Russian President Vladimir Putin snuffed out any immediate hope of diplomacy to end the fighting in Ukraine and ordered Russia’s military advance to proceed, as Germany joined Western nations in rushing aid to help the government in Kyiv defend itself.
In a sign of the growing tide of anger directed at the Kremlin, Berlin upended years of policy to allow weapons shipments to Ukraine, while Europe moved closer to excluding Moscow from the SWIFT financial messaging system, and China voiced its displeasure at the invasion.
The sense of outrage was compounded by Russia’s announcement that talks to defuse the conflict were a nonstarter. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the two sides had failed to reach agreement on a format or a location for any talks, and “because the Ukrainian side in effect refused negotiations, the main Russian forces resumed their advance according to the plan of the operation.”
