Heading towards World War III?

Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell says the Russians are finding it harder than they thought to conquer Ukraine.

“There have been reports overnight of a thwarted assassination plot on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky - an initial failure for Putin's decapitation strategy,” Mr Clennell said.

“The Russian President now has to weigh up whether to go the full blitzkrieg which will take tens of thousands of lives or keep at the pace of invasion he is conducting presently, in the hope he can install a successful puppet government without having destroyed the country.”

Weeping prisoners of war have claimed they had no idea they were being sent to war.

Ukrainian troops are reported to have killed a number of disguised soldiers as the capital prepares for a long bloody siege.

It comes as citizens were urged to take up arms, make up Molotov cocktail fire bombs, and to use commercial drones to defend their homes.

Some 18,000 assault rifles have been handed out to residents and general mobilisation has been ordered in a bid to protect their homes.

US Air Force F-35 Lightning II jets are in Lithuania to augment the NATO Air Policing mission following Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine.

The fifth-generation fighter jets came from the 34th Fighter Squadron, currently operating out of Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany. While in Lithuania, they will be on alert to secure the skies over Baltic Allies, along with jets from the Royal Danish and Polish Air Forces.

F-35s also deployed to Ämari Air Base in Estonia and Feteşti Air Base in Romania.

The F-35 is a fifth-generation aircraft that brings sophisticated command and control capabilitiesto NATO’s Air Policing mission. Air policing ensures the safety of Allied skies by intercepting air traffic that fails to comply with international aviation rules and regulations.

MOMENT a HUGE US Air Force Boeing B-52 Bomber aircraft lands in the UK amid Russia tensions.

The arrival was one of four U.S Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers to arrive at RAF Fairford in the UK today.

Four of the type arrived in the UK ahead of a planned Bomber task force, although many are suggesting it is likely to be linked to the rising tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

Eurostar is to let Ukrainian refugees fleeing to the UK travel on its trains for free, the company has announced.

The cross-channel high-speed rail operator joins other carriers around Europe in extending free travel to Ukraine nationals following the invasion of their country.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-refugees-eurostar-free-travel-train-b2026688.html

Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska predicted that Western sanctions would drive his country into a prolonged economic crisis and called for a peace deal to end the Ukraine war.

"The crisis will be most severe for a minimum of three years. Take the 1998 crisis and multiply it by three," Mr. Deripaska, a raw-materials magnate who founded Russian aluminum giant Rusal, told a conference devoted to Siberian economic development on Thursday.

He described the sanctions as a new Iron Curtain that had severed Russia from the West.

Russia can pull out of the crisis, but only if the fighting in Ukraine ends, he added. "The main and first step is achieving peace on a compromise basis," Mr. Deripaska said, according to video of the conference posted online.

Several Russian tycoons have distanced themselves from President Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine, as fallout from sanctions has disrupted their businesses and taken a bite out of their fortunes.

On Wednesday, Mr. Deripaska's fellow billionaire Roman Abramovich said he would sell his U.K. soccer club Chelsea FC and use the proceeds to aid victims of the war in Ukraine.

www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news-2022-03-03/card/russian-oligarch-oleg-deripaska-predicts-severe-economic-crisis-5qvUarlhqgvaBclxgq74

Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Oleg Deripaska have broken ranks with the Kremlin and called for an end to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Fridman, who was born in western Ukraine, wrote in a letter to staff that he wanted the "bloodshed to end."

"My parents are Ukrainian citizens and live in Lviv, my favorite city. But I have also spent much of my life as a citizen of Russia, building and growing businesses. I am deeply attached to Ukrainian and Russian peoples and see the current conflict as a tragedy for them both," wrote Fridman.

"This crisis will cost lives and damage two nations who have been brothers for hundreds of years. While a solution seems frighteningly far off, I can only join those whose fervent desire is for the bloodshed to end,"

edition.cnn.com/2022/02/28/business/oligarchs-russia-ukraine-fridman-deripaska/index.html

Russian forces have entered the site of Europe's largest nuclear power plant after a fire broke out there during Russian shelling. Ukrainian authorities say no radiation leaks have been detected.

www.dw.com/en/ukraine-says-russian-forces-seize-control-of-nuclear-plant-live-updates/a-61007081