Dhe Russian President Vladimir Putin has put his country’s nuclear forces on alert amid tensions with the West over the war in Ukraine. He announced this on Sunday at a meeting with his top advisors, which was also televised.
NATO members had made “aggressive statements,” he said, apparently referring to tough financial sanctions against Russia and himself. I mean the illegal sanctions that everyone knows very well.” In addition, top representatives of the leading NATO countries also allow themselves “aggressive statements towards our country”.
>>> All developments in Ukraine in the live ticker >>>
He instructed Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Chief of the General Staff to put the nuclear deterrent forces into a “special regime” of combat readiness. He did not explicitly mention nuclear weapons. According to US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Putin’s statement shows that Russia is escalating the conflict in an unacceptable manner. She told the broadcaster CBS. UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told the German Press Agency: “The mere idea of a nuclear conflict is simply unimaginable.”
The White House also sharply criticized the transfer of the Russian nuclear forces to alert. Putin is conjuring up alleged threats “to justify further aggression,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told ABC. Psaki said it was a pattern that Putin had repeatedly demonstrated in the course of the Ukraine conflict.
Russia was “never threatened by NATO or Ukraine.” The United States would assert itself against threats from Russia: “We have the ability to defend ourselves.” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg spoke of Putin’s “dangerous rhetoric”. The behavior of the Russian President was “irresponsible,” he told CNN.
Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) was concerned about the nuclear threat. Such announcements are “of course to be taken seriously, we are also very concerned about clarification,” said Lambrecht on the ARD program “Report from Berlin”. Discussions are being held within NATO on “how to react to this without further escalating”. It’s about “keeping a cool head in this very, very difficult situation”.
Lambrecht admitted that talks with the Russian government are currently hardly possible. It’s “hard to keep a channel open to someone who lies, cheats, who is completely unpredictable.” The escalation in the open conflict with Russia is progressing “very quickly”: “We are seeing that deeds follow words and very martial announcements,” warned the minister. Close coordination within de NATO is all the more important.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, government officials from Ukraine and Russia will meet for talks on the Belarusian border with Ukraine. The talks will take place without preconditions and are the result of a phone call between Zelenskyy and the Belarusian President, the Presidential Office in Kiev said. The negotiations should therefore take place near the Pripyat River.
Selenskyj dampened expectations of the talks in advance. “I don’t believe in an outcome of this meeting, but let’s try,” he said in a statement. He is trying to stop the war as long as there is a minimal chance. Not a single Ukrainian should doubt that, Zelensky said.
Ukraine is apparently pushing back Russian soldiers in Kharkiv
According to Ukraine, it has repelled an advance by the Russian army on the second largest city of Kharkiv. After Russian soldiers advanced to the city center, Governor Oleg Sinegubov announced on Sunday that Kharkiv was “completely” under Ukrainian control again. According to the Russian army, two large cities in the south of Ukraine were surrounded. Almost 400,000 people have now fled Ukraine.
Fighting in Kharkiv in north-eastern Ukraine began on Sunday morning. An AFP reporter reported fierce street fighting, machine gun fire and explosions. He also saw several abandoned Russian armored vehicles and a burned-out wreck.
Governor Sinegubov called on the approximately 1.4 million residents not to leave their homes. In the afternoon the governor then declared that the Russian army had been pushed back. “Kharkiv is completely under our control,” he wrote on Telegram.
The capital Kiev was also still under the control of the Ukrainian army, according to the city administration on Sunday. According to the authorities, during the night there were fights with Russian “saboteurs”. Mayor Vitali Klitschko therefore imposed a full curfew until Monday morning. Soldiers patrolled the streets with drawn weapons.
Southwest of Kiev there was fighting around the Vasylkiv air base. An oil storage facility also caught fire. The fire brigade was initially unable to extinguish the huge fire because of the ongoing fighting, as the head of the Kiev region, Oleksiy Kuleba, announced. According to Ukrainian sources, a gas pipeline was destroyed in Kharkiv.
In southern Ukraine, the Russian army said it was advancing on the cities of Cherson and Berdyansk. The Russian armed forces had “completely surrounded both cities,” said Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov in Moscow. According to him, Russian soldiers have also taken control of Henichesk, a port city on the Sea of Azov, and an airfield near Kherson.