Diplomacy goes into overdrive as both Russia and the U.S. add firepower, and Ukraine remains stuck in the middle
CBSN
Kyiv, Ukraine — Russia continues to move troops and weaponry ever closer to Ukraine's borders, drawing warnings from the U.S. and its allies that President Vladimir Putin could order an invasion of the country. Russia and its own ally Belarus, which sits just north of Ukraine, have announced 10-day joint military exercises to kick off on February 10, aimed, they say, at training forces to repel any attack on Belarus' southern border.
Satellite images released over the weekend by Maxar Technologies show Russian and Belarusian forces now positioned only about 30 miles from Ukrainian soil. The images show troops deployed at three locations, armed with missiles, multiple rocket launchers and attack aircraft.
As CBS News foreign correspondent Imtiaz Tyab reports, the U.S. and its European allies have issued increasingly dire warnings that the imagery and other intelligence indicates Russia could invade Ukraine any day.
Zhytomyr, Ukraine — Exactly 1,000 days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, Russia's defense ministry accused Ukrainian forces on Tuesday of firing six U.S.-made and -supplied ATACMS missiles at the Russian region of Bryansk. If confirmed, it could be the first time Ukrainian troops had taken advantage of President Biden easing restrictions over the weekend on Ukraine's use of the U.S.-made missiles to strike targets deeper inside Russian territory.
President Biden's decision to allow Ukraine to fire U.S.-made and supplied missiles deeper into Russia — a major policy shift announced over the weekend after months of intense lobbying by Kyiv — has drawn a furious response from Moscow. While there was no immediate reaction directly from the man who launched the nearly three-year war on his neighboring nation, lawmakers aligned with President Vladimir Putin in Russia said Monday that the move was unacceptable and warned it could lead to a third world war.
Tel Aviv — After more than a year of bombing and homelessness, Gazans are looking to a new administration in Washington for help. President-elect Donald Trump's election victory has raised hopes and fears among the five million residents of the Palestinian territories — the warn-torn Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.