Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov confirmed on Twitter on Sunday that the government in Kyiv has received a second shipment of weapons from the United States.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday there are still areas in which the U.S. and Russia may be able to find consensus, such as on arms control and the placement of missile systems in Europe, despite their standoff over Ukraine.
Why it matters: Even with those diplomatic possibilities, the secretary said the U.S. will not compromise "by one iota" on Russia's highest priority demand — freezing NATO expansion, especially for Ukraine and Georgia — which would breach the alliance's "open-door" policy.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday rejected calls to impose economic sanctions on Russia, saying that doing so would diminish the United States' ability to dissuade the country from "engaging in further aggression."
Why it matters: Blinken's remarks on CBS' "Face the Nation" come as Ukraine and the West brace for the possibility of an imminent invasion, which became more likely toward the end of last year when Russia began amassing nearly 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border.
The U.K.'s foreign secretary on Saturday night said the government has "information that indicates the Russian government is looking to install a pro-Russian leader in Kyiv as it considers whether to invade and occupy Ukraine."
The latest: “I can’t comment on specific pieces of intelligence. But we’ve been warning about just this kind of tactic for weeks and we’ve spoken to that publicly," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday. The Biden administration has said Russia is actively manufacturing a pretext for invasion and warned that Putin could use joint military exercises in Belarus as cover to invade from the north.
The chief of the German Navy resigned Saturday after he came under fire for suggesting that Crimea would "never come back" to Ukraine and that Russian President Vladimir Putin deserved respect, Reuters reports.
Why it matters: Vice-Admiral Kay-Achim Schönbach's resignation comes as Ukraine and the West brace for the possibility of an imminent Russian invasion after Russia positioned nearly 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border last month.
The Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo on Friday postponed Carnival parades until the end of April due to rising COVID-19 cases, Reuters reports.
Driving the news: The cities had already canceled the Carnival street parties, but they were planning to still have the Carnival parade on the final weekend of February.
China blocked all four of Disney's Marvel movies from being released in its theaters last year, a grim sign for U.S. film giants being squeezed out of the world's fastest-growing box office.
Why it matters: The Chinese Communist Party is using domestic filmsas a key conduit for mass messaging aimed at achieving political goals, leaving little room for foreign views.
Government officials in Beijing are encouraging local districts to maintain "full emergency mode" as new COVID-19 cases continue to be detected less than two weeks before the start of the Winter Olympics Games, Reuters reports.
Driving the news: At least 27 domestically transmitted cases with symptoms and five local asymptomatic carriers have been reported in Beijing since Jan. 15, per Reuters.
Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen on Friday killed dozens, including children, and knocked out the internet in the country, according to humanitarian groups.
Driving the news: The Saudi-led coalition has ramped up air raids in Yemen after Houthi rebels claimed an attack that killed at least three people in Abu Dhabi earlier this week.
