Latest on Russia-Ukraine: Russian troops enter Kyiv, seizing control of strategic airport; Canada must be ready to welcome Ukrainians to safety: expert
The latest on Russia and Ukraine from Canada and around the world Friday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
12:41 p.m. China and India were organizing evacuation flights to collect citizens stranded and unable to fly home after Russia's invasion of Ukraine threatened to generate a refugee crisis.
Other governments and United Nations officials were assessing how to extract people as Russian forces attacked Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. The country's airspace has been shut down due to safety concerns, leaving people to travel by land to surrounding countries as the only way to evacuate.
The conflict could generate as many as 4 million refugees if the Russian invasion now in its second day continues, the U.N. said Friday in Geneva. Its International Civil Aviation Organization, which promotes cooperation and diplomacy in global aviation, was to discuss the conflict at a previously scheduled meeting, spokesman Anthony Philbin said via phone. He declined to comment on the deliberations.
The proximity of the conflict and the availability of commercial flights from neighboring countries like Hungary, Romania and Poland have lessened the need for European governments to send dedicated aircraft to extract people. The U.K., for example, hasn't yet decided to launch a charter operation, instead instructing citizens to leave the country as soon as possible using commercial flights.
Countries much further away were chartering jets to bridge gaps in commercial networks.
12:23 p.m. There are reports the federal government will match donations individuals make to the Canadian Red Cross to help bring humanitarian relief to Ukraine.
The campaign, which will begin today and run until March 18, will see the government match donations by Canadians dollar for dollar to a maximum of $10 million.
12:10 p.m. Europe is facing a massive new migration crisis because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Canada should prepare to provide asylum to those fleeing the violence, says a Canadian security expert.
This would be a chance for Canada to really, really step up to the plate," said Michael Bociurkiw, a Canadian in Ukraine who served as the spokesman for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe during the height of tensions following Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
Telling Ukrainians: you are welcome in Canada. And, you know, easing of visa rules, temporary stays, that sort of thing."
Canada has promised to prioritize immigration applications from Ukraine to bring people fleeing the country to safety as quickly as possible.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also announced the creation of a new hotline Thursday, for anyone at home or abroad with urgent Ukraine-related immigration questions."
11:55 a.m. Russian authorities on Friday announced the partial restriction" of access to Facebook after the social media network limited the accounts of several Kremlin-backed media over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Russian state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said Friday it demanded that Facebook lift the restrictions it placed Thursday on state news agency RIA Novosti, state TV channel Zvezda, and pro-Kremlin news sites Lenta.Ru and Gazeta.Ru. The agency said Facebook didn't reinstate the media outlets.
The restrictions on the accounts, according to Roskomnadzor, included marking their content as unreliable and imposing technical restrictions on the search results to reduce the publications' audiences on Facebook.
Roskomnadzor said its partial restriction" on Facebook takes effect Friday, without clarifying what exactly the move means.
In its official statement, Roskomnadzor cast its action as 'measures to protect Russian media." It said Russia's Foreign Ministry and the Prosecutor General's office found Facebook complicit in violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms, as well as the rights and freedoms of Russian nationals."
11:41 a.m. Just say nyet" to Russian vodka.
Ontario's liquor retailer has been asked by Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca to pull bottles of Russian vodka from its store shelves over the invasion of Ukraine.
As a Crown corporation, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario should remove the products to show support for an independent Ukraine by halting all commerce with Russia until their troops are withdrawn," Del Duca wrote Friday to LCBO president George Soleas.
The letter was sent a day after all parties in the legislature condemned the invasion and Premier Doug Ford branded Russian President Vladimir Putin a thug" before announcing a $300,000 donation from the province to the Canada-Ukraine Foundation for medical aid, food and shelter as Ukraine is racked by combat. The federal government has also announced sanctions against Russia.
Read the full story from the Star's Rob Ferguson.
11:27 a.m. Russian troops bore down on Ukraine's capital Friday, with gunfire and explosions resonating ever closer to the government quarter, in an invasion of a democratic country that has fueled fears of wider war in Europe and triggered worldwide efforts to make Russia stop.
With reports of hundreds of casualties from the warfare - including shelling that sliced through a Kyiv apartment building and pummeled bridges and schools - there also were growing signs that Vladimir Putin's Russia may be seeking to overthrow Ukraine's government in his boldest effort yet to redraw the world map and revive Moscow's Cold War-era influence.
In the fog of war, it was unclear how much of Ukraine remains under Ukrainian control and how much Russian forces have seized. The Kremlin accepted Kyiv's offer to hold talks, but with Russia in the driver's seat, it appeared to be an effort to squeeze concessions out of Ukraine's embattled president instead of a gesture toward a diplomatic solution.
Read the full story here on the Star.
11:15 a.m. The Council of Europe has suspended Russia from the continent's human rights organization because of its invasion of Ukraine.
The 47-nation council announced Friday that Russia was suspended with immediate effect" from the organization's Committee of Ministers and parliamentary assembly on Friday as a result of the Russian Federation's armed attack on Ukraine."
The Strasbourg-based organization, which was founded in 1949, said Russia remained a member and continued to be bound by relevant human rights conventions.
11:09 a.m. Now that Russian President Vladimir Putin has invaded Ukraine and foreclosed his other options, certain aspects of the near future have become clear. So have some aspects of the longer run. Here are 10 predictions, made with varying degrees of confidence.
1. Ukraine's organized military forces won't be able to fight for long. Its armed forces are smaller and less well-equipped than the Russian invasion force, they are being attacked simultaneously from the north, east and south, and above all they lack air cover.
Russian cruise missiles have already struck most Ukrainian airbases and command centres, and Ukranian forces in the field will be cut up into small groups, surrounded and overwhelmed. Arming civilians won't help; it will just get them killed. Organized combat will probably be over in a week, although fighting in the cities could last a little longer.
2. There will be an underground resistance movement at least for a while, but don't imagine Ukrainians are going to be the new Viet Cong. This is an urban society, and the resistance will rely on ambushes, assassinations and IEDs. The Russians will call it terrorism."
3. Putin says We do not intend to occupy Ukraine," but of course Russia will. The only question is whether they will stop at Dnieper River (plus Kyiv, on the west bank), or take the western half of the country too.
Resistance will be stronger in the west, where Ukrainian nationalism has deeper roots. However, Putin's denial of the legitimacy of the Ukrainian state - and indeed of a separate Ukrainian identity - means he can't really leave the west out. The logic of his argument is that all the people on this ancient Russian land" must be resubmerged in a greater Russian identity.
Read here for the full story from the Star's Gwynne Dyer.
10:57 a.m. Even the smallest act of defiance in Russia takes a giant dose of courage.
That is the way it was in Soviet times. And that is the way it was the day that Russia invaded Ukraine.
A day that began before the sun rose with Russian President Vladimir Putin's paranoid justification for war: an attack by the West against Russia was a certainty unless Russia brought to bloody completion the brutal military buildup on Ukraine's borders.
You and I," he said, simply have not been left with any other opportunity to protect Russia, our people, except for the one that we will be forced to use today."
As a journalist who's been observing the bobbing and weaving between Moscow, Washington, Brussels and Kyiv, Putin's words brought a horrible certainty that had been absent in the many frantic days leading up to it.
At long last, there was no question in the morning about how the day would end.
Read the full story here from the Star's Allan Woods.
10:52 a.m. The pandemic, mass shootings, natural disasters, terror attacks. There's been plenty of tragedy and anxiety for parents to sort through with their kids. Add Russia's escalating invasion of Ukraine to the list.
With events rapidly unfolding on TV and across social media, child development experts urge parents to check in with children of all ages but not to worry if those conversations are brief.
For children under the age of 7, it might just be acknowledging that something is happening between Ukraine and Russia and ask, Have you heard anything?' Take the child's lead, said Janine Domingues, a clinical psychologist at the nonprofit Child Mind Institute in New York.
For all ages, honesty is paramount, she and others said.
Overall, just provide reassurance, that this is what we know right now. Let them know you don't know all the answers but here are some places we can go," Domingues said.
Around the globe, from the U.S. to Western Europe, Japan to South Korea and Australia, c ountries immediately denounced the Kremlin as Thursday's fighting raised fear, sending stocks tumbling and oil prices surging. President Joe Biden slapped Russia with some of the broadest and toughest financial penalties the world's largest economy can muster.
Read the full story here on the Star.
10:41 a.m. Chinese state media left Russia's invasion of Ukraine off their front pages Friday as Beijing weighed its response, even as the outbreak of war in Europe dominated conversations on Chinese social media.
People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party, put the war on the bottom of page three on Friday, carrying a small piece on Foreign Minister Wang Yi's call with his Russian counterpart and criticism of the U.S. for hyping" a military offensive that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the biggest conflict in Europe since 1945.
The official Xinhua News Agency's website on Friday morning relegated the crisis, which Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said struck at the very core foundation of our international order," to a bullet on the site. In its media section, it showed people in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, going about daily life. While state broadcaster CCTV had some on-the-ground coverage, the front page of its app didn't mention Ukraine. A story by state-backed news site Jiemian, titled The most difficult day for Ukrainians," was censored within hours.
Beijing is struggling to articulate a position on Russia's invasion of Ukraine that allows it to join hands with Moscow in opposing U.S. hegemony while still furthering its goal to be seen a responsible global power. President Xi Jinping has yet to comment on his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin's invasion, which comes weeks after China and Russia released a joint statement declaring their friendship had no limits."
This has happened before when Beijing leaders are themselves following a tricky breaking story and trying to figure out which side to land on," said Sarah Cook, research director for China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan at Freedom House, a U.S.-based advocacy group. They are buying time and in a few days, when conditions on the ground in Ukraine become clearer, we may see a more outspoken, consistent message."
There are still some 6,000 Chinese citizens in Ukraine. Beijing has to work out an evacuation plan, said Maria Repnikova, an assistant professor in global communication at Georgia State University. We should watch out for what assistance, if any, China would provide to Russia as the sanctions hit," she added.
At a tense Foreign Ministry press briefing Thursday, spokeswoman Hua Chunying repeatedly sidestepped questions about whether Beijing considered Moscow's military incursion into Ukrainian territory an invasion. China didn't wish to see what happened in Ukraine," she said, adding that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be protected.
Chinese state media has followed suit, largely avoiding language such as invade" to describe Russia's attacks, instead calling them a special military operation." The state-backed Beijing News earlier this week asked reporters to avoid criticizing Russia or carrying pro-Western voices, according to editorial guidance posted on its social media accounts that was later deleted.
That caution stands in contrast to Chinese social media, where nine out of ten top trending topics on the Twitter-like Weibo were related to the Ukraine crisis Friday morning. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's remarks that he'd been left alone" by the West topped the trending list, with as many as 490 million views.
Many users replied saying the U.S. wasn't trustworthy, and called on Taiwanese people to abandon the idea Washington would defend the self-governed island in the wake of an invasion by China, which deems it part of its sovereign territory. One user wrote: Taiwan compatriots please keep your eyes wide open."
10:09 a.m. As Russian troops continue their invasion of Ukraine, the question of allyship is repeatedly in debate.
While most countries have condemned Russia for invading Ukraine and threatening its sovereignty, others remain in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions.
Putin issued a now infamous warning to those standing against him on Thursday, saying consequences for intervening in his invasion of Ukraine would be greater than any you have faced in history."
Refusing to back down, U.S. President Joe Biden condemned Russia's allies and issued his own warning, saying any country in support would be stained by association."
Here is a list of countries choosing to support Russia:
Read here for the full story by the Star's Ashima Agnihotri
10:03 a.m. The International Olympic Committee urged sports bodies Friday to cancel or move all events they plan to hold in Russia and Belarus, and stop using the countries' flags and national anthems.
The request from the Olympic body came after UEFA moved the Champions League final from St. Petersburg to suburban Paris, and after the governing body of skiing and Formula One pulled upcoming races from Russia.
Volleyball and shooting both have world championships scheduled to be held in Russia. There is also a World Cup qualifying playoff match against Poland scheduled for March 24 in Moscow.
Russia breached the Olympic Truce by invading Ukraine on Thursday, only four days after the closing ceremony of the Winter Games in Beijing. Some of the Russian troops entered Ukraine from Belarus, Russia's ally.
Read the full story here on the Star.
9:32 a.m. Popular English-language Ukrainian news outlet, the Kyiv Post, tweeted Thursday that its site has been under constant cyber attack today from the moment Russia launched its military offensive against Ukraine."
As Russian bombs and cruise missiles rocked cities across Ukraine early Thursday morning, another front in the long-simmering conflict was erupting. The internet quickly became a battlefield in its own right, with propaganda and disinformation threatening to muddy the water for Americans following the crisis from afar.
Digital disinformation has long been a favorite tactic of the Kremlin's - as Americans learned via the proliferation of fake news" during the 2016 presidential election - and the Ukraine crisis is proving to be no exception. Over the last few days, researchers have warned that President Vladimir Putin's regime is pushing, and will continue to push, false narratives aimed at justifying its aggression.
At least some of those narratives are finding purchase among an American public divided by previous waves of disinformation, said Graham Brookie, senior director of the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab. What we see ... is not an insignificant amount of organic audience engagement from U.S. citizens that are predisposed to have their previously held beliefs reinforced by Russian disinformation."
For instance, he said, anti-vaccine groups that are already skeptical of the U.S. government are now primed to disbelieve the official U.S. government narrative around Ukraine.
Read the full story here on the Star.
9:20 a.m. Pope Francis visited the Russian Embassy on Friday to personally express his concern about the war," the Vatican said, in an extraordinary, hands-on papal gesture that has no recent precedent.
Usually, popes receive ambassadors and heads of state in the Vatican, and diplomatic protocol would have called for the Vatican foreign minister to summon the ambassador. For Francis, the Vatican head of state, the decision to leave the walled city state and travel a short distance to the Russian embassy to the Holy See was a sign of his anger at Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and his willingness to appeal personally for an end to it.
Vatican officials said they knew of no such previous papal initiative.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni confirmed the visit, and the Vatican said Francis travelled to and from the embassy in a small white car.
The Holy See press office confirms that the pope went to the Russian Embassy to the Holy See on Via della Conciliazione, clearly to express his concern about the war. He was there for just over a half-hour," Bruni said.
Read the full story here on the Star.
9:03 a.m. Luxembourg's foreign minister said Friday that the 27-nation European Union was very close to agreement" to freezing the assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Jean Asselborn said before a meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss Russian sanctions that I think we are very close to an agreement, that we will find an agreement here," for sanctions on the two.
There will be a discussion but I think we agree that Putin and Lavrov, as far as the freezing of assets is concerned, that we will find a consensus here," he said.
Asselborn said Russia would be hurt by the banks measures.
We can't talk everything on this, talk everything down because we don't have SWIFT on the list at this moment. Once again: the debate about SWIFT is not off the table, it will continue."
EU leaders largely agreed it was too soon to impose a travel ban on Putin and Lavrov because negotiating channels needed to be kept open.
9 a.m. The Kremlin says Russia is ready to send a delegation to Belarus for talks with Ukrainian officials.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to send the delegation in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's offer to discuss a non-aligned status for Ukraine.
That indicates Zelenskyy would be willing to negotiate dropping his country's bid to join NATO, as Russia has demanded.
Before the invasion, the West had rejected the demand. Putin claimed the refusal to discuss keeping Ukraine out of NATO prompted him to order a military action in Ukraine to demilitarize" it.
8:09 a.m. The Russian military says it has taken control of a strategic airport just outside the Ukrainian capital and cut Kyiv off from the west. The airport in Hostomel has a long runway capable of accommodating heavy transport planes.
7:55 a.m. The Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, was under bombardment on Friday morning, with missile strikes and a rocket crashing into a residential building as the second day of Russia's military offensive pressed closer to the heart of the government.
Ukrainian forces were battling Russian troops on the outskirts of Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million people, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned in a television address that he was target No. 1" of the Russian advance.
By midmorning, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said that Russian forces had entered the Obolon district, a few miles north of central Kyiv, and urged people in the capital to stay indoors. In a sign of the potentially chaotic fight that could unfold, the ministry said on Facebook that Kyiv residents should prepare Molotov cocktails" to deter the occupier."
Zelenskyy said that 137 Ukrainians, military and civilian, had been killed in the Russian invasion that began Thursday morning, and that Russian sabotage groups" had entered the capital with the aim of decapitating Ukraine's government by destroying the head of the state."
7:12 a.m.: Formula One says it's "impossible to hold" Russian Grand Prix in September considering the situation in Ukraine.
7:11 a.m.: U.S. President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts will seek Friday to reassure member countries on the alliance's eastern flank that their security is guaranteed as Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine closes in on the capital Kyiv.
With Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealing for help, NATO members ranging from Russia's neighbor Estonia in the north down around the west of conflict-hit Ukraine to Bulgaria on the Black Sea coast triggered urgent consultations about their security. Only Hungary refrained.
The leaders, meeting via videoconference, plan to take stock of NATO's own military buildup. The world's biggest security organization previously had around 5,000 troops stationed in the Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - and Poland, but has significantly beefed up its defenses over the last three months.
Make no mistake, we will defend every ally against any attack on every inch of NATO territory," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who will chair the summit, told reporters Thursday. An attack on one ally will trigger a response from the whole alliance."
6:30 a.m.: Earliier, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry posted details of how to create a molotov cocktail on their official Facebook page.
The post features an image of the bottle, with directions of what to add in, the volume of the container, and where to light the rag inside it.
6:04 a.m.: Russia's Civil Aviation Authority has banned U.K. flights to and over Russia in retaliation to the British ban on Aeroflot flights.
Rosaviatsiya said that all flights by the U.K. carriers to Russia as well as transit flights are banned starting Friday.
It said the measure was taken in response to the unfriendly decisions" by the British authorities who banned flights to the U.K. by the Russian flag carrier Aeroflot as part of sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
6:03 a.m.: Europe is facing a massive new migration crisis because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Canada should prepare to provide asylum to those fleeing the violence, says a Canadian security expert.
This would be a chance for Canada to really, really step up to the plate," said Michael Bociurkiw, a Canadian in Ukraine who served as the spokesman for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe during the height of tensions following Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
Telling Ukrainians: you are welcome in Canada. And, you know, easing of visa rules, temporary stays, that sort of thing."
Canada has promised to prioritize immigration applications from Ukraine to bring people fleeing the country to safety as quickly as possible.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also announced the creation of a new hotline Thursday, for anyone at home or abroad with urgent Ukraine-related immigration questions."
6:01 a.m.: Russia was stripped of hosting the Champions League final by UEFA on Friday with St. Petersburg replaced by Paris after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The men's final will still be held on May 28 but now at the 80,000-seat Stade de France after the decision by UEFA's executive committee.
UEFA wishes to express its thanks and appreciation to French Republic President Emmanuel Macron for his personal support and commitment to have European club football's most prestigious game moved to France at a time of unparalleled crisis," European football's governing body said in a statement. Together with the French government, UEFA will fully support multi-stakeholder efforts to ensure the provision of rescue for football players and their families in Ukraine who face dire human suffering, destruction and displacement."
The meeting also decided that Russian and Ukrainian clubs and national teams in UEFA competitions will have to play at neutral venues until further notice.
6 a.m.: Russia pressed its invasion of Ukraine to the outskirts of the capital Friday after unleashing airstrikes on cities and military bases and sending in troops and tanks from three sides in an attack that could rewrite the global post-Cold War security order.
Explosions sounded before dawn in Kyiv and gunfire was later heard near the government quarter as Western leaders scheduled an emergency meeting and Ukraine's president pleaded for international help to fend off an attack that could topple his democratically elected government, cause massive casualties and ripple out damage to the global economy.
Among the signs that the Ukrainian capital was increasingly threatened, the military said Friday that a group of Russian spies and saboteurs was seen in a district of Kyiv about 5 kilometres (3 miles) north of the city centre. Earlier, the military said that Russian forces had seized two Ukrainian military vehicles and some uniforms and were heading toward the city to try to infiltrate under the guise of being locals.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Kyiv could well be under siege" in what U.S. officials believe is a brazen attempt by Russian President Vladimir Putin to install his own regime.
5:58 a.m.: Twenty million dollars in U.N. humanitarian funds for Ukraine. A raft of new, stronger sanctions against Russia from Japan, Australia, Taiwan and others. And a cascade of condemnation from the highest levels.
As Russian bombs and troops pounded Ukraine during the invasion's first full day, world leaders began to fine-tune a response meant to punish the Russian economy and its leaders, including President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.
While there's an acute awareness that a military intervention isn't possible, for now, the strength, unity and speed of the financial sanctions - with the striking exception of China, a strong Russian supporter - signal a growing global determination to make Moscow reconsider its attack.
Japan must clearly show its position that we will never tolerate any attempt to change the status quo by force," Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters Friday while announcing new punitive measures that included freezing the visas and assets of Russian groups, banks and individuals, and the suspension of shipments of semiconductors and other restricted goods to Russian military-linked organizations.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is an extremely grave development that affects the international order, not only for Europe but also for Asia," Kishida said.
Countries in Asia and the Pacific have joined the United States, the 27-nation European Union and others in the West in piling on punitive measures against Russian banks and leading companies. The nations have also set up export controls aimed at starving Russia's industries and military of semiconductors and other high-tech products.
5:56 a.m.: For months, the White House made highly unusual releases of intelligence findings about Russian President Vladimir Putin's plans to attack Ukraine. Hoping to pre-empt an invasion, it released details of Russian troop buildups and warned repeatedly that a major assault was imminent.
In the end, Putin attacked anyway.
5:56 a.m.: Russia's expanding invasion of Ukraine has opened a new and perilous chapter in Joe Biden's presidency, testing his aspirations to defend democracy on a global level and thrusting him into a long-term struggle to restore European security.
It's a far different trajectory than he imagined when his administration began last year with the goals of countering China's growing influence in the world and reinvesting at home as the United States tried to turn the page on a deadly pandemic.
Biden talked about forging a stable and predictable" relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a description that implied America's focus could then be directed toward other, more pressing challenges.
Now he is confronted with the outbreak of the worst fighting in Europe since World War II. Although U.S. forces are not directly involved, the conflict is testing the limits of American power and Biden's campaign assurances that he was well positioned to lead the country on the international stage.
Friday 5:51 a.m.: It has been a long time since the threat of using nuclear weapons has been brandished so openly by a world leader, but Vladimir Putin has just done it, warning in a speech that he has the weapons available if anyone dares to military means to try to stop Russia's takeover of Ukraine.
The threat may have been empty, a mere baring of fangs by the Russian president, but it was noticed. It kindled visions of a nightmarish outcome in which Putin's ambitions in Ukraine could lead to a nuclear war through accident or miscalculation.
As for military affairs, even after the dissolution of the USSR and losing a considerable part of its capabilities, today's Russia remains one of the most powerful nuclear states," Putin said, in his preinvasion address early Thursday.
Moreover, it has a certain advantage in several cutting-edge weapons. In this context, there should be no doubt for anyone that any potential aggressor will face defeat and ominous consequences should it directly attack our country."
By merely suggesting a nuclear response, Putin put into play the disturbing possibility that the current fighting in Ukraine might eventually veer into an atomic confrontation between Russia and the United States.