President Joe Biden will embark on a multi-day trip to Europe starting Wednesday to meet with allies about the ongoing response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraineincluding military assistance for Ukraine and new sanctions on Russia.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, said Biden is working on long-term efforts to boost defenses in Eastern Europe and reduce the continent’s reliance on Russian energy.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine, Russian ground forces remain largely stalled and the Russian military has lost more than 10% of the combat force that President Vladimir Putin sent to invade Ukraine, said a senior Pentagon official — who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe intelligence assessments .
Despite the military setbacks, the invasion has caused sprawling humanitarian challenges. Millions of refugees have fled the fighting, mostly by crossing the border into Poland, and the war has jeopardized Ukraine’s wheat and barley harvests, increasing the possibility of rising hunger in impoverished areas around the globe.
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Latest developments
► In a nightly address to the nation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces blocked a humanitarian convoy attempting to reach Mariupol and also took rescue workers and bus drivers captive.
►The United Nations on Wednesday will now face three resolutions on the worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine after Russia decided to call for a vote on its Security Council resolution which makes no mention of Russian aggression against its smaller neighbor.
►Romania’s defense ministry said late Tuesday that the country’s air force intercepted and escorted a civilian Turkish Airline flight that was traveling from Moscow to Istanbul after a bomb scare had been received by aviation traffic authorities.
Ukrainian agency: Russian forces destroyed laboratory at Chernobyl
A laboratory at the Chernobyl nuclear plant that works to improve the management of radioactive waste was destroyed, according to the Ukrainian agency in charge of the area surrounding the plant on Tuesday.
The laboratory contained “highly active samples and samples of radionuclides that are now in the hands of the enemy, which we hope will harm itself and not the civilized world,” the agency said in its statement.
Ukraine’s nuclear regulatory agency also said Monday that radiation monitors around the plant had stopped working.
Russia seized control of Chernobyl early on in its invasion of Ukraine, along with the Zaporizhzhia plant. Chernobyl is the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986 when a reactor exploded. The exclusion zone is the contaminated area around the plant.
Putin won’t rule out using nuclear weapons, spokesperson says
Russian President Vladimir Putin has not ruled out the possibility of using nuclear weapons in the nearly four-week-long war with Ukraine, his longtime spokesman said Tuesday in a CNN interview.
Asked by CNN’s chief international anchor, Christiane Amanpour, whether he’s convinced Putin won’t take that drastic step, press secretary Dmitry Peskov declined to dismiss that option.
“Well, we have a concept of domestic security, and, well, it’s public,” Peskov responded. “You can read all the reasons for nuclear arms to be used. So, if it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be used, in accordance with our concept.”
It’s not the first time a high-ranking Russian official has dangled a nuclear threat, likely to sow fear among adversaries. Three days after launching the Ukraine invasion Feb. 24, Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces put on high alert in response to tough sanctions from the West.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism