Politics

  Bloomberg Two Ukrainian facilities containing nuclear waste suffered damage amid Russia’s now four-day-old invasion, international monitors reported. Missiles hit a radioactive waste-disposal site in Kyiv, and an electrical transformer was damaged in a similar depot in Kharkiv, according to an email from the International Atomic Energy Agency. Inspectors are still awaiting radiation measurements from local authorities to determine the ...

Bloomberg As China holds off in publicly criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, a rare debate has emerged on Chinese social media over the military action by a close diplomatic partner. Images of global anti-war protests — including in Russia— circulated on China’s Twitter-like Weibo over the weekend, as Putin’s forces shelled Ukrainian cities. Articles mocking Russia’s limited ...

Bloomberg Russia’s plans for Ukraine face rapidly rising costs due to delays caused by tougher-than-expected resistance from forces on the ground, even as its military retains overwhelming advantages. A person familiar with Russian planning said the military would have hoped for faster progress. The Kremlin has declined to comment on details of the military operation, and its Defense Ministry says ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden’s approval rating fell to a record low in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, with 37% saying they approve of the job he is doing and 55% saying they disapprove ahead of his first State of the Union address on Tuesday. When asked which party they would prefer control Congress, 50% said they would rather have ...

  Bloomberg Japan should discuss a possible sharing of nuclear weapons similar to that of Nato members in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday. Nato’s nuclear sharing arrangements let the U.S. keep its nuclear weapons in Europe under its custody. “Many people in Japan probably don’t know about the system,” Abe ...

  Bloomberg North Korea followed up January’s record barrage of missile tests with the firing of a suspected mid-range ballistic rocket on Sunday, ramping up tensions as global attention is focused on Ukraine. The projectile reached an apogee of about 600 kilometers (375 miles) and flew at a range of about 300 km before splashing down in waters outside of ...

Bloomberg Angela Merkel called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “a profound turning point in European history.” It’s also been a dramatic wake-up call for her successor as chancellor and prompted a rapid and remarkable shift in German policy on several major fronts. Olaf Scholz — the Social Democrat who took over from Merkel in December —was widely criticized by opponents and ...

  Bloomberg China attempted to distance itself from Russia as the scale of the invasion becomes clear, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi on saying it was “absolutely imperative” for all sides to exercise restraint to prevent the conflict from “getting out of control.” “China has been following the evolution of the Ukraine issue, and the present situation is something China ...

Bloomberg Russian forces closed in on Ukraine’s capital and its embattled leadership as President Vladimir Putin shrugged off a barrage of sanctions imposed by the US and Europe and pressed deeper with his invasion. With the war raging Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Putin in a call that he supported negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, according to China Central ...

  Bloomberg European Union diplomats approved a plan to sanction Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over the invasion of Ukraine, a move that would freeze their overseas assets, according to two senior officials. The asset freeze, which comes in addition to a broader package of sanctions that the EU approved early Friday, does not affect the ...