Free Republic

The Kremlin again raised the spectre of the use of nuclear weapons in the war with Ukraine as Russian forces struggled to hold a key city in the south of the country. Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who is deputy chairman of the country’s security council, said Moscow could strike against an enemy that only used conventional weapons while Vladimir Putin’s defence minster claimed nuclear “readiness” was a priority. The comments on Saturday prompted Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in an appearance by video link at Qatar’s Doha Forum to warn that Moscow was a direct threat to the world.

BBC World Service reports that the Russians have gone in to rescue the hostages taken by Islamist terrorists held in a Moscow theater. Earlier reports spoke of as many as eight hundred hostages were being held. Early reports are of ten dead hostages. If this is all, it is a miracle. This happened about 20 or 30 minutes ago. The Spetsnatz are making sure there is no escape for the terrorists. God be praised! This is all I have.