Putin's order means he wants Russia's nuclear weapons prepared for increased readiness to launch.
The U.S. and European nations agreed to impose the most potentially crippling financial penalties yet on Russia over its unrelenting invasion of Ukraine.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told ABC that Putin is resorting to the pattern he used in the weeks before the invasion,"which is to manufacture threats that don't exist in order to justify further aggression." If Putin is arming or otherwise raising the nuclear combat readiness of his bombers, or if he is ordering more ballistic missile submarines to sea, then the United States might feel compelled to respond in kind, said Hans Kristensen, a nuclear analyst at the Federation of American Scientists. That would mark a worrisome escalation, he said.
Terrified residents hunkered down in homes, underground garages and subway stations in anticipation of a full-scale Russian assault. Supplies of food and medicine were running low, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
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