Putin signals escalation as he puts Russia’s nuclear force on high alert

Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to put Russia's nuclear deterrence forces on high alert, in the latest signal from the Russian leader that he is prepared to resort to the most extreme level of brinkmanship is his effort to achieve victory in Ukraine.

The US accused Putin of "totally unacceptable" escalation and made clear that it would keep up its support of Ukraine and punitive measures on Russia. With the EU also announcing unprecedented new measures against Moscow, it was clear that Putin's assault on Ukraine had failed to yield the quick victories he had anticipated but had instead rallied a concerted western response that was potentially devastating for Russia's economy.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, announced that a delegation from Kyiv would meet Russian officials without preconditions on his country's border with Belarus, but it was far from clear Putin was ready to entertain talks that did not involve compliance with his demands that Ukraine accept partition and disarm.

"I do not really believe in the outcome of this meeting, but let them try, so that later not a single citizen of Ukraine has any doubt that I, as president, tried to stop the war," Zelenskiy said.

In the absence of a quick military breakthrough, Putin signalled he was prepared to escalate his onslaught on Ukraine, while taking the unprecedented step of explicitly brandishing Russia's nuclear arsenal in an effort to deter western support for Ukraine. On Sunday, however, that support continued to grow.

The EU announced it would fund weapons supplies to the Ukrainian armed forces, block European airspace to all Russian aircraft including the private jets of oligarchs, and banned the Kremlin's propaganda channel RT, and its news agency, Sputnik

BP announced it would divest its nearly 20% stake in the Russian oil corporation Rosneft