According to 2 unnamed U.S. officials, it is believed that Russia conducted a test launch of an extremely provocative intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) while President Biden was visiting Kyiv Monday.
Speaking in Warsaw on Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced that he intends to implement additional sanctions against Russia “this week.” The announcement came hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he is suspending the New START nuclear treaty between Moscow and Washington.
In his remarks on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that Western countries must “help Ukraine to shield its cities from Russian bombs and Iranian drones and that’s why the United Kingdom will be the first country to provide Ukraine with longer-range weapons.”
In a speech on Tuesday that has been highly anticipated by Western nations, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he is suspending Moscow’s participation in the New START nuclear treaty with the U.S.
Over the weekend, President Joe Biden departed Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to visit Ramstein Air Base in Germany before going to Kyiv for an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital on Monday. The visit comes a few days ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán delivered his annual State of the State address on Saturday in which he told the nation that due to the escalation of the war in Ukraine and the disastrous sanctions policy pursued by the European Union, “2023 will be the most dangerous year since the fall of communism.”
Hundreds of anti-war protesters gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on Sunday to protest the war in Ukraine. The turnout of thousands that organizers had anticipated did not materialize. The event called “Rage Against the War Machine,” sponsored by the Libertarian Party and the People’s Party, was broadcast live stream on YouTube with a few thousand viewers. The event included an eclectic group of speakers, the most significant being Dennis Kucinich, Tulsi Gabbard, and Ron Paul.
At her weekly press briefing on Friday, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blasted NATO for its role in escalating the war in Ukraine. Commenting on the NATO meetings in Brussels this week to increase military aid to Ukraine, she said “the main takeaway from this meeting was that Vladimir Zelensky’s regime was literally ordered to launch a counteroffensive this spring…. From a Euro-Atlantic perspective, the time has come to exterminate those who are still alive in this country.”
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko issued a warning on Thursday saying that if Belarus is either threatened or comes under attack, the country’s army is ready to join the war in Ukraine and fight alongside the Russians.