Page 124 - Current Time News Today

Residents of the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, located near the Ukrainian border, have expressed mixed reactions to their country's full-scale attack on Ukraine. Current Time asked several people on February 24 about Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to unleash a military invasion on his country's western neighbor.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Kyiv expects “clear” signs of support and action from its allies and not just words as his country faces the threat of invasion from Russia.

Western nations and others condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to recognize Russia-backed separatists' independence claims of the regions they hold in Ukraine, with the United States and its allies vowing to quickly impose new sanctions against Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian troops into two separatist-held regions in eastern Ukraine in a military escalation that Western leaders have warned could lead to massive consequences for Moscow.

After a day of vague and sometimes contradictory statements by Russian officials, President Vladimir Putin clarified that Russia had recognized as independent the separatist formations in eastern Ukraine not merely as they exist now, but as comprising the much larger territory that they claim.

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has launched a new hunger strike to protest the government's refusing to provide adequate health care for him and the "the way the authorities treat me and our people."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is scheduled to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone on February 21 as part of efforts to “prevent a catastrophe” in Ukraine, a spokesman said.

The trial of jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny has resumed inside a penal colony on new charges of embezzlement -- which he calls politically motivated -- that could see as many as 10 more years tacked on to his prison time.

Amnesty International has called for the immediate release of two Chechen siblings who face possible 8 1/2-year prison sentences for what the rights group describes as false accusations of "aiding illegal armed groups."

Two men have been sentenced for crimes allegedly committed during the mass anti-government protests that engulfed Kazakhstan in January.