lukashenko had “taken responsibility for ensuring that all planes, helicopters and missiles stationed on the Belarusian territory will remain on the ground during the Ukrainian delegation’s travel, meeting and return.”

Monday’s planned meeting follows a flurry of statements from the Kremlin, which claimed earlier the Ukrainian side had countered Russia’s proposal to meet in Belarus with a proposal to meet in Warsaw and then dropped contact. Zelensky’s office denied claims that Kyiv refused to negotiate.

Read more on what to expect from the talks:

Ukrainian troops inspect the site following a Russian airstrike in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Related article Analysis: Is the Ukraine-Russia meeting a path forward or political sideshow?

Russian forces have reduced the pace of their offensive against Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers.

“The Russian occupiers have reduced the pace of the offensive, but are still trying to develop success in some areas in the offensive against Ukraine,” the Cabinet of Ministers posted on their official Twitter page on Monday, without providing more details. 

The Ukrainian capital had a “calm” night on Sunday, Kyiv City Council said Monday morning — but authorities warned residents should remain home as fighting continued.

“Overall, last night was calm, excluding some skirmishes and fights with sabotage and reconnaissance groups. However, the city was mostly busy preparing for its defense. So, if you’ll happen to go to the city after 8:00, you’ll see fortifications, tank traps, and other defensive structures that have appeared on the streets of Kyiv,” the council said in a statement. 

Grocery stores and public transportation in Kyiv will be open from 8 a.m. local time, though metro trains will run less frequently than usual.

“Please don’t leave your homes unless you have an urgent need,” such as buying groceries or medicine, the statement said, adding that “street fights continue to occur in the streets of every district in the city.”

“We urge you to join forces and help each other: ask your neighbors if they need help, especially when it comes to the elderly or families whose relatives are defending Ukraine. Look after the apartments of neighbors who have left the city to prevent looting,” the council said.

A curfew in the city remains in force from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. local time. 

The Russian military claimed Monday that it has gained control over Ukrainian airspace. 

“Russian aviation has gained air supremacy over the entire territory of Ukraine,” Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, the Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman, said in a statement.

CNN is not able to verify that statement. Since the war began, the Russian military has made incorrect claims regarding its military operations. 

Singapore will impose “appropriate sanctions and restrictions” on Russia, the country’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said in the country’s Parliament​ on Monday.

He called the Russian invasion of Ukraine “unprovoked” and a “clear and gross violation of the international norms,” adding that Singapore intended to “act in concert” with other countries to take a strong stance.

“We will impose export controls on items that can be used directly as weapons in Ukraine to inflict harm, or to subjugate the Ukrainians. We will also block certain Russian banks and financial transactions, connected to Russia,” he said, adding that the specific measures are still being worked out.

Balakrishnan said the sanctions may “come with some costs,” telling citizens to “be prepared to deal with the consequences” of standing up for Singapore’s national interest.

“We cannot accept one country attacking another without justification … such a rationale would go against the internationally recognized legitimacy and territorial integrity of many countries, including Singapore,” he said, urging Russia to cease its attacks and work toward peace.

South Korea will ban exports of strategic materials to Russia and join the international effort to block some Russian banks from the SWIFT global payments system, the country’s Foreign Ministry said Monday. 

The ministry did not disclose which key strategic materials would be subject to export bans but said it had notified the United States of its decision via a diplomatic channel. 

The decision on whether to also ban exports of non-strategic materials, including semiconductors and electronics, will be made “as soon as possible,” the ministry added.

The ministry also confirmed that South Korea will push for an additional release of strategic oil reserves to stabilize the international energy market, before further reviewing other measures, such as reselling liquefied natural gas to Europe.

South Korea will increase its humanitarian support to Ukraine by cooperating with the international community and sending non-lethal military equipment, the ministry said.

Heavy shelling at the weekend followed heightened tensions in the port city of Mykolaiv, where CNN reporters saw Ukrainian troops fire warning shots and throw suspected Russian saboteurs from their cars to the ground. 

The city, which sits on an inlet from the Black Sea, raised its bridge Saturday, a rare event locals said had not happened for years. The move was apparently designed to cut a main connection between the north and south of the city after unconfirmed reports that Russian paratroopers had landed in its northern districts.

Heavy shelling reverberated around the the outskirts Saturday night, with one substantial blast lighting up the skyline.

In the morning, a Ukrainian soldier told CNN they had managed to keep out Russian forces overnight — but at a price. Windows of residential buildings are blown out, debris is scattered on the ground, and authorities have cordoned off damaged parts of the town with tape.

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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Monday it would be “unacceptable” for Tokyo to make a NATO-like nuclear sharing arrangement with the United States as a security guarantee following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Japan’s three non-nuclear principles include not producing or permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons.

Some context: Kishida’s comments came in response to statements made by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a day earlier. 

On Sunday, Abe said on a television program that Japan should discuss a possible sharing of nuclear weapons similar to that of NATO members following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. NATO’s nuclear sharing arrangements permit the US to keep its nuclear weapons in Europe. 

Abe acknowledged the non-nuclear principles and said Japan must stick to the goal of abolishing nuclear weapons — especially as a country that has experienced atomic bombings — but argued “it’s essential to understand how the world’s security is maintained, and we shouldn’t treat those discussions as a taboo.”

Trading on the Moscow stock exchange will be pushed back to 10 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET) and restricted to some markets, the Russian Central Bank said Monday. 

The bank also introduced a “temporary ban” on sell orders from foreign legal entities and individuals, it added in a statement.

Trading will only be allowed on the foreign exchange market, currency market and the repurchase agreement, or “repo” market.

“The Bank of Russia will assess the feasibility of opening trading on other markets, depending on the development of the situation,” the statement said, adding that a decision on whether to open up the floor to other markets would be made at 1 p.m. local time (5 a.m. ET), with trading starting no later than 3 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET).

The bank added it would raise its key interest rate from 9.5% to 20% per annum.

Ruble plunges: The central bank’s announcements came as the Russian currency fell nearly 30% on Monday, with markets beginning to assess the impact of sanctions imposed by the US and NATO allies on Russia.

Belarus on Sunday signaled that it would renounce its non-nuclear status, following the launch of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from the former Soviet nation last week.

Authorities in the country — ruled by Moscow-backed strongman Alexander Lukashenko for nearly three decades — said the move was backed by a referendum.

According to the Belarus Central Elections Commission, some 78.63% of the eligible voting population took part in the vote, with 65.16% in favor of a new constitution that will shed the country’s non-nuclear status and give Lukashenko the opportunity to run for two additional terms in office. 

But Western leaders will not recognize the legitimacy of Sunday’s vote. In a statement from January, the US mission to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) described the referendum as “neither a viable — nor credible — path forward for Belarus.”

The vote follows a years-long violent crackdown by the Lukashenko regime against his domestic political opponents, following the disputed presidential election in 2020 which was marred by fraud and triggered mass protests. 

What this could mean for Russia: Belarus’ new constitution could theoretically allow Moscow to place nuclear weapons on its neighbor’s territory for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union, when Minsk gave up its stockpile and became a nuclear-free zone.

The amendments and additions to the constitution passed in the referendum will come into effect in 10 days’ time, according to Lukashenko’s office. 

Lukashenko and Putin: Addressing journalists at a polling station in Minsk on Sunday, Lukashenko said he could ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to “return the nuclear weapons” Belarus gave away if the West transfers any nuclear weapons to Poland or Lithuania.

“If America or … France, two nuclear powers, start transferring nuclear weapons to Poland or Lithuania, on our borders … I will go to Putin so that he will return to me the nuclear weapons that I, without any special conditions, gave to them,” Lukashenko said.

In his on-camera remarks, Lukashenko also accused the West of “pushing Russia to ignite World War III,” before warning that “a nuclear war would end the world.” 

The US Embassy in Ukraine said late Sunday that the security situation throughout the country “continues to be unpredictable, with active fighting inside many cities and other locations.”

“Conditions may deteriorate as military attacks by Russia continue in various parts of the country without any warning,” it added in a statement, urging Americans there to “depart now using privately available transportation options if it is safe to do so.”

The embassy cautioned that roads may be crowded, exposed to combat operations, and that infrastructure like bridges may have been destroyed or damaged by the fighting. “Sheltering in place may remain the best option for some,” it said.

Long wait at the border: The embassy recommended citizens cross into Hungary, Romania and Slovakia if possible, citing “severely backed up” border crossings into Poland and Moldova.

The embassy also warned conditions at each border “can change very quickly and wait times can increase at any time without warning.”

Wave of refugees: Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and refugees of other nationalities are attempting to flee Ukraine from various border crossings, according to local government officials in Lviv. 

Nearly 400,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled their homes since Russia’s invasion on Thursday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported on Sunday.

The Dalai Lama on Monday said he was “deeply saddened” by the conflict in Ukraine, as the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader called for peace and “mutual understanding.” 

“War is outdated — non-violence is the only way,” he said in a statement. 

“Genuine peace comes about through mutual understanding and respect for each other’s wellbeing.

“We must not lose hope. The 20th century was a century of war and bloodshed. The 21st century must be a century of dialogue. I pray that peace is swiftly restored in Ukraine.”

Ukrainian intelligence suggests Belarus is showing “readiness to maybe participate directly” in Russia’s invasion, “in addition to allowing Russians to use their territory as well as letting them cross the border” into Ukraine, a Ukrainian government official told CNN.

A second source close to the Ukrainian government told CNN that in addition to the Ukrainian intel, the Biden administration has also conveyed to Kyiv that Belarus is preparing to invade. 

The Washington Post first reported that Belarus was preparing to send soldiers into Ukraine, citing a US administration official. 

Talks at the border: The intelligence comes as talks are set for Monday between Russia and Ukraine near the Belarusian border.

Belarus is an ally of Russia and is being used as a launch point for Russian troops into Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said Belarus’ President Aleksander Lukashenko called his Ukrainian counterpart on Sunday.

“The politicians have agreed that the Ukrainian delegation will meet with the Russian delegation without preconditions on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, near the Pripyat River,” Zelensky’s office said. “Aleksander Lukashenko has taken responsibility for ensuring that all planes, helicopters and missiles stationed on the Belarusian territory will remain on the ground during the Ukrainian delegation’s travel, meeting and return.”

Belarus’ take on the invasion: Lukashenko said last week that Belarusian troops could join the invasion “if it becomes necessary.”

“Our troops are not participating in any way in this operation. We’re not going to justify ourselves here about our participation or non-participation in this conflict. I repeat once again. Our troops are not there but if it becomes necessary, if Belarus and Russia need them, they will be there,“ Lukashenko said on tape from state news agency Belta’s YouTube channel. 

Zelensky’s appeal to Belarusians: On Sunday, Zelensky spoke directly to Belarusians as “neighbors,” saying it was “a referendum for you as well.”

“You decide who you are and whom to become. How you would look in your children’s eyes. How you’d look in each other’s eyes. In your neighbor’s eyes. And we are your neighbors,” Zelensky said.

The White House declined to comment. CNN has also reached out to the US State Department for comment.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Sunday morning on MSNBC that the US and its allies reserve the right to further sanction Belarus. The US Treasury Department already issued sanctions against 24 individuals and entities on Thursday.

At least 2,000 Indian citizens have been evacuated from Ukraine since the war began, with efforts underway to evacuate “thousands” that remain, India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla said at a news briefing Sunday.

“Many of our citizens have been stuck for long periods of time crossing over into Poland … because this is the main border crossing,” Shringla told reporters. He added that there are hundreds of thousands of people trying to cross the border. “It is not an organized situation. It is a conflict zone,” he said.

When asked about Indians allegedly facing harassment from Ukrainian forces while attempting to cross the border, Shringla said Ukrainian officials “have been very helpful and I did tell them that we expect in every way that they would assist in facilitating the safe and — to the extent possible — hassle-free evacuation of our citizens.”

The UN vote: On Saturday, India was one of three countries, including China and the UAE, to abstain from voting on a UN Security Council resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

India then abstained from another vote to refer the matter to an emergency session of the UN General Assembly on Sunday.

When explaining the decision, the Indian ambassador to the UN said India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi had already spoken to both Russia and Ukraine’s leaders, and encouraged peace talks between the two.

Five days into Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his courageous nation have already done more to transform the West’s policy toward Russia than 30 years of post-Cold War summits, policy resets and showdowns with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian leader’s defiance has inspired and shamed the United States and the European Union into going far further — and far faster — in turning Russia into a pariah state than it appeared they were ready to go. By promising weapons and ammunition to Zelensky, the West appears increasingly to be drawn into a possible proxy war with Moscow over Ukraine, even though it is not a NATO member that benefits from the bloc’s direct mutual defense agreements.

After insisting last week that sanctions would be graded on a rising curve based on Russian behavior, Washington and its allies have now rushed to personally sanction Putin and have kicked key Russian banks out of the vital SWIFT global financial network.

Zelensky’s emotional appeal: The significant stiffening of the global front against Russia over the weekend followed increasingly fervent calls by Zelensky for help. European leaders reported that in a call with them last week, he had said he didn’t know how long he or his country had left.

Few outsiders expected Zelensky, a former comic actor who, to the frustration of US officials, ignored or downplayed US warnings of an imminent invasion for weeks, would morph into a leader to match this moment in his country’s history. His dismissiveness changed a few days before the invasion when he made increasingly heart-rending appeals for help.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy makes a statement in Kyiv, Ukraine, February 25, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY.

Related article Analysis: How Zelensky changed the West's response to Russia

As dawn breaks in Kyiv, all eyes are on a Russia-Ukraine meeting set to happen Monday, with tensions high as fierce fighting continues on the ground. If you’re just joining us, here’s the latest.

The Ukrainian Air Force posted a video on Facebook on Sunday morning, claiming to show a successful drone strike by the military.  

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the purported attack took place in Chornobayivka, which is just north of Kherson. It’s unclear when the strike took place. 

In the video taken by the drone, a column of vehicles is seen on a road. An explosion is suddenly seen, appearing to hit the middle of the column, obscuring the view of the vehicles.

In recent days, Kherson has been the site of intense fighting between Ukrainian fighters and Russian forces attempting to advance across the Dnieper River. 

South Korea’s capital has joined a number of cities around the world lighting monuments in blue and yellow in support of Ukraine, reflecting the colors of its national flag.

Four landmarks in Seoul — the City Hall, Namsan Seoul Tower, Sebitseom on the Han River and Seoullo Media Canvas — were lit up on Monday.

Meanwhile, Ukrainians and supporters protested against the Russian invasion outside Moscow’s embassy in Seoul on Sunday and Monday.

New York’s Empire State Building was also lit up blue and yellow last week, with crowds gathering in Times Square on Saturday to protest the Russian invasion.

One protester, Olga Ladygima, told CNN she hadn’t slept for the past three nights. She is from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, she said — and her friends in Ukraine have stayed up too, making homemade bombs to try to stop Russian tanks.

Approximately 100,000 people in Germany’s capital, Berlin, attended a protest this weekend against the invasion, police told CNN.

Crowds walked between the Russian embassy, Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Column on Sunday wearing blue and yellow, and holding up signs showing solidarity with Ukraine.

Ukrainian Instagram influencers are now warzone witnesses and urban warfare experts are tweeting tips to Ukrainian fighters, CNN’s chief media correspondent Brian Stelter said on Sunday.

But the onslaught of words and images is fueling a confusing media environment where disinformation is rampant.

Snapshots from the ground: David French, a senior editor at The Dispatch, said social media is showing Americans just how “incredibly brutal” this war is, but those platforms don’t offer an overall strategic view, such as the positions of Russian forces or the real number of casualties.

“Each one of these TikTok videos is a tiny little snapshot of a tiny little moment of time, often without any other overlaying context,” French said. “And so you really would have to spend an enormous time with some real background to begin to piece together the TikTok jigsaw puzzle.”

Resistance going viral: French added that the immediacy of these social media feeds may have prompted Western nations to “fall into line quickly” on stricter sanctions.

“The inspirational nature of Ukrainian resistance that is shaming a lot of Western governments, quite frankly, into action,” French said.

But so is disinformation: Stelter cited a prime example of misinformation being spread on social media — a video of Russian paratroopers shared widely on TikTok and Twitter with millions of views, that turns out to have been filmed in 2015.

Jane Lytvynenko, an investigative reporter and researcher specializing in disinformation, said few people understand information warfare as well as most Ukrainians.

“Propaganda is a part of every war,” Lytvynenko said. “And the point of propaganda coming out of Russia right now is to undermine Ukrainian narratives and to scare Ukrainian people.”

Read the full story:

Brian Stelter, Jane Lytvynenko, Julia Davis and Bianna Golodryga

Related article Here's why Russia's invasion of Ukraine is being called the 'TikTok war'

As Ukrainians continue to repel Russian advances around Kyiv, new satellite images show a more than 3-mile-long Russian military convoy is on a roadway that heads toward the capital city.

According to Maxar, the convoy was seen on satellite images on Sunday around 10:56 a.m. local time on the P-02-02 road near Ivankiv, which is about 40 miles (60 kilometers) northwest of the Ukrainian capital. The P-02-02 road goes toward Kyiv.

Maxar identified fuel and logistical trucks, in addition to tanks, infantry vehicles and self-propelled artillery moving in the convoy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a brief televised statement that he doesn’t expect much from a meeting between Ukrainian and Russian delegations on Monday. 

“I will say frankly, as always: I do not really believe in the result of this meeting, but let them try. So that no citizen of Ukraine would have any doubt that I, as President, did not try to stop the war when there was even a small chance,” Zelensky said.

“And while our guys are there, the President is here, the chief of staff is here, the prime minister is here, the army is here, the commander-in-chief is here. We will all defend our state and our borders,” he added.

Earlier Sunday, Ukraine’s Deputy Interior Minister Evgeny Yenin said talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations will take place Monday morning local time.

The Ukrainian military has claimed successful attacks by its Turkish-made force of drones against Russian forces.

On Sunday, the Armed Forces of Ukraine released footage showing the destruction of armor by a drone, and said it was carried out against a Russian BUK surface-to-air missile system.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief, said the drone attack took place near the town of Malyn, 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) northwest of Kyiv.

The Ukrainian government began receiving the Bayraktar TB2 drones from Turkey last year.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to put Russia’s deterrence forces, which includes nuclear arms, on high alert are part of a wider pattern of unprovoked escalation and “manufactured threats” from the Kremlin.

“This is really a pattern that we’ve seen from President Putin through the course of this conflict, which is manufacturing threats that don’t exist in order to justify further aggression — and the global community and the American people should look at it through that prism,” Psaki told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “This Week.”

Additionally, a senior administration official told CNN on Sunday that Putin’s move was “yet another escalatory and totally unnecessary step,” a senior administration official said Sunday.

“At every step of this conflict Putin has manufactured threats to justify more aggressive actions — he was never under threat from Ukraine or from NATO, which is a defensive alliance that will not fight in Ukraine,” the official said.

“The only reason his forces face a threat today is because they invaded a sovereign country, and one without nuclear weapons. This is yet another escalatory and totally unnecessary step,” they added.

Putin’s move comes in the face of universal condemnation from Western powers over Moscow’s unprovoked assault on Ukraine.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of Russian paralympic teams ahead of Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games via a teleconference call, in Moscow on February 21, 2022.

Related article White House responds to Russia's decision to put deterrence forces on high alert

Oil giant BP will offload its 19.75% shareholding in Russian state-owned oil firm, Rosneft, according to a statement from the company.

“The BP board today announced that BP will exit its shareholding in Rosneft. BP has held a 19.75% shareholding in Rosneft since 2013,” the statement published on Sunday said.

Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney will also resign immediately from Rosneft’s board, according to the statement.

The British company had faced calls from the UK government to offload its ownership stake following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Looney said he “like so many” others was “deeply shocked and saddened by the situation unfolding in Ukraine,” which prompted the company “to fundamentally rethink BP’s position with Rosneft.”

“I am convinced that the decisions we have taken as a board are not only the right thing to do, but are also in the long-term interests of BP,” the CEO added.

BP chair Helge Lund added that “the Rosneft holding is no longer aligned with BP’s business and strategy.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed on Sunday that the European Union is shutting down the EU airspace to Russia.

“We are proposing a prohibition on all Russian-owned, Russian-registered and Russian-controlled aircraft. These aircraft will no more be able to land in, take off or overfly the territory of the European Union. This will apply to any plane”, Von der Leyen said. 

“Our airspace will be closed to every Russian plane. And that includes the private jets of oligarchs too,” she said.

Many European countries had already closed their airspace to Russian airlines and aircraft as of Sunday, including Germany, France and Italy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to put his country’s deterrence forces, including nuclear arms, on high alert, is “yet another escalatory and totally unnecessary step,” a senior Biden administration official says.

“At every step of this conflict Putin has manufactured threats to justify more aggressive actions — he was never under threat from Ukraine or from NATO, which is a defensive alliance that will not fight in Ukraine,” the official said. “The only reason his forces face a threat today is because they invaded a sovereign country, and one without nuclear weapons. This is yet another escalatory and totally unnecessary step,” the official added.  

More background: During a televised meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov on Sunday, President Putin said, “Top officials in leading NATO countries have allowed themselves to make aggressive comments about our country, therefore I hereby order the minister of Defense and the chief of the General Staff [of the RF Armed Forces] to place the Russian Army Deterrence Force on combat alert.” 

Shoigu replied, “Yes, sir.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Sunday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s order to put Russian deterrent forces on alert was an effort to raise pressure on the Ukrainian delegation at Monday’s scheduled talks.

“As you notice, this order by President Putin came shortly after the announcement was made about the two delegations ready to meet. And we see this announcement this order, as an attempt to raise stakes and to put additional pressure on the Ukrainian delegation,” Kuleba said a briefing in Kyiv.

Kuleba added, “But we will not give into this pressure” and said, “We will approach this talks with a very simple approach.”

Kuleba indicated that Ukrainian officials are willing to “listen to what Russia has to say.”

“We will tell them what we think of this. And what we are ready to discuss is how to stop the war and the occupation of our territories. Full stop,’” the foreign minister said.

Kuleba said Putin’s decision “to put on high alert his nuclear weapons is a direct threat to us. I have very simple message. It will be a catastrophe for the world, but it will not break us down.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order for his country’s deterrence forces — including nuclear arms — to be placed on high alert, is part of a “dangerous rhetoric,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday.

“If you combine this rhetoric with what they’re doing on the ground in Ukraine, waging war against an independent sovereign nation, conducting a fully-fledged invasion of Ukraine, this adds to the seriousness of the situation,” he continued. 

The Secretary General added, “That’s the reason why we both provide support to Ukraine, but also why we over the last weeks and months have significantly increased the presence of NATO in the eastern part Alliance, US but also European allies are now stepping up with more troops, more ships, more planes, and why we also have to realize that we are now faced with a new normal for our security.”

He went on to say this was “just the beginning of the adaptation that we need to do as response to a much more aggressive Russia.”

The European Union’s Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said on Sunday that the bloc needs to prepare for millions of Ukrainian refugee arrivals.

She added that so far “around 300,000 Ukrainians have come to the EU member states.” 

Interior ministers from across the EU are meeting in Brussels to discuss the fallout from the crisis in Ukraine.

Johansson said she will “launch a solidarity platform” to coordinate the different kind of support that member states will need, and “to Ukrainians that are fleeing Ukraine.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his country’s deterrence forces – which includes nuclear arms – be placed on high alert.

“Top officials in leading NATO countries have allowed themselves to make aggressive comments about our country, therefore I hereby order the minister of Defense and the chief of the General Staff [of the RF Armed Forces] to place the Russian Army Deterrence Force on combat alert,” Putin said in televised meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov.

“Yes, sir,” replied Shoigu.

The Russian President also said the sanctions placed on Russia were unlawful.

According to state news agency RIA Novosti, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense, the strategic forces “are designed to deter aggression against Russia and its allies, as well as to defeat the aggressor (inflicting defeat on him), including in a war with the use of nuclear weapons.”

Here’s a list of global sanctions on Russia for the war in Ukraine so far.