As fierce fighting between Russia and Ukraine continued, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued another belligerent statement, ordering nuclear deterrent troops to be on high alert.
Days earlier, he had threatened the West with "consequences greater than any they have faced in history" if they tried to interfere in Ukraine.
Addressing officials, including the defense minister, Putin said, "Dear colleagues, you see that not only are the Western countries engaged in unfriendly actions towards our country in the economic field - I'm talking about the illegitimate sanctions everyone knows about very well - but the top NATO member countries' officials allow themselves aggressive statements towards our country as well. That's why I'm ordering the defence minister and chief of the general staff to switch the Russian army's deterrent forces onto a high alert mode of combat standby duty."
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Putin's order for nuclear deterrent forces came even as Kyiv and Moscow announced that their delegations would meet at the Ukraine-Belarus border to holds talks.
Tempering expectations regarding the development, the Ukrainian president expressed scepticism about outcomes of the talks, but said that he was ready to explore all avenues to end the war. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, "Alexander Lukashenko addressed me so that Russian and Ukrainian delegations meet at the River Pripyat. I underline, without any conditions. I'll say frankly, like always, I don't believe that much in the result of this meeting, but let them try so that that not a single citizen of Ukraine has any doubt left that I, as President, used every chance to stop the war, even a small one. I don't want missiles, airplanes and helicopters to fly to Ukraine from Belarus. I don't want troops to go to Ukraine from Belarus. And he (Lukashenko) assured me (that it won't happen)."