We have two big developments this morning. The first is that in a televised exchange with his top military leaders, President Putin ordered the country’s strategic nuclear forces on alert in response to Western sanctions and what he called “threatening statements” from leaders in Europe. That means as little and as much you think. It underscores that while the punishing sanctions unveiled yesterday are merited this is nevertheless a spectacularly dangerous international crisis. Not just dangerous in Ukraine but for the whole world. At the same time, Russia and Ukraine have agreed to hold peace talks near the border with Belarus. They are talks without preconditions.

One curious feature of social media is that we actually have lots of detailed and close up imagery and information about particular military engagements. But it remains hard, at least for me, to get a clear view of the overall picture of what is happening right now in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian government has released a number of figures about alleged Russian combat fatalities, which are very high. But it’s hard to know what to make of those numbers. Combat armies have a notoriously hard time estimating their adversaries’ casualties and fatalities. And the Ukrainians, involved in an existential battle, have plenty of very understandable incentives to make those numbers high.

I’ve had a number of TPM Readers ask me via email today who they should be following on Twitter for real time updates. This is the list I’m following on Twitter. It’s a mix of just under a hundred reporters, diplomats, heads of state and region experts I put together and am following.

President Zelensky is saying publicly that Turkey has agreed to shut down transit to the Black Sea for Russian warships.

Apparently Zelensky and Erdoğan spoke by phone today. So far as I can tell, Erdoğan has not confirmed this potentially important news.

In our first installment of The Judicial Review video series, TPM reporter Kate Riga breaks down the latest SCOTUS news: President Joe Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court Friday.