'Nuclear war' trends on Twitter as world grapples with Vladimir Putin's latest order to Russian forces

Chandigarh, February 28

Unearthing our long-buried fears from the Cold War, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian nuclear weapons to prepare for launch.

He said NATO had made “aggressive statements” towards Russia and cited the stiff economic sanctions imposed on it.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN that Putin’s invocation of Russia’s nuclear arsenal was “dangerous rhetoric”.

Although the practical meaning of Putin’s order on nuclear weapons was not immediately clear, #nuclearwar started trending on Twitter.

Russia and the United States typically have land- and submarine-based nuclear forces on alert and prepared for combat at all times, but nuclear-capable bombers and other aircraft are not.

The US and some European countries said they were dramatically upping their deliveries of weapons to Ukraine, including more Stinger missiles and fighter jets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, meanwhile, announced plans for a meeting on Monday with a Russian delegation at an unspecified location on the Belarusian border.

Russia’s military assault on Ukraine entered its fifth day with fighting in the streets of the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, and troops moving closer to the capital, Kyiv.