Leaders of the separatist regions released televised statements earlier Monday pleading with Putin to recognize them as independent states and sign friendship treaties envisaging military aid to protect them from what they described as an ongoing Ukrainian military offensive
China's confident rise as an economic and political force contrasts with Russia's growing isolation and reversion to Cold War tactics of intimidation and bullying.
American officials who claimed to have seen some of the Kremlin's battle plans warned that a full scale bombardment of the country is being prepared.
An unidentified projectile fired from Ukraine completely destroyed a border facility used by the FSB border guard service in the Rostov region around 150 meters from the Russian-Ukrainian border, said Russian officials.
In a rapid-fire round of US talk shows, Secretary of State Antony Blinken had told CNN "everything we're seeing suggests that this is dead serious, that we are on the brink of an invasion".
The Russian President had told French President Emmanuel Macron that he plans to withdraw troops from Belarus.
Europe, US Vice President Kamala Harris said, might be at its most perilous moment since the end of World War II.
Western leaders warned that Russia was poised to attack its neighbor, which is surrounded on three sides by about 150,000 Russian soldiers, warplanes and equipment. Russia held nuclear drills Saturday in neighboring Belarus and has ongoing naval drills off the coast in the Black Sea.
Officials said EU's executive arm has developed a “robust and comprehensive package” of financial sanctions with the US, UK and Canada.
US officials dismissed claims of Russian troops withdrawal and said that the invasion is set for February 16 with a massive missile blitz and 200,000 troops.
A Britain minister stressed that Putin had now already deployed all military assets that are needed for the invasion. He added that the launch of missiles could come with 'no notice'.
Dutch airline KLM has canceled flights to Ukraine until further notice, the company said. The Ukrainian charter airline SkyUp said Sunday that its flight from Madeira, Portugal, to Kyiv was diverted to the Moldovan capital Chisinau after the plane's Irish lessor said it was banning flights in Ukrainian airspace.
US Prez Joe Biden made clear his stance over the ongoing tension between Ukraine and Russia and said that if Moscow undertook a further invasion of Kiev, Washington along with its allies will respond "decisively" and impose swift and severe costs on the country, according to a White House statement.
A Russian summary of the call suggested that little progress was made toward cooling down the tensions.
Russia says NATO, the American-led alliance that has on its hands the biggest European crisis in decades, must never offer membership to Ukraine, which gained independence as the Soviet Union broke apart about 30 years ago.
Since coming to power in 2000, Russian President Vladimir Putin has worked steadily and systematically to reverse what he views as the humiliating breakup of the Soviet Union 30 years ago.
But with less than 2 weeks to go before senior US, Russian officials are to meet in Geneva, the chasm is deep and prospect of finding an exit to crisis faces no shortage of complications.
The 2 leaders spoke frankly for nearly an hour amid growing alarm over Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine, a crisis that has deepened as Kremlin has stiffened its insistence on border security guarantees and test-fired hypersonic missiles to underscore its demands.
With tens of thousands of Russian troops massed on Ukraine border, the highly anticipated call between 2 leaders came amid growing worries by US and Western allies about Russia’s threat to its neighbor.
Putin's visit to India was his second visit abroad during the Covid pandemic. Modi said Putin's second visit abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic reflected his personal commitment to the India-Russia ties and that the special and privileged strategic partnership between the two sides was getting stronger.
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