Putin puts nuclear forces on alert, cites sanctions by the West 

In a dramatic escalation of East-West tensions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces put on high alert Sunday in response to what he called “aggressive statements” by leading NATO powers.

Earlier, street fighting broke out in Ukraine's second-largest city and Russian troops squeezed strategic ports in the country's south Sunday, advances that appeared to mark a new phase of Russia's invasion following a wave of attacks on airfields and fuel facilities elsewhere in the country. Following its gains on the ground, Russia sent a delegation to Belarus for peace talks with Ukraine, according to the Kremlin. Ukraine's president suggested other locations, saying his country was unwilling to meet in Belarus because it served as a staging ground for the invasion.Putin’s latest order means he wants Russia's nuclear weapons prepared for increased readiness to launch and raises the threat that Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and the West's response to it could boil over into nuclear warfare. Amid the worrying development, the office of Ukraine's President said a delegation would meet with Russian officials as Moscow's troops drew closer to Kyiv. Putin, in giving the nuclear alert directive, cited not only the alleged statements by NATO members but the hard-hitting financial sanctions imposed by the West against Russia, including the Russian leader himself.

Speaking at a meeting with his top officials, Putin told his Defense Minister and the Chief of the Military's General Staff to put the nuclear deterrent forces in a “special regime of combat duty.”

 “Western countries aren't only taking unfriendly actions against our country in the economic sphere, but top officials from leading NATO members made aggressive statements regarding our country,” Putin said in televised comments.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Putin was resorting to a pattern he used in the weeks before launching the invasion of Ukraine, "which is to manufacture threats that don't exist in order to justify further aggression. The global community and American people should look at it through that prism. We've seen him do this time and time again.”  She told ABC's “This Week” that Russia has not been under threat from NATO or Ukraine.

                Putin threatened in the days before Russia's invasion to retaliate harshly against any nations that intervened directly in the conflict in Ukraine, and he specifically raised the specter of his country's status as a nuclear power. The US Ambassador to the United Nations responded to the news from Moscow while appearing on a Sunday news programme.

                “President Putin is continuing to escalate this war in a manner that is totally unacceptable,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. “And we have to continue to condemn his actions in the most strong, strongest possible way.”

                 The practical meaning of Putin's order was not immediately clear. Russia and the US typically have the land-and submarine-based segments of their strategic nuclear forces on alert and prepared for combat at all times, but nuclear-capable bombers and other aircraft are not.

                If Putin is arming or otherwise raising the nuclear combat readiness of his bombers, or if he is ordering more ballistic missile submarines to sea, then the US might feel compelled to respond in kind, according to Hans Kristensen, a nuclear analyst at the Federation of American Scientists. That would mark a worrisome escalation and a potential crisis, he said.

                The alarming step came as street fighting broke out in Ukraine's second-largest city and Russian troops squeezed strategic ports in the country's south, advances that appeared to mark a new phase of

Russia's invasion following a wave of attacks on airfields and fuel facilities elsewhere in the country. Around the same time as Putin's nuclear move, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office said on the Telegram messaging app that the two sides would meet at an unspecified location on the Belarusian border. The message did not give a precise time for the meeting.

                The announcement came hours after Russia announced that its delegation had flown to Belarus to await talks. Ukrainian officials initially rejected the move, saying any talks should take place elsewhere than Belarus, where Russia placed a large contingent of troops. Belarus was one of the places from where Russian troops entered Ukraine.

                Earlier Sunday, the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, was eerily quiet after huge explosions lit up the morning sky and authorities reported blasts at one of the airports. Only an occasional car appeared on a deserted main boulevard as a strict 39-hour curfew kept people off the streets. Terrified residents instead hunkered down in homes, underground garages and subway stations in anticipation of a full-scale Russian assault.

                 “The past night was tough – more shelling, more bombing of residential areas and civilian infrastructure," Zelenskyy said.

                Until Sunday, Russia's troops had remained on the outskirts of Kharkiv, a city of 1.4 million about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) south of the border with Russia, while other forces rolled past to press the offensive deeper into Ukraine.

                Videos posted on Ukrainian media and social networks showed Russian vehicles moving across Kharkiv and Russian troops roaming the city in small groups. One showed Ukrainian troops firing at the Russians and damaged Russian light utility vehicles abandoned nearby.

                The images underscored the determined resistance Russian troops face while attempting to enter Ukraine's bigger cities. Ukrainians have volunteered en masse to help defend the capital, Kyiv, and other cities, taking guns distributed by authorities and preparing firebombs to fight Russian forces.

                Ukraine's Government also is releasing prisoners with military experience who want to fight for the country, a prosecutor's office official, Andriy Sinyuk, told the Hromadske TV channel Sunday. He did not specify whether the move applied to prisoners convicted of all levels of crimes.

Meanwhile, amid rising tension, European Union Foreign Ministers are holding emergency talks to discuss ways to help Ukraine's armed forces fight back against the Russian invasion.

  EU Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell chaired the videoconference and urged the Ministers to

endorse “a package of emergency assistance for the Ukrainian armed forces, to support them in their heroic fight.”     

                The meeting comes a day after Germany announced a major shift in policy to send weapons and other supplies directly to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, in a big embarrassment to Putin, from Moscow to Siberia, Russian anti-war activists took to the streets again on Sunday to protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine, despite the arrests of hundreds of protesters each day.

  Demonstrators held pickets and marched in city centers, chanting “No to war!” as President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian nuclear deterrent to be put on high alert, upping the ante in the Kremlin's

standoff with the West and stoking fears of a nuclear war.

Protests against the invasion started on Thursday in Russia and have continued daily ever since, even as Russian police have moved swiftly to crack down on the rallies and detain protesters.

Putin hasn't disclosed his ultimate plans, but Western officials believe he is determined to overthrow Ukraine's government and replace it with a regime of his own, redrawing the map of Europe and reviving Moscow's Cold War-era influence.

                                Flames billowed from an oil depot near an airbase in Vasylkiv, a

city 37 kilometers (23 miles) south of Kyiv where there has been

intense fighting, according to the mayor. Russian forces blew up

a gas pipeline in Kharkiv, prompting the government to warn people

to cover their windows with damp cloth or gauze as protection from

smoke, the president's office said. Ukrainian military deputy commander Lt.-Gen. Yevhen Moisiuk sounded

a defiant note in a message aimed at Russian troops.

                “Unload your weapons, raise your hands so that our servicemen and

civilians can understand that you have heard us. This is your ticket

home,” Moisiuk said in a Facebook video.

                The number of casualties so far from Europe's largest land conflict

since World War II remains unclear amid the fog of combat.

                Ukraine's health minister reported Saturday that 198 people, including

three children, had been killed and more than 1,000 others wounded.

It was unclear whether those figures included both military and civilian

casualties. Russia has not released any casualty information.

                Ukraine's U.N. Ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, tweeted Saturday that

Ukraine appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross

“to facilitate repatriation of thousands of bodies of Russian soldiers.”

An accompanying chart claimed 3,500 Russian troops have been killed.

                Laetitia Courtois, ICRC's permanent observer to the U.N., told The

Associated Press that the situation in Ukraine was “a limitation

for our teams on the ground” and “we therefore cannot confirm numbers

or other details.”

                 The United Nations' refugee agency said Sunday that about 368,000

Ukrainians have arrived in neighboring countries since the invasion

started Thursday. The U.N. Has estimated the conflict could produce

as many as 4 million refugees, depending how long it continues.

                Zelenskyy denounced Russia's offensive as “state terrorism.” He

said the attacks on Ukrainian cities should be investigated by an

international war crimes tribunal and cost Russia its place as one

of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

                As Russia pushes ahead with its offensive, the West is working to

equip the outnumbered Ukrainian forces with weapons and ammunition

while punishing Russia with far-reaching sanctions intended to further

isolate Moscow.

                The U.S. Pledged an additional USD 350 million in military assistance

to Ukraine, including anti-tank weapons, body armor and small arms.

Germany said it would send missiles and anti-tank weapons to the

besieged country and that it would close its airspace to Russian planes.

                The U.S., European Union and United Kingdom agreed to block “selected”

Russian banks from the SWIFT global financial messaging system, which

moves money around more than 11,000 banks and other financial institutions

worldwide, part of a new round of sanctions.