Russia bombed a TV tower in Ukraine's capital on Tuesday and rained rockets on the city of Kharkiv as Moscow intensified its bombardment of Ukrainian urban areas in a shift of tactics after its six-day invasion stalled. A U.S. official said a miles-long armoured column bearing down on the capital Kyiv had not made any advances in the past 24 hours, frozen in place by logistics problems, short on fuel and food, and perhaps pausing to reassess tactics. Russia's defence ministry urged Kyiv residents to flee and said it would strike unspecified areas used by Ukraine's security services and communications.…

The US again intensified its financial squeeze on Russia by freezing the assets of Russia's central bank, only two days after the country, along with some of its allies, announced it would drive selected Russian banks out of the international payment and settlement system SWIFT. The move was made to exert pressure on Russia amid the Russia-Ukraine military conflict, as Western countries gradually upgraded their financial sanctions against Russia in what experts called an "unprecedented" manner. But experts said that Russia's possible countermeasures, including the use of central bank digital currency (CBDC) reserves, could help Moscow withstand the sanctions. The…

Moscow believes that obtaining legally binding security guarantees from NATO members is of paramount importance, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a video address to the Disarmament Conference. "[Our] Western colleagues have not yet shown any willingness to provide Russia with long-term legally binding security guarantees. For us, achieving these objectives is of fundamental importance," Lavrov emphasized. The minister stressed that the issue here is refusing NATO’s expansion any further, and abandoning the "Bucharest formula" (2008 Bucharest Summit - TASS) that sees Ukraine and Georgia becoming members of the US-led military bloc. "Western countries should refrain from establishing military…

America is still a superpower. But in the face of Russia, the US is not almighty. Russia has violated Ukraine’s sovereignty and international law. The US response has been economic: sanctions against Russia that are the largest ever and yet simultaneously unlikely to alter the shape of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression. So, how should we think about the US as a superpower in 2022? It’s too early to draw broad conclusions about what war in Eastern Europe means for the future of America in the world. But there are enough clues to suggest that America’s power has limits, and…