RUSSIA-UKRAINE LIVE: Battle for Kyiv reaches crucial 24 hours
RUSSIA-UKRAINE LIVE: Putin’s ‘threat of nuclear war’ as battle for Kyiv reaches crucial 24 hours – and Russia and Ukraine officials meet TODAY
<!–
<!–
<!–<!–
<!–
(function (src, d, tag){
var s = d.createElement(tag), prev = d.getElementsByTagName(tag)[0];
s.src = src;
prev.parentNode.insertBefore(s, prev);
}(“https://www.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/1.17.0/async_bundle–.js”, document, “script”));
<!–
DM.loadCSS(“https://www.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/gunther-2159/video_bundle–.css”);
<!–
Boris Johnson has called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a ‘disastrous misbegotten venture by President Putin’ as the Kremlin’s forces continue to face resistance.
Ahead of an emergency United Nations General Assembly meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the next 24 hours would be a ‘crucial period’.
In the meantime, Russian and Ukrainian forces have again been engaged in heavy fighting ahead of the widely expected assault on the capital.
Ukrainian defenders have put up stiff resistance, but a US official cautioned that far stronger Russian forces inevitably will learn and adapt their tactics.
A Ukrainian delegation is due to meet the Russians ‘without precondition’ today on the border with Belarus, although Mr Zelensky has indicated he sees little prospect of any meaningful dialogue.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson dismissed a dramatic announcement by Vladimir Putin that he was putting Russia’s nuclear forces on heightened alert as a ‘distraction’ from the failure of his troops to breakthrough in Ukraine.
Mr Johnson said Mr Putin’s nuclear order appeared to be an attempt to divert from the fact that his efforts to re-make the post-Cold War order in Europe were failing.
Here, follow MailOnline’s live blog for all the updates on the crisis in Ukraine today:
