NYT: LIVE w/o Paywall Coverage of Ukraine News

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/02/27/world/russia-ukraine…

The ruble crashes, the stock market closes and Russia’s economy staggers under sanctions.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/27/world/europe/ruble-russia…

On Sunday, Mr. Putin called the West’s sanctions “illegitimate” in a televised meeting with his defense minister and top military commander. Mr. Putin then told them to place Russia’s nuclear arsenal on high alert; some analysts fear that Russia’s economic instability could lead Mr. Putin to escalate his conflict with the West using new military threats or other means, such as cyberattacks.

But there was also extreme uncertainty inside Russia as the value of people’s savings evaporated and the interconnections with the Western world that Russians had come to take for granted in the last three decades rapidly broke away. It was not immediately clear whether most Russians would blame Mr. Putin for the crisis — or whether they would take cues from Kremlin propaganda and blame the We