Axios Late Night Update on Russian Invasion of Ukraine

From axios.com on the Russian invasion of Ukraine:

The latest:

• Pentagon praises Ukraine’s military success
• Zelensky: Russians are using Nazi Goebbels’ propaganda tactics
• Pope tells Russian Orthodox leader: Don’t be “Putin’s altar boy”
• Israel weighs expanding military aid to Ukraine after U.S. request

• Tensions flare between Israel and Russia
• EU leader announces Russian oil embargo plans
• First Mariupol steel plant evacuees reach Ukrainian-held city
• Mariupol residents describe terrifying life under Russia’s onslaught
• “Ukraine’s finest hour”: Johnson echoes Churchill in speech to Ukraine’s parliament

How we got here:

• The crisis in eastern Ukraine escalated drastically on Feb. 21 when Putin recognized two pro-Russian separatist “republics” and sent Russian “peacekeepers” to the territories.
• Ukraine has been battling Russian-backed separatists in the east since 2014, when Russia also occupied and annexed the Crimean Peninsula. U.S. officials began warning in November that Putin could be planning another incursion, possibly to topple the pro-Western government in Kyiv.
• The U.S. and its European allies had met with Russian officials in a variety of settings to try to build a diplomatic off-ramp, while also warning that an invasion could be imminent.
• Russia had issued a series of demands, including a legal guarantee that Ukraine will never join NATO. At the same time, Putin amassed more than 150,000 troops along Ukraine’s borders and conducted unprecedented military drills — preparing the option to take military action if Russia didn’t secure the concessions it was seeking.