Putin puts nuclear deterrence forces on high alert

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his defence chiefs to put the country's nuclear "deterrence forces" on high alert on Sunday and accused the West of taking "unfriendly" steps against his country.

International tensions are already soaring over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and Putin's order will cause further alarm.

Moscow has the world's second-largest arsenal of nuclear weapons and a huge cache of ballistic missiles which form the backbone of the country's deterrence forces.

"I order the defence minister and the chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces to put the deterrence forces of the Russian army into a special mode of combat service," Putin said. "You see that Western countries are not only unfriendly to our country in the economic sphere -- I mean illegitimate sanctions," he added, in a televised address. "Senior officials of leading Nato countries also allow aggressive statements against our country." Defence Minister Shoigu replied: "Affirmative."

Also, Vladimir Putin on Sunday accused Ukrainian authorities of wasting "an opportunity" to hold talks after Moscow's invasion of its pro-Western neighbour. The Kremlin said that Putin had briefed Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett about "the course of a special military operation to protect Donbas".

During the call, the statement said, he "also noted that the Russian delegation is in the Belarus city of Gomel and is ready for negotiations with representatives of Kyiv, who, showing inconsistency, have not yet taken advantage of this opportunity".

Bennet for his part proposed that Israel act as a mediator in talks between Russia and Ukraine "in order to halt the hostilities", the Kremlin said. Bennett's office said the two men "discussed the situation between Russia and Ukraine".

The call followed reports that Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky had asked Israel to play a mediation role following the Russian invasion. Bennett and Zelensky spoke on Friday.

Ukraine's President Zelensky said on Sunday that he was ready for talks with Russia, but rejected Moscow's push to stage them in Belarus as it was a launchpad for invading forces. He said Ukraine had proposed Warsaw, Bratislava, Budapest, Istanbul and Baku as possible alternative locations for any talks. "Any other city in a country from whose territory missiles do not fly would suit us," Zelensky said.

Meanwhile, street fighting raged in Ukraine's second-biggest city on Sunday after Russian forces pierced through Ukrainian lines, as both sides said they were ready for talks to halt a conflict that has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.

Machine gun fire and explosions could be heard in Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine and an AFP journalist saw the wreckage of a Russian armoured vehicle smouldering and several others abandoned.

Apart from the attack on Kharkiv, located near the Russian border, Moscow also claimed it was "entirely" besieging the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson and the city of Berdyansk in the southeast. Both are located close the Crimea peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Ukrainian officials also said that a gas pipeline in eastern Kharkiv and an oil depot near the capital Kyiv were targeted by Russian forces overnight. The claims could not be independently verified.

Many Kyiv residents spent another night in shelters as Ukrainian forces said they fought off Russian "sabotage groups", but Sunday was relatively calm compared to previous days. The city is under a blanket curfew until Monday but some residents ventured out regardless. Out for a walk in a park, 41-year-old Flora Stepanova said staying at home watching the news all the time "will drive you crazy".

Russia on Saturday ordered its forces to advance further into Ukraine "from all directions" but soldiers have encountered fierce resistance from Ukrainian troops, the intensity of which has likely surprised Moscow, according to Western sources.

Ukraine's army said it held the line against an assault on Kyiv, but was fighting Russian "sabotage groups" that had infiltrated the city. "We will fight until we have liberated our country," a defiant Zelensky said in a video message on Saturday.

Ukrainian forces secured full control of Kharkiv on Sunday following street fighting with Russian troops in the country´s second biggest city, the local governor said. "Kharkiv is fully under our control," the head of the regional administration, Oleg Sinegubov, said on messaging app Telegram, adding that the army was expelling Russian forces during a "clean-up" operation.

"The past night in Ukraine was brutal," Zelensky said. "They fight against everyone. They fight against all living things -- against kindergartens, against residential buildings and even against ambulances." Ukraine has reported 198 civilian deaths, including three children, since the invasion began.

He also said Ukraine had "derailed" Moscow's plan to overthrow him and urged Russians to pressure Putin into stopping the conflict.

But President Vladimir Putin has pressed ahead with the assault, defying crippling Western sanctions that have plunged Russia into pariah status. Many NATO members are sending arms and ammunition to Ukraine and have offered humanitarian assistance, but they have said they will not intervene militarily. NATO has also said it will for the first time deploy part of its 40,000-strong rapid response force to Eastern Europe in a move to reassure rattled countries that were once part of the Communist bloc.

A day after Berlin said it would send anti-tank weapons and Stinger missiles to Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the world was in a "new era" and warned of possible "further sanctions". In London, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the conflict could last a "number of years".

On Sunday, Ukraine's general staff said the 44-year-old leader was urging any foreigners to come to Ukraine "and fight side by side with the Ukrainians against Russian war criminals". "There is no greater contribution which you can make for the sake of peace," the general staff said in a Facebook post, adding that the foreign fighters would form part of an "International Legion for the Territorial Defence of Ukraine".

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday urged foreigners to head to Ukrainian embassies worldwide to sign up for an "international brigade" of volunteers to help fight invading Russian forces.

"All foreigners wishing to join the resistance against the Russian occupiers and protect global security are invited by the Ukrainian leadership to come to our state and join the ranks of the territorial defence forces," Zelensky said in a statement.

"A separate unit is being formed from foreigners -- the International Brigade of the territorial defence of Ukraine. This will be a key testimony of your support for our country."

Zelensky insisted that Ukrainians were courageous enough to face Russia alone, but said: "This is not just a Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is the beginning of a war against Europe". He said anyone interested in joining should get in contact with the military attache at their nearest Ukrainian embassy.

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said the conflict so far has left at least 240 civilians wounded, including 64 killed.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said more than 368,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries, while over 160,000 are estimated to be displaced within Ukraine. Pope Francis called for the "urgent" opening of humanitarian corridors for Ukraine to allow even more to leave. AFP saw stationary queues of cars stretching for dozens of kilometres going up to Ukraine's border crossings with Poland. "Attacks were everywhere," said Diana, 37, who fled the Ukrainian capital. "My mother is still in Kyiv."

In neighbouring Romania, Olga, 36, was among hundreds to have crossed the Danube river with her three young children to safety. "My husband came with us as far as the border, before returning to Kyiv to fight," she said.

Residents of the capital have sought sanctuary in subway stations and cellars and Zelensky announced a baby girl had been born on the metro. Yulia Snitko, a pregnant 32-year-old, said she had sheltered in the basement of her Kyiv apartment block, fearing premature labour.

"It was more than one hour of huge explosions. I was trembling," she said. Responding to the invasion, the West said it would remove some Russian banks from the SWIFT bank messaging system, and froze central bank assets -- hitting some of Russia's global trade.

A senior US official said the measures would turn Russia into a "pariah", adding that a task force would "hunt down" Russian oligarchs' assets. Germany had previously resisted the SWIFT removals over concerns Russia could cut off key gas supplies.

There have also been sanctions and boycotts in the cultural and sporting spheres as well as international travel, with several countries banning Russian airlines from their airspace. In the latest punishment for Putin, a keen judoka, the International Judo Federation said he has been suspended as its honorary president.

The Kremlin has so far brushed off sanctions, including those targeting Putin personally, as a sign of Western impotence. Putin has said Russia's actions are justified because it is defending Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

In an address to parishioners on Sunday, Russia's Orthodox Patriarch Kirill voiced his support, calling Moscow's opponents "evil forces". Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss warned on Sunday the Russia-Ukraine conflict could last a "number of years" and the world needs to be prepared for Moscow "to seek to use even worse weapons".

"I fear this will be a long haul, this could be a number of years," Truss told Sky News. "Russia have strong forces and we know the Ukrainians are brave, they are determined to stand up for their sovereignty and territorial integrity and they are determined to fight," she said.

The minister said that intelligence showed that Ukrainian forces were "continuing to resist Russian advances" and that there had not been "significant changes" overnight. But she warned Russian President Vladimir Putin could deploy more deadly weapons.

"This could well be the beginning the end for Putin and I fear that he is determined to use the most unsavoury means in this war.

"I fear this conflict could be very, very bloody. We do need to be prepared for Russia to seek to use even worse weapons," she added.

However, Putin "should be aware the International Criminal Court is already looking at what is happening in Ukraine and there will be serious consequences for him personally," she told Sky News.

Britain has provided Ukraine with lethal defence weapons and applied sanctions to Kremlin-linked tycoons and businesses.

The foreign minister said that Britian would continue to supply defence weapons, but cautioned that the sanctions "will take time" to become effective and that they could only work through their "hit list" of oligarchs as fast as the legal process would allow them to.

"We've already had letters to the Foreign Office, from lawyers, threatening us, so we have to make sure the cases are properly prepared and that we have the right evidence before we sanction these individuals," she told the Sunday Times.

"That is why we're taking it step by step, but we are working through that hit list and we will continue to sanction new oligarchs every few weeks."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky late Saturday, with the pair agreeing that the world needs to isolate Russia "completely diplomatically and financially," Downing Street said. The pair welcomed international moves towards excluding Russia from the SWIFT system. Johnson praised the "incredible heroism and bravery of President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people", and both leaders said that Putin's forces were "being met with a greater Ukrainian resistance than he calculated on".

Johnson and Zelensky also shared their "mutual concern" about the role Belarus has played so far in Russia's invasion.

Also, Pope Francis on Sunday called for an end to fighting in Ukraine on the fourth day of a Russian invasion of the country. "Let the weapons fall silent," he said. "God is with those who seek peace, not those resorting to violence."

The Argentine pontiff also called for the "urgent" opening of humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to escape the onslaught.

"I am thinking of the elderly, of all those at the moment seeking refuge, of mothers fleeing with their children," he said.

"They are brothers and sisters for whom it is urgent to open up humanitarian corridors and who must be welcomed."

Ukraine has lodged a complaint against Russia at the International Court of Justice in The Hague to get it to halt its invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday.

"Russia must be held accountable for manipulating the notion of genocide to justify aggression," Zelensky declared in a tweet. "We request an urgent decision ordering Russia to cease military activity now and expect trials to start next week.

The ICJ, which is based in the Netherlands capital The Hague, does not have a mandate to bring criminal charges against individual Russian leaders behind the four-day-old invasion. But it is the world's top court for resolving legal complaints between states over alleged breaches of international law. It is the supreme judicial institution of the United Nations.

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.

"Let me present an apology on behalf of all Russians not able to prevent this conflict," Anisimov said at the closing plenary of the virtual, 195-nation forum, according to three sources who heard him speak.

The United States and European nations agreed Saturday to impose the most potentially crippling financial penalties yet on Russia over its unrelenting invasion of Ukraine, going after the central bank reserves that underpin the Russian economy and severing some Russian banks from a vital global financial network. “Putin embarked on a path aiming to destroy Ukraine, but what he is also doing, in fact, is destroying the future of his own country,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

The US and European allies announced the moves in a joint statement as part of a new round of financial sanctions meant to “hold Russia to account and collectively ensure that this war is a strategic failure for Putin.”

The central bank restrictions target access to the more than $600 billion in reserves that the Kremlin has at its disposal, and are meant to block Russia’s ability to support the ruble as it plunges in value amid tightening Western sanctions.

The ruble and Russia’s stock market both declined sharply immediately after Russia launched military action in Ukraine on Thursday. The ruble recovered slightly but is still down more than 6 percent from before Putin’s announcement, trading at nearly 84 rubles to the dollar.

US officials said Saturday’s steps were framed to send the ruble into “free fall” and promote soaring inflation in the Russian economy.

Canada is joining many European countries in closing its airspace to all Russian aircraft as the West ramps up pressure on Russia for invading Ukraine.

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Sunday that Canada will hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked attacks.

Most European countries have either announced they are closing their airspace or said they intend to do so. So far Spain, Greece, Serbia and Turkey are among the few left that haven’t joined in the move against Russia.

Authorities say Greece is sending ammunition, assault rifles and missile launchers to Ukraine in response to a request by Ukraine’s government.

The military aid was decided at a meeting on Sunday morning between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and senior defense officials.