Ukraine war latest: US embassy in Kyiv closes after ‘specific’ threat; Biden approves use of US anti-personnel mines

A special hotline kept open to deflate crises between the US and Russia is not currently being used, the Kremlin has said. 

Tensions have reached new highs after Russia yesterday lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a broader range of conventional attacks. 

This was seen as a response to the US giving the go-ahead for its missiles to be used by Ukraine to strike deep into Russia. 

Ukraine began using the weapons on Russian territory yesterday, firing six ATACMS missiles. 

The hotline between the US and Russia was established in 1963 to reduce the misperceptions that stoked the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 by allowing direct communication between Washington and Moscow. 

“We have a special secure line for communication between the
two presidents, Russia and the United States. Moreover, even for
video communication,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told
TASS state news agency. 

But when asked whether this channel is
currently in use, he said: “No.” 

Russian diplomats have said the crisis is now comparable to the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the two Cold War superpowers came closest to intentional nuclear war.