According to The Guardian
Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to put Russia’s nuclear deterrence forces on high alert, as his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, announced a delegation from Kyiv would meet Russian officials without preconditions on his country’s border with Belarus.
On the fourth day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv remained in Ukrainian control, while officials claimed they had repelled an attack on Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, where street fighting was taking place.
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians, mainly women and children, were fleeing from the Russian assault into neighbouring countries.
Putin’s order came at a meeting between the president, the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, and the chief of the general staff of the armed forces of Russia, Valery Gerasimov.
“Senior officials of the leading Nato countries also allow aggressive statements against our country, therefore I order the minister of Defense and the chief of the general staff [of the Russian armed forces] to transfer the deterrence forces of the Russian army to a special mode of combat duty,” Putin said in televised comments.
“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.
It is not immediately clear what the “special mode of combat duty” entails. Pavel Podvig, a Geneva-based analyst and head of the Russian Nuclear Forces project, said it was “hard to tell” what the order meant but that it may be a “preliminary command.” It “makes a retaliatory strike possible,” he told the Guardian. “But does not mean preparation for a first strike.”
It does not appear to be the highest level of readiness, including bombers being loaded with weapons and taking off. “It is an action that makes the command and control able to react if necessary,” said Podvig. “But it’s a pretty high level.”
The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, told CNN, in reaction to Putin’s decision to put Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert: “This is dangerous rhetoric. This is a behaviour which is irresponsible.”
Putin has warned foreign countries not to interfere in his invasion of Ukraine, saying it could lead to “consequences they have never seen”. He has positioned anti-air missiles and other advanced missile systems in Belarus and deployed his fleet to the Black Sea in an effort to prevent a western intervention in Ukraine.
The US ambassador to the United Nations responded to the news from Moscow while appearing on CBS. “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.”
At about the same time as Putin’s nuclear move, Zelenskiy’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, since it has allowed its territory to be used by Russian troops as a staging ground for the invasion.
The Russian invasion has left hundreds dead. Russia has launched missile strikes against buildings in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other major Ukrainian cities as it threatens an all-out assault not seen since the second world war.
Kharkiv residents were urged to stay indoors by its governor, Oleg Sinegubov, who said “there has been a breakthrough in light equipment including in the central part of the city”. A nine-storey building was reportedly hit, with one woman killed.
Russian forces also blew up a gas pipeline in the city, the Ukrainian state service of special communications said, prompting the government to warn of a potential “environmental catastrophe” and to urge people to protect themselves from the smoke by covering their windows.
Air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv early on Sunday, hours after the US, Britain and European countries announced tougher sanctions targeting Russian banks, including barring some from the Swift international payments system.
In a historic announcement to the Bundestag, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said a fund of €100bn (£85bn) would be set up immediately to boost the strength of the country’s armed forces, as he also announced a sustained increase in defence spending over the coming years.
Scholz admitted that the urgency of the Ukraine crisis had forced Germany’s decision to invest in the military, telling the emergency session of parliament: “It is clear that we must invest significantly more in the security of our country, in order to protect our freedom and democracy.”
He called it “Germany’s historical responsibility” to ensure that Vladimir Putin “does not turn the clocks back”.
The move came after the government made the surprise announcement on Saturday that it would be sending weapons and other supplies to Ukraine, including 1,000 anti-tank weapons, 500 surface-to-air Stinger missiles and thousands of gallons of petrol.
About 100,000 people gathered in Berlin to demonstrate against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while from St Peter’s Square in Rome, the Pope condemned the attack, saying those who make war should not be deluded into thinking that God is on their side.
As Russia’s international isolation deepened, there were growing signs of disquiet from Russia’s financial elite, following earlier protests from celebrities and sports people.
The billionaire Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman, who was born in Ukraine but made his fortune in Russia after the Soviet Union collapsed, told his staff in a letter that the conflict was a tragedy for both countries.
“This crisis will cost lives and damage two nations who have been brothers for hundreds of years,” he wrote in a letter seen by the Financial Times that did not criticise Putin directly.
Oleg Deripaska, an oligarch and ally of the Russian president, tweeted: “Peace is the priority. Negotiations must start ASAP.”
