Ukrainian President Zelensky, just in the last couple of hours, announced that Ukraine and Russia would conduct the first diplomatic talks since the Kremlin-launched invasion, with delegations from BOTH countries meeting at the Ukrainian border with Belarus.
The two countries would meet near the Pripyat River “without preconditions,” Zelensky’s office said in a Telegram message.
This news comes within the backdrop of tensions continuing to escalate, with Putin stating today that he had put his nuclear deterrence forces into high alert, attributing the move to “aggressive statements” from the West against Russia.
The White House called the order an example of “manufacturing threats that don’t exist.”
Over four days of fighting, the United Nations’ refugee agency said earlier today that 368,000 people have fled Ukraine.
In a sign of how the war is quickly upending Europe’s status quo, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a major boost in defense spending, saying it was time to “invest significantly more” in security and protecting democracy.
Lobster on the Prairie 