Russia-Ukraine war: Russian army broadens Ukraine advance; UK deploys troop in Eastern Europe

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered its army to broaden its offensive in Ukraine “from all directions” after Kiev refused to hold talks in Belarus, said Moscow’s defence ministry on late Saturday. Notably, the Russian President had ordered a temporary halt to the military operation in Ukraine on Friday afternoon, expecting negotiations with Kiev. However, the operation was resumed Saturday afternoon after the Ukrainian leadership refused to talk, reported Sputnik. "Yesterday afternoon, in connection with the expected negotiations with the Ukrainian leadership, the Russian president and supreme commander ordered the suspension of the advance of the main forces," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. "Since the Ukrainian side essentially refused to negotiate, the advance of the main Russian forces resumed this afternoon in accordance with the operational plan," he added. However, Ukraine on Saturday denied the claims that it was refusing to negotiate a ceasefire with Russia and said it was also not ready to accept ultimatums or unacceptable conditions. Also Read | Why is Russia declaring war against Ukraine? Here’s what you should know Meanwhile, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, UK's Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force have been deployed to boost NATO's eastern front, announced the British Defence Ministry on Saturday. "Alongside our NATO Allies, these deployments constitute a credible deterrent to stop Russian aggression threatening the territorial sovereignty of member states," informed Ben Wallace, the UK Defence Secretary. The NATO alliance is deploying its rapid response force for the first time ever to bolster its eastern flank in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. “We are now deploying the NATO Response Force for the first time in a collective defence context. We speak about thousands of troops. We speak about air and maritime capabilities," said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in response to Europe’s biggest security crisis in decades. The NATO Response Force, which has 40,000 personnel, is designed to be ready 365 days a year to respond in two or three days if a security crisis arises. Also Read | Why Russia doesn’t want Ukraine want to join NATO | All you need to know -PTC News