US-based Christian group sends emergency supplies to Ukrainian churches as civilian death toll rises

President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces to be on high alert in response to financial sanctions imposed on Russian banks by European nations following his invasion of Ukraine.

In a meeting with his top officials on Sunday, Putin ordered his defense minister and the chief of the military’s general staff to put the nuclear deterrent forces in a “special regime of combat duty” in response to what he claimed were “aggressive statements” by NATO members and financial sanctions that block some Russian banks from the Swift global payments system, according to The Telegraph.

This comes as Ukrainian forces continued to fiercely resist invading Russian troops on the fourth day of fighting.

Ukraine’s health minister announced Saturday that at least 198 civilians, including three children, had been killed by Russian soldiers. Among the hundreds of civilian casualties were a 6-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl. ..(Excerpt from the Christian Post)