scroll down...US already throwing in the towel to a 20 year war. Biden traded Afghanistan for Ukraine!
Updated on: March 1, 2022 / 7:57 PM / CBS News
Satellite images showed a 40-mile-long Russian military convoy approaching Ukraine's capital of Kyiv on Tuesday as authorities said Russian forces carried out a deadly attack on the city's main TV tower. The plodding Russian advance on the ground came while Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, was hit by intense shelling as Vladimir Putin's invasion of the neighboring nation entered its sixth day. The U.N. human rights office said Tuesday that at least 136 civilians had been killed by Russia's assault, including 13 children.
Talks between Ukrainian and Russian representatives lasted several hours Monday and both sides agreed to meet again in the coming days. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address late Monday that he believed Russia's continued shelling was meant to extract concessions from his country, but it wouldn't work.
More and more countries and companies worldwide are taking steps to punish Moscow for the invasion. They left Russia's currency, the ruble, plunging to a value of less than a penny.
 Explosions reported in Ukraine. (Feb. 24, 2022) CBS News Perhaps feeling the pressure of Russia being targeted by increasing international scorn and his troops' advance being slowed by fierce resistance from Ukrainian fighters, President Vladimir Putin put his nuclear forces on high alert on Sunday.
21m ago Mitt Romney: "I don't think that anybody can really assess what's going on in the mind of Vladimir Putin right now"
Republican Senator Mitt Romney said it's hard to evaluate President Vladimir Putin's state of mind.
"I don't think that anybody can really assess what's going on in the mind of Vladimir Putin right now," Romney told "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell on Tuesday. "The huge table with him sitting at one end is like Dr. Strangelove."
When asked if he believed Putin would try to upstage President Biden's State of the Union address Tuesday night by launching an attack on Ukraine's capital, Romney said there's "no way of predicting what kind of illogical things" Putin may do.
7:17 PM Biden expected to announce that he's closing U.S. airspace to Russian aircraft at the State of the Union address
President Biden will announce at the State of the Union Address that he is closing U.S. airspace to Russian aircraft, CBS News' Nancy Cordes reports.
Several European countries and Canada have already closed their airspace to Russian aircraft.
NEWS: @CBSNews has learned that in his State of the Union address tonight, @POTUS is expected to announce that he is following in the footsteps of European allies and closing US airspace to Russian aircraft — a move US officials have been considering for several days.
— Nancy Cordes (@nancycordes) March 2, 2022
By Jordan Freiman
6:54 PM / March 1, 2022 Ukraine claims Russia is "preparing deliberate provocation to justify the introduction of Belarusian troops"
Ukraine's military intelligence service claimed on Twitter that Russia is "preparing deliberate provocation to justify the introduction of Belarusian troops."
The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine also said there are "about 300 Belarussian tanks" amassed along the two countries' borders.
?? #DIUinforms??
Russia is preparing a deliberate provocation to justify the introduction of Belarusian troops
According to available data, there are now about 300 Belarusian tanks near the Belarusian-Ukrainian border pic.twitter.com/i4r1arorSE
— Defence intelligence of Ukraine (@DI_Ukraine) March 1, 2022
Ukrainian and Russian officials held the first round of talks since the invasion began along the Belarusian border on Monday. Ukrainian President Zelensky had initially rejected the idea of meeting there because Belarus has been allowing Russian troops to gather and launch attacks on Ukraine from within its borders.
Belarusian President Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Putin.
By Jordan Freiman
6:00 PM / March 1, 2022 Transgender woman says transphobia and discriminatory laws keeping her hostage in Kyiv
Zi Faámelu was born and raised in Crimea, an area of Ukraine that was invaded and taken over by Russia in 2014. Now the 31-year-old lives in Kyiv, the capital city that has been under Russian siege for nearly a week. She is running out of food and hasn't left her house for days as gunfire erupts outside.
And she says she can't leave.
Faámelu, who is transgender, said that transphobia is pervasive in the city and neighboring countries, and fears that if she leaves, the tension of the ongoing conflict will make her more susceptible to violence. Faámelu was previously a popular contestant on the Ukrainian singing competition show "Star Factory."
"Sometimes we think it's just all a dream, that we're stuck inside some kind of a video game. Because you just live in a quiet society, and then you hear bombings and you wake up to the sound of bombings," she said. "...A few hours ago I heard bombings and my windows were shaking. ... I'm literally scared for my life."
Read more here.
By Li Cohen
5:23 PM / March 1, 2022 U.S. nuclear posture has not changed in response to Putin's announcement
The head of U.S. Strategic Command, which is in charge of the U.S. nuclear weapons program, said Tuesday he's satisfied with the current U.S. posture and has recommended no changes.
Navy Admiral Charles Richard, commander of Strategic Command, was asked during a House subcommittee hearing what steps he was taking in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement Sunday that he was putting nuclear forces on heightened alert. Richard said he stayed in Omaha, Nebraska, the home of Strategic Command, in order to assess the announcement.
"Part of why I'm in Omaha is a part of our ability to assess and be satisfied in terms of our defensive posture," Richard said. "I am satisfied with the posture of my forces. I have made no recommendations to make any changes."
By Eleanor Watson
4:58 PM / March 1, 2022 Biden says he's determined to see all allies on the same page on sanctions
President Biden on Tuesday, in an otherwise off-the-record session with journalists, said his goal is for all of the United States' allies to be on board with sanctions against Russia.
"My determination is to see that the EU, NATO, all of our allies are on the same exact page on sanctions against the Russian invasion," the president said. "The one thing that gives us power is to impose consequences."
By Kathryn Watson
4:40 PM / March 1, 2022 More on how long Ukraine may withstand Russian assault
A U.S. official tells CBS News that a tactical seizure of Ukraine is possible within the next 4-6 weeks, based on the assessments of what is currently taking place on the ground with the Russian military.
As David Martin has reported, it is expected to take one week before Kyiv is surrounded, and another 30 days could elapse before Ukraine's capital is seized. This U.S. official says it is not clear whether Russia would gradually strangle the city or engage in street-to-street fighting. These scenarios were laid out for members of Congress Monday as the initial battle to destroy the Ukrainian military and government. It is also not clear whether Russia would then decide to go west toward Lviv or as far west as the Polish border.
The situation is dynamic, so this remains an estimate on what is militarily possible. This U.S. official also could not say when the sanctions that have been rolled out so far will have a practical impact on the Russian military. The low morale and shortages of food and fuel are not a result of the sanctions now in place. At some point, however, the Russian military will be impacted by the sanctions.
Given the durability of the Ukrainian resistance and its long history of pushing Russia back, the U.S. and Western powers do not believe that this will be a short war. The U.K. foreign secretary estimated it would be a 10-year war. Lawmakers at the Capitol were told Monday it is likely to last 10, 15 or 20 years — and that ultimately, Russia will lose.
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