What a messy situation with so many ramifications for Europe and the world.

 Is this the trigger for WAR?

Artillery fire rings out in eastern Ukraine as two schools are hit with Kiev's forces and Russian-backed rebels blaming each other amid NATO warning that Putin is trying to stage a pretext for invasion

Artillery has opened fire in eastern Ukraine today, with Kiev saying a school and kindergarten were hit by Russia-backed rebels who immediately tried to flip the script and claim they are the ones under attack. A kindergarten in the village of Stanytsia Luhanska was struck first - around 9am local time - with Ukraine saying it was 'cynically' hit by rebel artillery, leaving two teachers injured. Around an hour later more shells fell on a school in Popasna, also located on the frontlines about 50 miles away, with two houses also hit. NATO and the UK accused Russia of staging a false flag operation aimed at justifying a long-feared invasion of Ukraine - fears that seemed to be confirmed when Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke out to blame Kiev for the fighting, and urged the West to get Kiev to stop the attacks.

The glitzy life of Putin's former son-in-law: Tycoon, 39, became a billionaire after marrying President's acrobat dancer daughter (and got a £280m gift, oil shares and a £4m Biarritz mansion) before dumping her for another socialite

This week, Kirill Shamalov, 39, was named as one of Vladimir Putin's cronies and hit with a package of UK sanctions designed to inflict 'maximum and lasting pain'. Russia's youngest billionaire was married to Putin's daughter Katerina Tikhonova (pictured at their wedding, left) for five years from 2013 to 2018, making him the President's former son-in-law. The photographs from Shamalov and Katerina's three-day nuptials at the luxury Igora ski resort (bottom right) in Russia in 2013 break Putin's taboo over never revealing details of his family life. Kirill and Katerina also dabbled in property, including a beautiful £5million four-storey seaside villa (top right) in Biarritz on the southwest coast of France. As husband and wife, the pair are understood to have amassed a huge corporate portfolio of wealth that exceeded $2billion (£1.4bn), before their split in 2018. MailOnline details the deep links the Shamalov family has to Putin's regime and delves into the life of luxury led by one of Russia's wealthiest families.

Protesters in St Petersburg are arrested and hauled away by police for second night as demonstrations continue across Russia against war in Ukraine 

In Saint Petersburg, which today UEFA banned from hosting the Champions League final, women were dragged away by police in riot gear during clashes as thousands took to the streets.

'I am target No1, my wife and children are No2': President Zelensky defies Russian kill squads

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, 44, (pictured) admitted he is 'target number one' as it was claimed Chechen 'hunters' have been given a list of Ukrainian officials to capture or kill.

Barbaric moment Russian tank swerves to DELIBERATELY crush car driving down opposite side of road in Ukraine with elderly driver SURVIVING his injuries

NEW Video shows the shocking moment a Russian tank runs over the car of a civilian. The Russian tank can be seen deliberately crossing several lanes to reach the car. The vehicle was completely flattened resulting in screams from those watching nearby. The driver of the tank then reverses back over the car further crushing it. Incredibly, the elderly driver was still alive and pu

Is Putin suffering 'delirium and confusion' due to Long COVID? Questions arise over Russian leader's mental state after rumours of cancer and Parkinson's disease 

Professor Ian Robertson, a neuropsychologist at Trinity College Dublin, told the I that Vladimir Putin, 69, could be suffering from suffering from hubris syndrome.

Putin has to get past NATO and the USA and UK first!!

Putin reveals plan to dominate Europe beyond Ukraine: Neighbours Finland and Sweden are warned they will face 'military and political consequences' if they join NATO 

Russia has threatened close Arctic neighbours Sweden and Finland (left) with 'military consequences' if they join NATO. It came as Russia's invasion of Ukraine intensified today after a night of fighting (right) in the capitakl of Kyiv especially. Sweden and Finland are the two closest countries to Russia in the Arctic Circle. 'Finland and Sweden should not base their security on damaging the security of other countries and their accession to NATO can have detrimental consequences and face some military and political consequences,' Zakharova said during a news briefing. Vladimir Putin (inset) is widely believed to have attacked the Ukraine after western nations mooted the idea of the country joining NATO, over fears it could end up with a US military presence on its doorstep.

'Adolf Putin' graffiti is scrawled across Russian buildings after Ukrainian supporters around the world mocked up pictures of Vladimir looking like Hitler 

Protests against Putin's invasion of Ukraine broke out across the world and even reached Russia as people mocked up pictures of the Russian president looking like Adolf Hitler.

A nuclear nightmare not felt for decades... With the collapse of the Soviet Union, I assumed those days were over - now we find ourselves once again in a world haunted by nightmares of Armageddon, writes DOMINIC SANDBROOK

DOMINIC SANDBROOK: Ever since the final days of the Second World War, when mushroom clouds rose above the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, mankind has lived in the shadow of nuclear war. As a schoolboy in the 1980s, I vividly remember the paranoia of the decades that followed. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, I assumed those days were over. But now, with Vladimir Putin's chilling announcement that he is putting Russia's nuclear forces on 'special alert' against the West, we find ourselves once again in a world haunted by nightmares of Armageddon. Should we take Putin's nuclear threat seriously? Shocking as the last few days have been, I struggle to believe he would invite a full-scale war. But nobody who has read about the carnage at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where more than 200,000 civilians are thought to have been killed, can feel remotely complacent.

Even his generals looked stunned: Vladimir Putin's military chiefs are caught in the headlights as he orders his nuclear deterrent forces to go on 'alert' with a decree that shocked the world 

The expressions of army general Valery Gerasimov and defence minister Sergey Shoygu (both pictured) were caught on camera as the Russian president put his atomic arsenal on stand-by. A senior US defence official said last night Putin's step is 'potentially putting in play forces that if there's a miscalculation could make things much, much more dangerous'. And a senior White House official described it as 'yet another escalatory and totally unnecessary step'. They said in a statement: 'At every step of this conflict, Putin has manufactured threats to justify more aggressive actions. 'He was never under threat from Ukraine or from Nato, which is a defensive alliance that will not fight in Ukraine. 'The only reason his forces face a threat today is because they invaded a sovereign country, and one without nuclear weapons.' Max Bergmann, a former State Department official, called Putin's talk predictable but dangerous sabre-rattling. 'Things could spiral out of control,' he warned.

Four Corners : ABC iview

President Vladimir Putin has gone on the attack, taking aim at western nations, accusing them of threatening the Russian state. Now activists who have risked everything speak out about the abusive political climate in Russia

Putin chum Steven Seagal sparks fury saying he sees both sides of the Ukraine war as 'one family': Blames outside propaganda for provoking escalation

The actor, 69, who is a friend of Vladimir Putin and was granted Russian citizenship in 2016, said he is hoping for a 'peaceful resolution' after forces invaded Ukraine last week.

How apt these are that people have crated       !