President Volodymyr Zelensky has told Boris Johnson this evening that he believed the next 24 hours was a crucial period for Ukraine.
Kyiv’s mayor has said that the city is now completely surrounded and all exits blocked by Russian troops.
“No way to evacuate civilians” as it seems the siege of the capital has now begun
Earlier President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian nuclear deterrent forces on alert amid tensions with the West over Ukraine
Putin said that he has acted in response to what he describes as “illegitimate Western sanctions” over war with Ukraine.He has placed Russia’s strategic deterrence forces on high alert as result.
This includes units in charge of its nuclear capabilities.
US ambassador to UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield:
“It means that President Putin is continuing to escalate
this war in a manner that is totally unacceptable and we have to continue to stem his actions in the strongest possible way.”
NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg:
@This is dangerous rhetoric. This is a behaviour which is irresponsible. And of course when you combine this rhetoric with what they are doing on the ground in Ukraine… this adds to the seriousness
of the situation.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that Ukrainian and Russian delegations will meet without preconditions on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border near the Pripyat River
They are doing so “without preconditions,” Zelensky added
Ukraine’s foreign minister says that the fact that Russia has agreed to a meeting without preconditions or ultimatums “is already a victory”
“We go there to listen to what Russia wants to say”
Meanwhile the governor of Kharkiv region said that Ukraine has full control of the city and that large numbers of Russian prisoners have surrendered after this morning’s apparently botched assault.
Street fighting has raged in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-biggest city, after Russian forces pierced through Ukrainian lines.
Ukraine officials said that Russian forces blew up a gas pipeline in Kharkiv, and attacked an oil depot south of Kyiv
The EU have announced further measures against Russia this afternoon
The bloc will close its airspace to Russian airlines, and will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and equipment to a country under attack.
There will also be a ban on pro-Kremlin media and sanctions against Belarus
The Russian head of delegation at a major UN climate conference apologised for his country’s invasion of Ukraine on Sunday, which he said lacked justification, according to several sources who heard him speak at the virtual meeting.
International charities and community groups are calling for donations to aid humanitarian efforts in Ukraine and to help those who flee the country
