Ukraine-Russia war live updates: Biden heads to Europe, West ...

ProfileSectionstvFeaturedMore From NBCFollow NBC NewsPresident Joe Biden heads to Europe on Wednesday to meet with allies as Russia's invasion of Ukraine nears the end of its first month.Western leaders are expected to unveil the latest round of sanctions to pressure Moscow to end the war, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken officially announced that Russia has committed war crimes during the invasion.Biden could also announce plans for the United States to permanently maintain an increased number of troops in NATO countries near Ukraine, four people familiar with the discussions told NBC News.The talks come after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to rule out the possibility that Russia could use nuclear weapons in the conflict, telling CNN that his country would consider doing so if it were facing an "existential threat."How the West would respond in the event of such an escalation is expected to be on the agenda when officials meet, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to address the NATO summit via video link.See full coverage here.The Associated PressRADAUTI, Romania — Simba the lion and a wolf named Akyla have been evacuated from a zoo in war-torn Ukraine and brought to safety in Romania in what an animal rights group says was a four-day mission “full of dangers” further hampered by border entry bureaucracy.The adult male lion and the gray wolf, who were fully awake during the dangerous journey due to lack of tranquilizers in Ukraine, arrived Monday at a zoo in Radauti, from a zoo in Zaporizhzhia in southeast Ukraine.After spending four days in cages in the back of a van, the two animals were recovering in their new enclosure Wednesday, regaining their strength as they lounged in the shade.Read the full story.Alicia Victoria LozanoOksana Baulina, a veteran Russian journalist whose last tweet included the hashtag #MadVlad, referring to President Vladimir Putin, died in a shelling in Kyiv's Podolsk district, according to The Insider, a "Russia-focused" independent news outlet. Daniel ArkinNATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday he expects the leaders of member states will add additional troops along the alliance's eastern flank, deploying four new battle groups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia."I expect leaders will agree to strengthen NATO’s posture in all domains, with major increases in the eastern part of the alliance on land, in the air and at sea," Stoltenberg told reporters at a news conference before a summit of NATO leaders in Brussels.Stoltenberg confirmed that the United States already has some 100,000 service members in Europe, in addition to another 40,000 troops under NATO's direct command.President Joe Biden could announce that the U.S. plans to permanently maintain an increased number of its troops deployed in NATO countries near Ukraine, according to four people familiar with the discussions.Chantal Da SilvaNestlé has said it will pull a number of brands from Russia, but will keep selling "essential food" in the country to uphold "the principle of ensuring the basic right to food.""As the war rages in Ukraine, our activities in Russia will focus on providing essential food, such as infant food and medical/hospital nutrition — not on making a profit," the company said in a statement.The company said KitKat and Nesquik would be among the brands to be suspended."We have already halted non-essential imports and exports into and out of Russia, stopped all advertising, and suspended all capital investment in the country," the company said, adding: "Of course, we are fully complying with all international sanctions on Russia."Nestlé said that while it does not "expect to make a profit in the country or pay any related taxes for the foreseeable future in Russia, any profit will be donated to humanitarian relief organizations."Chantal Da Silva and ReutersPresident Joe Biden has said that Russia's potential use of chemical weapons against Ukraine was a "real threat."Biden made the comment after being asked about the possibility of Russia using chemical weapons in its invasion of Ukraine as he prepared to depart for Europe, Reuters reported.The president is headed first to Brussels, with summit meetings planned with NATO, Group of Seven and European Union leaders to discuss the international response to the war in Ukraine. Hostomel is home to the Antonov Airport where some of the earliest battles in the war took place.Russian forces heavily shelled Irpin and Bucha, along with two other areas Wednesday, with some of the strikes sparking fires.Meanwhile, in areas under the control of Russian forces, a “humanitarian catastrophe” was unfolding, the city council said, adding that “the population has no food, medicine, hygiene products, baby food left.”Russian soldiers, themselves looking for food and alcohol, have also broken into homes and are “looting, shooting dogs, and slaughtering cattle,” the city council said.Mithil AggarwalUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Japan to unite the Asian front against Russia’s invasion in the form of harsh economic sanctions on Moscow and aid to Ukraine.In an address to the Japanese Parliament on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine needs powerful security guarantees and called on companies to withdraw from the Russian market, emphasizing that Japan was the first Asian country to put real pressure on Russia.He called for concerted efforts by Japan’s Asian trading partner states to stabilize the situation so that Russia seeks peace and “stops the tsunami of its brutal invasion of Ukraine," a post on his official Telegram account said. NBC NewsRachel ElbaumPunishing sanctions on Moscow imposed by the U.S. and its allies were “unimaginable,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday.In remarks to staff and students at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Lavrov appeared to admit that the strength of the measures taken in response to Russia's war in Ukraine took officials by surprise.“The current scale is very unimaginable, and I didn’t know that the West would even consider this,” he said of the sanctions.He said that “nobody could have foreseen” the freezing of central bank reserves and called it “theft.”He also accused the U.S. of implementing the sanctions because it finds Moscow a barrier to its efforts to create a “unipolar world.”Mithil AggarwalPoland’s special services have requested that the foreign ministry expel 45 Russian diplomats, with some suspected of working for Russian intelligence under the cover of diplomatic assignments.“Given the policy pursued by Russia against Poland and its allies, as well the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the Head of the ABW is requesting the expulsion of the indicated individuals from the territory of the Republic of Poland,” spokesperson Stanisław Żaryn said in a statement Wednesday.According to the Internal Security Agency, the activities of diplomats served the Russian undertakings “designed to undermine the stability of Poland and its allies” and posed a security risk to the country.Among the 45 is a Russian secret services officer whose activities were revealed in an investigation that resulted in the arrest of a Polish national on suspicion of spying last week, it said.The Associated Press Mithil AggarwalInternational Committee of Red Cross President Peter Maurer arrived in Moscow on Wednesday and is expected to meet Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss the pressing humanitarian issues in Ukraine.“The devastation caused by the conflict in recent weeks, as well as eight years of conflict in Donbas, has been vast. He said just over 7,000 residents were rescued from the city Tuesday but that about 100,000 were still trapped "in inhumane conditions, under full blockade, without food, without water, without medicine, under constant gunfire, constant airstrikes."Anastasiia Parafeniuk and Phil HelselUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address the NATO summit Thursday via video link, spokesperson Serhii Nikiforov said.U.S. President Joe Biden will attend the summit in Brussels during a trip to Europe, which comes as member countries and other Western nations have rallied in opposition to Russia's attack and invasion of Ukraine.Zelenskyy has given other addresses via video since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, including one to the U.S. Congress last week in which he appealed for more military aid.Zelenskyy has called on NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which members of the treaty organization have said they do not want to do because it could bring their military forces in direct confrontation with Russian forces and cause an escalation of the war.© 2022 NBC UNIVERSAL