“Yes, he would.”

— Former national security council official Fiona Hill, quoted by Politico, on whether Vladimir Putin would use nuclear weapons.

A new Twitter account is tracking the private jets of Russian oligarchs around the world.

“China has reacted angrily to calls by Japan’s influential former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, for Tokyo to consider hosting US nuclear weapons in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rising concern over Chinese aggression towards Taiwan,” The Guardian reports.

“Abe, who presided over record defense budgets before resigning in 2020, said Japan should cast off taboos surrounding its possession of nuclear weapons following the outbreak of war in Europe.”

Shipping giant Maersk will temporarily halt all container shipping to and from Russia, deepening the country’s isolation as its invasion of Ukraine sparks an exodus of Western companies, Reuters reports.

Former Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev responded with an ominous warning to a French comment that Europe was going to wage “total economic and financial war” against Russia.

Said Medvedev: “Don’t forget that in human history, economic wars quite often turned into real ones.”

“About 100 diplomats, many from Western countries, walked out of a speech by Russia’s foreign minister at the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday in protest over his country’s invasion of Ukraine,” the New York Times reports.

“Fissures appear to be forming between Russian President Vladimir Putin and members of the oligarch class who made billions of dollars while showing fealty to the autocratic leader but now see their fortunes threatened by Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine,” the Washington Post reports.

“The cracks are faint and fall short of suggesting any groundswell of oligarchic opposition to Putin… But expressions of unease that weeks ago seemed unthinkable have surfaced repeatedly in recent days.”

“The US intelligence community has made evaluating Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state of mind a top priority in recent days as it seeks to establish how that is affecting his handling of the rapidly escalating Ukraine crisis,“ CNN reports.

“The efforts come as longtime Putin-watchers have publicly speculated that his behavior has become increasingly erratic and irrational.”

“Every square today, no matter what it’s called, is going to be called Freedom Square, in every city of our country. No one is going to break us.”

— Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, quoted by Axios, speaking to the European Parliament as his translator began to choke up.