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In a flurry of diplomacy across two continents, President Joe Biden met with Germany’s new leader Monday and vowed the crucial Nord Stream 2 Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline will be blocked if Russia further invades Ukraine. Russia’s Vladimir Putin retorted that the U.S. and its allies are the only ones talking invasion. Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron met for more than five hours in Moscow at the same time Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke at the White House in efforts to defuse the crisis before armed conflict breaks out. Russia has massed thousands of troops at the Ukraine border, adding military might almost daily. The White House has expressed increasing alarm about the prospects of war, and Biden has been looking to solidify support among European allies for economy-jarring sanctions against Russia if it attacks. Also read: Top Biden aide says Ukraine invasion could come ‘any day’ “If Russia invades, that means tanks and troops crossing the border of Ukraine again, then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2,” Biden said. “We will bring an end to it.” That would hurt Russia economically but also cause supply problems for Germany. Construction of the pipeline has been completed, but it is not yet operating. “We are jointly ready, and all of NATO is ready,” Biden said, referring to the powerful Western alliance, though Ukraine is not a member. While Biden reiterated with certitude that the pipeline would not move forward, Scholz stressed the need to keep some ambiguity about sanctions in order to press Russia to de-escalate the crisis. “It’s necessary for Russia to understand that a lot more could happen than they’ve perhaps calculated with themselves,.” Scholz said. The buildup of over 100,000 Russian troops near Ukraine has fueled Western worries of a possible offensive. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned Sunday that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day,” triggering a conflict that would come at an “enormous human cost.” At the same time, Biden and NATO allies have made clear there are no plans for sending in troops to fight Russia on Ukraine’s behalf. Also read: Russian bombers fly over Belarus amid Ukraine tensions Macron and Putin, during their lengthy meeting — with a dinner that featured the choice of sturgeon or reindeer — registered their disagreements but also emphasized a need for more talks. Putin noted that the U.S. and NATO have ignored Moscow’s demands that the alliance guarantee it will keep Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations out, refrain from placing weapons in Ukraine and roll back alliance forces from Eastern Europe. “We are categorically against any further NATO’s expansion eastward because it poses a threat to us,” Putin said. “It’s not us who’s advancing to NATO, it’s NATO coming to us and so it’s illogical to talk about Russia’s aggressive behavior.” He scoffed at Western descriptions of NATO as a defensive alliance, saying sarcastically that “people of Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan have learned it from their own experience.” And he threatened a wider war if Ukraine should join the alliance and perhaps try to win back Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. “European countries will automatically be drawn into a military conflict with Russia,” Putin said. “You will be drawn into that conflict beyond your will. There will be no winners.” Macron described the talks as “substantial, deep” with a focus on conditions that could help de-escalation. “We tried to build converging elements,” he said. “The upcoming days will be crucial and deep discussions together will be needed.” Putin signaled his readiness to continue negotiations and denied anew that Russia has any intention of invading Ukraine. In the meantime, Biden warned “it would be wise” for Americans other than essential diplomats to leave Ukraine. On a positive note, Putin said without elaboration that some of Macron’s proposals could serve as a basis for a settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, adding that they agreed to have a call after Macron’s visit to Kyiv Tuesday. Likewise, Biden said when asked if there remained an “offramp” for Russia in the standoff, “The answer is yes.” Before meeting Biden, Scholz told German media that “there will be a very high price if Ukraine is attacked militarily. And we are preparing for this very precisely and have been talking about the details for a long time.” Scholz will travel to Kyiv and Moscow Feb. 14-15. German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said her country would add up to 350 troops within a few days to about 500 already a part of a NATO battlegroup in Lithuania. “With this, we are strengthening our contribution to forces on NATO’s eastern flank and sending a very clear signal of unity to our allies,” she said. Biden already has deployed additional U.S. troops to Poland, Romania and Germany, and a few dozen elite U.S. troops and equipment landed Sunday in southeastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, with hundreds more infantry troops of the 82nd Airborne Division set to arrive. Britain said the U.K. was sending 350 troops to Poland to bolster NATO forces, joining 100 Royal Engineers already there. At a news conference in Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell defended the increasingly dire Western warnings that a Russian invasion may be imminent. “This is not alarmism. This is simply the facts,” Blinken said. “And the facts are that we’ve seen over the last few months a massive amassing of Russian forces on Ukraine’s borders.” Borrell noted that “140,000 troops massed on the border is not to go to have tea.” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance is weighing a more permanent military presence in southeast Europe in response to Russia’s “massive military deployment” near Ukraine. “We are considering more longer-term adjustments to our posture, our presence in the eastern part of the alliance,” Stoltenberg said after talks in Brussels with Polish President Andrzej Duda. “If Russia really wants less NATO close to the borders, they get the opposite.” Stoltenberg gave no details and said no final decision has been made, but the move could mirror NATO’s long-term military presence in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, where about 5,000 troops are stationed. It would see a similar force based in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. The aim would be only to bolster the defenses of NATO allies in the region. The troops would not cross into Ukraine should Russia invade. Biden and Scholz also discussed contingency plans for providing gas supplies to Europe should Russia cut off supply. Europe is already dealing with liquefied natural gas supplies being sapped by a cold winter last year, a summer with little renewable energy generation and Russia delivering less than usual. Biden asserted the U.S. and other countries could make up a “significant portion” of supplies lost should Russia move to cut off Europe. But energy experts say replacing Russian gas would be complicated and can’t be done overnight. Export terminals cost billions of dollars to build and are working at capacity in the U.S.

President Joe Biden’s top science adviser Dr. Eric Lander resigned Monday, hours after the White House confirmed that an internal investigation found credible evidence that he mistreated his staff. An internal review last year, prompted by a workplace complaint, found evidence that Lander, the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and science adviser to Biden, bullied staffers and treated them disrespectfully. The White House rebuked Lander over his interactions with his staff, but initially signaled Monday that he would be allowed to remain on the job, despite Biden’s Inauguration Day assertion that he expected “honesty and decency” from all who worked for his administration and would fire anyone who shows disrespect to others “on the spot.” But later Monday evening, press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden had accepted Lander’s resignation with “gratitude for his work at OTSP on the pandemic, the Cancer Moonshot, climate change, and other key priorities.” Lander, in his resignation letter, said, “I am devastated that I caused hurt to past and present colleagues by the way in which I have spoken to them.” “I believe it is not possible to continue effectively in my role, and the work of this office is far too important to be hindered,” he added. The White House said Biden did not request Lander’s resignation. It marks the first Cabinet-level departure of the Biden administration. Also read: Biden picks women of color to lead White House budget office Earlier Monday, Psaki said senior administration officials had met with Lander about his actions and management of the office, but indicated he would be allowed to stay in the job, saying the administration was following a “process” to handle workplace complaints. “Following the conclusion of the thorough investigation into these actions, senior White House officials conveyed directly to Dr. Lander that his behavior was inappropriate, and the corrective actions that were needed, which the White House will monitor for compliance moving forward,” she said. Psaki added, “The president has been crystal clear with all of us about his high expectations of how he and his staff should be creating a respectful work environment.” The White House said Lander and OSTP would be required to take certain corrective actions as part of the review. It also said the review did not find “credible evidence” of gender-based discrimination and that the reassignment of the staffer who filed the original complaint was “deemed appropriate.” Lander on Friday issued an apology to staffers in his office, acknowledging “I have spoken to colleagues within OSTP in a disrespectful or demeaning way.” “I am deeply sorry for my conduct,” he added. “I especially want to apologize to those of you who I treated poorly, or were present at the time.” The letter and the findings against Lander were first reported by Politico. Lander’s conduct and the White House’s initial decision to stand by him sparked some consternation inside the White House and among Biden allies and created an unnecessary distraction from Biden’s agenda. Also read: High inflation? Low polling? White House blames the pandemic By late Monday, Lander came to believe he was in an untenable position and resigned effective no later than Feb. 18, “in order to permit an orderly transfer.” In a statement Monday, the American Association for the Advancement of Science said Lander would no longer be invited to speak at its meeting next week, saying he was not conducting himself in a “manner befitting a scientist or scientific leader — much less a cabinet-level leader in the administration.′ “Unfortunately, toxic behavioral issues still make their way into the STEM community where they stifle participation and innovation. OSTP should be a model for a respectful and positive workplace for the scientific community — not one that further exacerbates these issues,” the group’s leadership said. Lander, whose position was elevated to Cabinet-rank by Biden, appeared prominently with the president last week when he relaunched his “Cancer Moonshot” program to marshal federal resources behind research and treatment for cancer diseases. The founding director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Lander is a mathematician and molecular biologist. He was lead author of the first paper announcing the details of the human genome, the so-called “book of life.” His confirmation to his role in the Biden administration was delayed for months as senators sought more information about meetings he had with the late Jeffrey Epstein, a disgraced financier who was charged with sex trafficking before his suicide. Lander also was criticized for downplaying the contributions of two Nobel Prize-winning female scientists. At his confirmation hearing last year, Lander apologized for a 2016 article he wrote that downplayed the work of the female scientists. At the hearing, he also called Epstein “an abhorrent individual.″ Lander said he “understated the importance of those key advances” by biochemists Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna. The two were later awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Lander’s departure on the grounds of Biden’s respectful workplace policy echoed the February 2021 resignation of then-White House deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo, who was suspended and then resigned over threatening conversations with a reporter.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day,” launching a conflict that would come at an “enormous human cost.” The senior adviser to President Joe Biden offered another stark warning the day after U.S. officials confirmed that Russia has assembled at least 70% of the military firepower it likely intends to have in place by mid-month to give President Vladimir Putin the option of launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “If war breaks out, it will come at an enormous human cost to Ukraine, but we believe that based on our preparations and our response, it will come at a strategic cost to Russia as well,” Sullivan said. Sullivan did not directly address reports that the White House has briefed lawmakers that a full Russian invasion could lead to the quick capture of Kyiv and potentially result in as many as 50,000 casualties as he made appearances on a trio of Sunday talk shows. Read:Russian bombers fly over Belarus amid Ukraine tensions U.S. officials, who discussed internal assessments of the Russian buildup on the condition that they not be identified, sketched out a series of indicators suggesting that Putin intends to start an invasion in the coming weeks, although the size and scale are unclear. They stressed that a diplomatic solution appears to remain possible. Among those military indicators: an exercise of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces that usually is held each fall was rescheduled for mid-February to March. That coincides with what U.S. officials see as the most likely window for invasion. The administration has stepped up warnings in recent days that Russia increasingly seems intent on further invading Ukrainian territory. Last week, Biden administration officials said that intelligence findings showed that the Kremlin had worked up an elaborate plot to fabricate an attack by Ukrainian forces that Russia could use as a pretext to take military action against its neighbor. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that the scheme included production of a graphic propaganda video that would show staged explosions and use corpses and actors depicting grieving mourners. “It could happen as soon as tomorrow or it could take some weeks yet,” Sullivan said. He added that Putin “has put himself in a position with military deployments to be able to act aggressively against Ukraine at any time now.” Sullivan said that the administration held on to hope that the Russians would move to de-escalate the situation through diplomacy. “The key thing is that the United States needs to be and is prepared for any of those contingencies and in lockstep with our allies and partners,” Sullivan said. “We have reinforced and reassured our allies on the eastern flank.” Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, attended a classified briefing last week that administration officials gave to members of Congress. He was asked whether he came away from the briefing thinking it was certain that Russia would move on Ukraine. “I would say the conditions are there. It’s more likely than not. I think the noose is being prepared. It’s around Ukraine right now as we speak. These are dangerous times,” McCaul said. Biden’s ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the administration was still seeking a diplomatic solution, but “at the same time, we know that the Russians continue to prepare, and we will be working to address the security issues.” Sen. John Barrasso, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Ukraine was the first part of Putin’s plan to reassemble the Soviet Union. He worried about what signal that could send to U.S. adversaries. “He needs to choke on trying to swallow Ukraine because if it’s easy pickings for him, my worry is that then China moves against Taiwan and Iran moves quickly to a nuclear weapon.” Meanwhile, elite U.S troops and equipment landed Sunday in southeastern Poland near the border with Ukraine following Biden’s orders to deploy 1,700 soldiers there amid fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Hundreds more troops from the 82nd Airborne Division are expected to arrive at the Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport. A U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster plane brought a few dozen troops and vehicles. Read: Russia at 70 percent of Ukraine military buildup Their commander is Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue, who on Aug. 30 was the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan. “Our national contribution here in Poland shows our solidarity with all of our allies here in Europe and, obviously, during this period of uncertainty we know that we are stronger together,” Donahue said at the airport. Biden ordered additional U.S. troops deployed to Poland, Romania and Germany to demonstrate America’s commitment to NATO’s eastern flank amid the tensions between Russia and Ukraine. NATO’s eastern member Poland borders both Russia and Ukraine. Romania borders Ukraine. The division can rapidly deploy within 18 hours and conduct parachute assaults to secure key objectives. Based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the division’s history goes back to 1917. Biden is set to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday at the White House. Scholz has said that Moscow would pay a “high price” in the event of an attack, but his government’s refusal to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, bolster its troop presence in eastern Europe or spell out which sanctions it would support against Russia has drawn criticism abroad and at home. French President Emmanuel Macron was to arrive Monday in Moscow for talks with Putin, and in the days to come, Scholz will be there, too. Biden and Macron spoke by phone on Sunday, discussing “diplomatic and deterrence efforts in response to Russia’s continued military build-up on Ukraine’s borders,” according to the White House. Sullivan expressed certainty that operation of the Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline “will not move forward” if Russia further invades Ukraine. Construction of the pipeline is complete, but gas is not yet flowing. “While it’s true that Germany has not sent arms to Ukraine, after the United States, they are the second largest donor to Ukraine in Europe,” Sullivan said. “The great thing ... about having the kind of alliances we have with 30 NATO allies is that different allies are going to take different pieces of this.” Sullivan appeared on “Fox News Sunday,” NBC’s “Meet the Press” and ABC’s “This Week.” McCaul spoke on ABC, and Barrasso was on Fox. Thomas-Greenfield was on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

In 2016, Donald Trump overtook the Republican National Committee through a shock and awe campaign that stunned party leaders. In 2020, the party was obligated to support him as the sitting Republican president. Heading into 2024, however, the Republican Party has a choice. The RNC, which controls the party’s rules and infrastructure, is under no obligation to support Trump again. In fact, the GOP’s bylaws specifically require neutrality should more than one candidate seek the party’s presidential nomination. But as Republican officials from across the country gathered in Utah this week for the RNC’s winter meeting, party leaders devoted considerable energy to disciplining Trump’s rivals and embracing his grievances. As the earliest stages of the next presidential contest take shape, their actions made clear that choosing to serve Trump and his political interests remains a focus for the party. “If President Trump decides he’s running, absolutely the RNC needs to back him, 100%,” said Michele Fiore, an RNC committeewoman who has represented Nevada since 2018. “We can change the bylaws.” The loyalty to Trump is a fresh reminder that one of America’s major political parties is deepening its alignment with a figure who is undermining the nation’s democratic principles. As he fought to stay in the White House, Trump sparked a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. More recently, he has explicitly said that former Vice President Mike Pence could and should have overturned the election results, something he had no power to do. Away from the ballrooms of the RNC meeting, Pence rebuked Trump on Friday, saying he had “no right to overturn the election” and that his former boss was ”wrong” to suggest otherwise. That kind of dissent was rare in Salt Lake City. In censuring two GOP lawmakers who have criticized Trump and joined the committee probing the Jan. 6 insurrection, the RNC channeled the former president in assailing the panel for leading a “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” Pence, whose life was threatened on Jan. 6, is one of a few Republicans making moves toward a 2024 campaign regardless of whether Trump wages a comeback bid. If he were to run for the White House again, Trump is such a powerful force with the GOP base that he probably wouldn’t need the party’s help to become the nominee. Some Republicans said that’s beside the point. “There’s probably some disagreement there,” said Bruce Hough, a longtime RNC member from Utah who lost to a Trump ally in a race for party co-chair last year. “The RNC has to provide a level playing field for any and all comers for president. That’s our job. That’s what we have to do.” But a stark divide has emerged between veterans like Hough, who are devoted to the GOP as an institution, and a larger group of Trump-aligned newcomers, who argue they’re bringing new energy to the party. Their chief loyalty, however, seems to be to the former president. “Leading up to 2020, or most of the time Trump was in office, he sent around his minions to populate the committee with very loyal Trump folks in a lot of red states,” said Bill Palatucci, an RNC committeeman from New Jersey and frequent Trump critic. “And they still enjoy that strong majority.” The RNC’s continued embrace of Trump more than two years before the 2024 election is a decided shift from the party’s position in past elections. In 2012 and 2016, for example, Reince Priebus as RNC chair went to great lengths to ensure each of the candidates was treated equally. The party sanctioned 12 debates, including early rounds that featured up to 17 candidates. “Clearly, there’s a bias that didn’t exist in the past,” said Tim Miller, who previously worked for the Republican National Committee and has since emerged as a fierce Trump critic. “It’s all Trump all the time coming out of there.” A year ago, just after President Joe Biden’s inauguration, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel declined to encourage Trump to run again when asked, citing party rules that require neutrality. She also discouraged attacks on those Republicans who voted for Trump’s impeachment. This week, however, she backed an effort by Trump loyalists to censure Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., a move triggered almost entirely by their fight against Trump’s enduring influence in the party beyond the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The censure, which passed on a voice vote Friday, says the two “support Democrat efforts to destroy President Trump more than they support winning back a Republican majority in 2022.” McDaniel’s shift coincides with the RNC’s reliance on Trump for fundraising. The party has issued hundreds of fundraising appeals since Trump left office evoking his name. One offered this message to prospective small-dollar donors on Tuesday: “YOU must stand with President Trump and YOUR Party.” In speeches made minutes before party leaders voted to censure Cheney and Kinzinger, McDaniel and co-chair Tommy Hicks did not mention Trump and stressed the need to unify for the 2022 midterm elections. Though the committee’s moves demonstrated a sustained loyalty to the former president, outside the winter meeting the censure was condemned by opponents as divisive and contrary to frequent appeals from leaders to expand the party’s tent. The RNC’s discipline “shows more about them than us,” Kinzinger said in an interview. “It shows that Trump and Trumpism has overtaken the RNC.” Cheney in a statement said the move demonstrated how the party had become hostage to Trump. Indeed, this week’s focus on debates that won’t take place until 2024 and on anti-Trump Republicans overshadowed the party’s preparations for the midterm elections. That’s notable because the GOP could reclaim control of at least one chamber of Congress and several governor’s mansions. But this week, Trump’s grievances with his Republican critics took center stage instead. READ: Kim Jong Un’s decade of rule: Purges, nukes, Trump diplomacy “We should be focused on what the voters are focused on,” said Caleb Heimlich, chair of the Republican Party in Washington state, where two of three Republican House members voted to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6 insurrection. “I’ve been talking to voters in Washington state, traveling around and nobody talks about Cheney. That’s a D.C. topic.” Others disagreed. Harmeet Dhillon, an RNC committeewoman from California, said it was imperative to send a clear message about Cheney and Kinzinger for her and the legions of volunteers working to elect Republicans this year. “The midterms are about a party electing its leaders, and what Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney did here is defy their party’s leadership,” Dhillon said. “I do not want to elect people in the midterms who do what these two did.” Beyond the censure, Republicans set in motion a rules change rooted in another of Trump’s longstanding grievances. A measure advanced that would force presidential candidates to sign a pledge saying they will not participate in any debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates advanced. It is expected to be voted on when RNC members convene again in August. “We are not walking away from debates,” McDaniel said. “We are walking away from the Commission on Presidential Debates because it’s a biased monopoly that does not serve the best interests of the American people.” The eventual 2024 nominee, however, will have final say on whether to participate. Another Republican eyeing a White House campaign, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, decried the RNC’s push to punish Trump’s rivals. READ: More issues, less Trump: GOP sees model after Virginia win “The GOP I believe in is the party of freedom and truth,” the frequent Trump critic tweeted Friday. “It’s a sad day for my party — and the country — when you’re punished just for expressing your beliefs, standing on principle, and refusing to tell blatant lies.”

The French president and the German chancellor will head to Moscow and Kyiv in the coming weeks, adding to diplomatic efforts to try to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from launching an invasion of Ukraine and find a way out of the growing tensions. France’s Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to visit Moscow on Monday and Kyiv on Tuesday, while Germany’s Olaf Scholz will travel to Kyiv on Feb. 14 and Moscow on Feb. 15. The high-level visits come as China has backed Russia’s demand that NATO be precluded from expanding to Ukraine, and after the U.S. accused the Kremlin on Thursday of an elaborate plot to fabricate an attack by Ukrainian forces that Russia could use as a pretext to take military action. The U.S. has not provided detailed information backing up the claims, which Moscow has vehemently denied. While France is a major player in NATO and is moving troops to Romania as part of the alliance’s preparation for possible Russian action, Macron has also been actively pushing for dialogue with Putin and has spoken to him several times in recent weeks. The two will hold a one-on-one meeting Monday, Macron’s office said Friday. Also read: As Russia tensions boil, US farmer remains jailed in Ukraine Macron is following a French tradition of striking a separate path from the United States in geopolitics, as well as trying to make his own mark on this crisis and defend Europe’s interests. Germany has emphasized the importance of various diplomatic formats in tackling the tensions and has refused to send weapons to Ukraine, irking some allies. Scholz also has faced criticism at home lately for keeping a low public profile in the crisis. After weeks of talks in various diplomatic formats have led to no major concessions by Russia and the U.S., it’s unclear how much impact the trips will have. But Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Friday that “top-level visits seriously reduce challenges in the sphere of security and upset the Kremlin’s plans.” In a call Wednesday with U.S. President Joe Biden, Macron filled him in on his diplomatic efforts. In talks with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders Thursday night, Macron’s office said they discussed ways to “identify elements that could lead to de-escalation,” and “conditions for strategic balance in Europe, which should allow for the reduction of risks on the ground and guarantee security on the continent.” Scholz has a previously planned meeting with Biden in Washington on Monday. Moscow has been signaling an apparent readiness for more talks with Washington and NATO in recent days. Some experts say that as long as Russia and the West keep talking, that’s a reason for cautious optimism. Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s northern and eastern borders, raising concern that Moscow might invade again, as it did in 2014. The troop presence and uncertainty have unnerved Ukrainians and hurt the country’s economy. The Kremlin has denied that an invasion is planned and has demanded guarantees from the West that Ukraine will never join the bloc, deployment of NATO weapons near Russian borders will be halted and the alliance’s forces will be rolled back from Eastern Europe. China lent its support to the demands Friday after Putin met with Chinese President Xi Jingping in Beijing before the opening of the Winter Olympics. After the talks, the two leaders issued an elaborate joint statement, declaring their opposition to any expansion of NATO. “The Chinese side is sympathetic to and supports the proposals put forward by the Russian Federation to create long-term legally binding security guarantees in Europe,” the statement read. Separately from Macron and Scholz, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has offered to mediate talks between Russia and Ukraine. Erdogan visited Kyiv this week and upon returning to Turkey charged that Western leaders have failed to make a positive contribution toward the resolution of tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Erdogan also said that Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy strongly supports a Turkish proposal for mediation to reduce tensions between the two nations. “Unfortunately, the West has not contributed anything toward a solution of this issue,” Erdogan said. “They are just creating obstacles.” Meanwhile in Washington, U.S. officials said a plan for a fake attack on Russian territory or Russian-speaking people was described in declassified intelligence shared with Ukrainian officials and European allies in recent days. It was the latest example of the Biden administration divulging intelligence findings as a tactic to stop Russian disinformation efforts and foil what it says is Putin’s attempt to lay the groundwork for military action. Also read: Putin accuses US, allies of ignoring Russian security needs Russian officials have rejected the allegations. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday spoke about the “absurdity” of the claims, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recommended reporters “not to take anyone’s word for it, especially the (U.S.) State Department’s, when it comes to these issues.” Ukraine’s foreign minister said Friday that Washington shared the information with Kyiv and that it did not surprise Ukrainian authorities. “Since 2014, we have seen many insidious actions by Russia. We have seen that nothing stops them from fabricating something and accusing Ukraine of something,” Kuleba told reporters. In recent weeks, the White House has said that U.S. intelligence shows Russia has launched a malign social media disinformation campaign against Ukraine and has dispatched operatives trained in explosives to carry out acts of sabotage against Russia’s own proxy forces. Britain has divulged intelligence findings that it says show Russia plotting to install a pro-Russian puppet government in Ukraine.

8A major winter storm with millions of Americans in its path brought a mix of rain, freezing rain and snow to the central U.S. on Wednesday as airlines canceled thousands of flights, officials urged residents to stay off roads and schools closed campuses. The blast of frigid weather, which began arriving Tuesday night, put a long stretch of states from New Mexico and Colorado to Maine under winter storm warnings and watches. On Wednesday morning, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan saw freezing rain, sleet and snow. By midday Wednesday, some places had already reported snow totals exceeding or nearing a foot, including the central Illinois town of Lewistown with 14.4 inches (36.6 centimeters) and the northeastern Missouri city of Hannibal with 11.5 inches (29.2 centimeters). “And it’s still snowing across these areas,” said Andrew Orrison, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland. Central Illinois and northern Indiana appeared likely to receive the most snowfall, with expected totals ranging from 12 to 18 inches (30 to 45 centimeters) by the end of Thursday, Orrison said. Snow had begun to taper off in Missouri by early afternoon but much of the state could wind up with 8 inches to a foot (20 to 30 centimeters) of snow. Parts of Michigan also could snow totals around a foot by Thursday. In Chicago, Elisha Waldman and his sons welcomed the opportunity to hit a sledding hill Wednesday morning, even as snow continued to fall. Read:Blizzard buffets East Coast with deep snow, winds, flooding “Cold and wet and wonderful, and getting cold and wet is part of the fun with the guys, and we get to go inside and have hot cocoa and warm up,” Waldman said. In Detroit’s western suburbs, Tony Haley also found an advantage to the weather. He owns a landscaping and irrigation company that offers snow removal and salting services, but the early winter weeks offered few opportunities for business. “This one here, we’re looking for a good two, three days of work,” Haley said after clearing snow away from several businesses in Canton. But for those on the roads, the heavy snow created hazardous conditions. “We’re receiving a lot of snow over here in northwest Indiana and it’s the wet, slushy snow that causes treacherous driving conditions to say the least,” Indiana State Police Sgt. Glen Fifield told WFLD-TV. In central Missouri, officials shut down part of Interstate 70 midday after a crash made the roadway impassable. Areas south of the heavy snow were expected to see freezing rain, with the heaviest ice predicted along the lower Ohio Valley area from Louisville, Kentucky, to Memphis, Tennessee. “If everything holds to where it is right now, this is the real deal,” said Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who ordered state government offices to close on Thursday. “It is dangerous. People need to be prepared.” The disruptive storm moved across the central U.S. on Groundhog Day, the same day the famed groundhog Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter. The storm came on the heels of a nor’easter last weekend that brought blizzard conditions to many parts of the East Coast. The storm’s path extended as far south as Texas, nearly a year after a catastrophic freeze buckled the state’s power grid in one of the worst blackouts in U.S. history. The forecast did not call for the same prolonged and frigid temperatures as the February 2021 storm, and the National Weather Service said the system would, generally, not be as bad this time for Texas. No large-scale power outages were reported by early afternoon Wednesday in Texas or elsewhere, according to poweroutage.us. Read: Snow storms and pandemic ground flights, delay holiday's end Snowfall totals reached 22 inches (56 centimeters) in Colorado Springs and up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) in the Denver area, with more expected, prompting universities, state government offices and the Legislature to shut down. Airlines canceled nearly 8,000 flights in the U.S. scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday, the flight-tracking service FlightAware.com showed. Airports in St. Louis, Chicago, Kansas City and Detroit canceled more flights than usual. Almost 700 flights were canceled Thursday alone at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, and more than 300 were canceled at nearby Dallas Love Field. In an effort to stay ahead of the weather, Southwest Airlines announced Tuesday that it would suspend all of its flight operations Wednesday at St. Louis Lambert International Airport and Thursday at its Dallas Love Field hub. National Weather Service forecasters in Little Rock put their own spin on the Groundhog Day tradition with a photo of their office cat, Tarmac, and the caption: “SHADOWS EVERYWHERE! THE WINTER STORM IS HAPPENING!”

One student was killed and another critically injured in a shooting Tuesday afternoon near the front entrance to a suburban Minneapolis school, police said. Police Chief Jay Henthorne said the students were shot outside South Education Center in Richfield, a suburb just south of Minneapolis. The surviving student was in critical condition at a local hospital. Henthorne said suspects fled and police searched the area. “This is a tragic day in the city of Richfield,” he said. He gave no other details on the students. Richfield police arrested two suspects and recovered a handgun after executing simultaneous search warrants at two Minneapolis addresses, they announced Tuesday night. Read: Universal health care bill faces deadline in California “Officers are not looking for any additional suspects, but continue to process evidence related to the shooting,” police said. South Education Center has about 200 students, according to its website, which describes it as a school that offers special education programs and an alternative high school, with students as young as prekindergarten. It is part of District 287, which provides services to 11 school districts across the Minneapolis area as well as some students from other districts. District 287 Superintendent Sandra Lewandowski said the students were shot near the school’s front entrance. She said parents and students were being reunited Tuesday afternoon. “There are no words to describe the bravery exhibited by our staff at SEC and local authorities today,” Lewandowski said. “No one should ever have to respond to a tragedy like this and we commit to supporting staff, students, and family well-being as they recover from this incident.” Family friend Damik Bryant identified the student killed as Jamari Rice, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. Kris Pulford, the head football coach at Richfield High School, where Rice played as a freshman and as a sophomore this past season, told the newspaper that it was Rice’s second day at South. “When he had things going, he was very intense, a very positive kid,” Pulford said of Rice. “He stood up for his buddies, and he loved the game of football.” Pulford said Rice had switched schools “just so he could find a place where he can be successful. Jamari had heart. He was a good kid.” Read: EXPLAINER: Are Israel, Hamas committing war crimes in Gaza? The Star Tribune reported that police had been called to South Education Center in September after a male student brought a gun in his backpack. Students alerted school staff. No one was hurt in that incident. Spokeswoman Rachel Hicks told the newspaper then that South had phased out metal detectors at school entrances. The district had also in recent years removed school resource officers and replaced them with student safety coaches to focus on building relationships and working on mental health issues, Hicks told the newspaper.

California Democrats must decide Monday whether to advance a bill that would make the government pay for everybody’s health care in the nation’s most populous state; a key test of whether one of their most long-sought policy goals can overcome fierce opposition from business groups and the insurance industry. A bill in the state Legislature would create the nation’s only statewide universal health care system. It’s still a long way from becoming law, but Monday is the last chance for lawmakers in the Assembly to keep the bill alive this year. The bill would create a universal health care system and set its rules — but it would not pay for it. There’s another bill that would do that. It has a different deadline and does not have to pass on Monday. Still, Monday’s debate will likely be dominated by concerns about cost. The latest estimate says it would cost taxpayers at least $356.5 billion per year to pay for the health care of nearly 40 million residents. California’s total operating budget — which pays for public schools, courts, roads and bridges and other important services — is roughly $262 billion this year. Earlier this month, Democrats filed a proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would impose hefty new taxes on businesses and individuals to pay for the system. The taxes would generate roughly $163 billion per year, and the amendment would give lawmakers the power to raise those taxes to keep up with costs. Supporters hope both proposals — the bill to create the system and the bill to pay for it — will move forward together this year. But Monday’s deadline is only on the bill that would create the system. Still, that hasn’t stopped opponents from connecting the two issues. “A vote for this bill is naturally a vote for the taxes that come along with it,” said Preston Young, a policy advocate with the California Chamber of Commerce who is leading a coalition of 130 companies against the bill. “Health care costs continue to increase, so the tax obligations correlated with it will go up as well.” Supporters say Californians and their employers are already paying exorbitant amounts for health care through high deductibles, co-pays and monthly insurance premiums. This bill, if it becomes law, would eliminate all of those and replace them with taxes. “Sure, there is sticker shock. But there should be sticker shock for how much we are paying now,” said Stephanie Roberson, director of government relations for the California Nurses Association. “What are we getting? People are still uninsured. People are still underinsured. People are going into medical debt. People have to reach tens-of-thousands of dollars of deductibles. We’ll eliminate that under this program.” Read: UAE intercepts Yemen missile as Israeli president visits Right now, lots of people pay for California’s health care system, including patients, insurance companies and employers. The bill before the Legislature would change that to a single payer — the government. If enacted, it would unravel the private health insurance market. Private health insurance would still be allowed, but only for services not covered by the government. Progressives have long dreamed of a single-payer health system in the U.S., believing it would control costs and save lives. But it’s never happened. Vermont enacted the nation’s first single-payer health care system in 2011, but later abandoned it because of the cost. Proposals in Congress have gone nowhere. In California, voters overwhelmingly rejected a single-payer system in a 1994 ballot initiative. State lawmakers tried again in the 2000s, twice passing single-payer legislation only to have both bills vetoed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican. Another attempt in 2017 passed the Senate but died in the Assembly. This year’s vote won’t be easy, even in famously liberal California. While this bill has the support of some Democratic leaders and powerful labor unions, it has intense opposition from business groups that are pressuring more moderate Democrats not to vote for it. The bill needs 41 votes to survive on Monday. Democrats have 56 of the 80 seats in the Assembly. But they are missing three of their more liberal members who have recently resigned to take other jobs, leaving little room for defections. Supporters so far have not gotten a boost from someone they thought would be an important ally: Popular Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. Newsom campaigned for a universal health care system during his 2018 run for governor. But since taking office, Newsom has focused mostly on expanding access to insurance coverage. Newsom has said he still supports a single-payer system. A commission he established to study the idea is due to release its report later this year. But Newsom has been silent on this latest proposal ahead of Monday’s deadline. “What we need right now is support from the governor on this bill,” Roberson said. “We welcome him to make good on his campaign promise.”

A nor’easter with hurricane-force wind gusts battered much of the East Coast on Saturday, flinging heavy snow that made travel treacherous or impossible, flooding coastlines, and threatening to leave bitter cold in its wake. The storm thrashed parts of 10 states, with blizzard warnings that stretched from Virginia to Maine. Philadelphia and New York saw plenty of wind and snow, but Boston was in the crosshairs. The city could get more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow by the time it moves out early Sunday. Winds gusted as high as 83 mph (134 kph) on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. More than 22 inches (45 centimeters) of snow had fallen by midafternoon on part of Long Island, and Bayville, New Jersey, had 19 inches (48 centimeters). The wind scoured the ground bare in some spots and piled the snow into huge drifts in others. Forecasters watched closely for new snowfall records, especially in Boston, where the heaviest snow was expected later Saturday. The Boston area’s modern snowfall record is 27.6 inches, set in 2003. New York City and Philadelphia were far from setting all-time records but still saw significant snowfall, with at least 7.5 inches (19 centimeters) in New York’s Central Park and at the Philadelphia airport. Many flights at airports serving New York, Boston and Philadelphia were canceled Saturday, according to FlightAware. More than 4,500 flights were canceled across the U.S., though airports in the Northeast didn’t report evidence of mass strandings, given that the storm was anticipated and many airlines called off flights in advance. Amtrak canceled all its high-speed Acela trains on the busy Boston-to-Washington corridor and canceled or limited other service. In suburban Boston, a bundled-up Nicky Brown, 34, stood at the doors of Gordon’s liquor store in Waltham, waiting for it to open. “My boyfriend is out driving a plow, and I had a bunch of cleaning to do at home, and I want a drink while I’m doing it,” she said, as she called the store to find out if it planned to open at all. “It’s a good day to stay inside and clean.” Video on social media showed wind and waves battering North Weymouth, south of Boston, flooding streets with a slurry of frigid water. Other video showed a street underwater on Nantucket and waves crashing against the windows of a building in Plymouth. Over 120,000 homes and businesses lost power in Massachusetts, with failures mounting. No other states reported widespread outages. Climate change, particularly the warming ocean, probably influenced the strength of the storm, atmospheric researchers said. Much warmer ocean waters “are certainly playing a role in the strengthening of the storm system and increased moisture available for the storm,” said University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Jason Furtado. “But it isn’t the only thing.” The storm had two saving graces: Dry snow less capable of snapping trees and tearing down power lines, and its timing on a weekend, when schools were closed and few people were commuting. Parts of 10 states were under blizzard warnings at some point: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, along with much of the Delmarva Peninsula in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.The National Weather Service considers a storm a blizzard if it meets the following conditions: It has snowfall or blowing snow and winds of at least 35 mph (56 kph) that reduce visibility to a quarter-mile or less for at least three hours. In many areas, Saturday’s storm met those criteria. Rhode Island, all of which was under a blizzard warning, banned all nonemergency road travel. In West Hartford, Connecticut, a tractor-trailer jackknifed on Interstate 84, closing several lanes. Massachusetts banned heavy trucks from interstate highways. READ: Cold kills 22 stuck in cars in heavy snow at Pakistan resort  Ocean City, Maryland, recorded at least a foot (30 centimeters) of snow. Maryland State Police tweeted that troopers had received more than 670 calls for service and responded to over 90 crashes by midmorning. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul advised people to stay home and warned of below-zero windchills after the storm passes. The state had declared a state of emergency Friday evening. “This is a very serious storm, very serious. We’ve been preparing for this. This could be life-threatening,” Hochul said. “It’s high winds, heavy snow, blizzard conditions — all the elements of a classic nor’easter.” Police on Long Island said they had to help motorists stuck in the snow. In Philadelphia, few drivers ventured onto streets covered in knee-high drifts. Hardy New Englanders took the storm in stride. Dave McGillivray, race director for the Boston Marathon, jokingly invited the public to his suburban Boston home on Saturday for a free snow-shoveling clinic. “I will provide the driveway and multiple walkways to ensure your training is conducted in the most lifelike situation,” he said.   READ: Major storm dumps snow, closes mountain routes in California Washington and Baltimore got some snow but were largely spared. The worst of the nor’easter was expected to blow by Sunday morning into Canada, where several provinces were under warnings.

A nor'easter has delivered a mix of heavy snow and fierce winds along much of the East Coast of the United States with more to come into Saturday night. More than 10 million people in some coastal areas from Virginia into New England are under blizzard warnings, with heavy snow and strong winds, with predicted gusts up to 70 mph in some areas, reported CNN. Some governments in the Northeast have banned vehicle travel for parts of the day, including Rhode Island through to 8 p.m., with a tractor-trailer ban until midnight. And many are urging people to stay home. Read: No peace in Myanmar 1 year after military takeover Ten inches of snow or more already had fallen in parts of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Long Island as of 10 a.m. ET., according to CNN. More than 1 foot of snow could fall by Sunday morning from Long Island through Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, it added. A Nor'easter is a storm along the East Coast of North America, so called because the winds over the coastal area are typically from the northeast, according to the National Weather Service. These storms may occur at any time of year but are most frequent and most violent between September and April. Nor'easters usually develop in the latitudes between Georgia and New Jersey.