Putin ups tensions with Ukraine, suspends nukes pact

Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended Moscow’s participation in the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the US. [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [View in your browser]( [Top of The World]( --------------------------------------------------------------- What The World is following Putin ups tensions with Ukraine, suspends nukes pact [Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he gives his annual state of the nation address in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023.] Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/Kremlin/Pool/AP Russia Russian President Vladimir Putin has suspended Moscow’s participation in New Start, the [last remaining nuclear arms control pact]( with the US. Signed in 2010 by the US and Russia, the treaty caps the number of long-range nuclear warheads the two sides can deploy and limits the use of missiles that can carry atomic weapons. In a bitter speech on Tuesday, Putin also announced that Russia's war strategy in Ukraine would not change. He cast his country — and Ukraine — as victims of Western double-dealing and reiterated a litany of grievances to justify the widely condemned military campaign against its neighbor. This comes fresh off US President Joe Biden's [surprise visit to Kyiv](​ to reinforce Western unity with Ukraine. Turkey, Syria A 6.4-magnitude [earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria on Monday]( evening with its epicenter in Hatay province, the same area already devastated by the Feb. 6 quake that killed nearly 46,000 people in the two countries and left hundreds of thousands of others homeless. AFAD, Turkey’s disaster management authority, said the new quake [killed six people and injured 294 others](. Earthquake survivors dealing with immense trauma and loss are also navigating the aftershocks and unstable building structures, which has complicated rescue efforts. Tunisia Tunisia’s President Kais Saied [ordered Europe's top trade union official Esther Lynch to leave](, after she addressed protesters at a demonstration organized by an influential labor union. The Irish general-secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation was accused of making statements that “interfered with Tunisian internal affairs” during a Saturday protest against Saied in the port city of Sfax. Saied won the presidency in 2019 on a promise to improve the country's economy. Instead, the president seems determined to [upend the country's political system](. --------------------------------------------------------------- From The World ['There is hope': Malala Yousafzai promotes tolerance, connection with new documentary]( [Workers repair the railway part of the Crimean Bridge connecting Russian mainland and Crimean peninsula over the Kerch Strait, in Kerch, Crimea, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022.] Credit: AP The Oscar-nominated "Stranger at the Gate" is a short documentary about a former US marine who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and sets out to bomb a mosque in Muncie, Indiana. Nobel Peace Prize winner [Malala Yousafzai](, the film's executive producer, drew from her own well-known personal experience to produce the film. "When you connect with people from different backgrounds, from different cultures, faiths, you realize that there is shared humanity between all of you," Yousafzai told The World's host Marco Werman. [‘Family is everything’: A train ride to a long-awaited reunion in Ukraine]( Credit: Daniel Ofman/The World Since Russia' full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, about 8 million Ukrainians have fled their homeland. Many have resettled indefinitely, even with loved ones still back home. The [Talyzenkov family]( has been living in London for most of the last year. Last week, they rode the train back to Ukraine together from Poland, headed for a long-awaited reunion. --------------------------------------------------------------- Bright spot It's [Fat Tuesday](! Whether you call it Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday, Mardi Gras or Carnival, many Christians are celebrating today, Feb. 21, as the final day before Lent. What are you eating to mark the occasion? Credit: Twitter In case you missed it on The World [( --------------------------------------------------------------- Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: [RadioPublic](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Stitcher](, [Soundcloud](, [RSS]( [The World logo]( [The World on Facebook]( [The World's Twitter account]( [Donate]( | [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [Edit your subscription]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [View in your browser]( Top of the World is written weekday mornings by the team at [The World](. [The World]( is produced by [PRX]( and [GBH](.