Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Russia to ban oil exports to countries using price cap from February

Banished from public consciousness for decades, the nightmare of nuclear warfare has surged back to prominence with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, highlighting the erosion of the Cold War global security architecture.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday warned that Ukraine must meet Moscow’s demand for “demilitarization” and “denazification,” as well as the removal of the military threat to Russia, otherwise “the Russian army (will) solve the issue.” In an apparent reaction, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted that “Russia needs to face the reality.”“Neither total mobilization, nor panicky search for ammo, nor secret contracts with Iran, nor Lavrov’s threats will help,” he said. “Ukraine will demilitarize the RF (Russian Federation) to the end, oust the invaders from all occupied territories. Wait for the finale silently…”

Russian forces shelled and bombed towns and cities in eastern and southern Ukraine on Tuesday, a day after Russia's foreign minister said Kyiv must accept Moscow's demands for ending the war or else suffer defeat on the battlefield. Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces have repelled Russian attacks in the areas of two settlements in the Luhansk region and six in the Donetsk region, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said on Tuesday.

Russia's foreign minister accused Ukraine and the West of seeking to destroy his country and said Kyiv must accept Moscow's demands for ending the war or else watch as the Russian armed forces achieve them on the battlefield. These include Ukraine recognising Russia's conquest of a fifth of its territory. Kyiv, armed and supported by the United States and its NATO allies, says it will recover all its occupied territory and drive out all Russian soldiers.