Western and Russian leaders exchanged claims and accusations over each other's willingness to use nuclear weapons, with U.S. President Joe Biden expressing skepticism over Russian President Vladimir Putin's remarks that Russia had "no need" to deploy such weapons in Ukraine.
In previous weeks, Putin made several remarks vowing to use "all means" available to protect land Moscow claimed as its own — which is widely believed to include the illegally annexed Ukrainian territories.
Ukraine continues to reel from Russian attacks on its critical energy infrastructure, with blackouts in many major cities. Local authorities have urged residents to limit their electricity use and will schedule pre-planned blackouts to prevent uncontrolled power outages.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin continues to allege that Ukraine is preparing to use a radioactive "dirty bomb" on its own territory and blame it on Russia, a claim that Ukrainian and Western leaders denounce as baseless lies and a pretext to escalate the conflict.
At Kyiv's request, a team from the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency will be visiting Ukraine's nuclear power facilities, which Ukrainian officials say will disprove Russia's accusations.