This map shows the extent of the Russian invasion of Ukraine Then the situation escalated drastically when Mr Putin formally recognised two enclaves held by pro-Russian separatist groups, and located within Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, as independent states.ĭenis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) respectively, made a direct appeal to the Kremlin and asked for military and financial aid. Tensions in Eastern Europe had simmered since December when Russia stationed an estimated 130,000 soldiers along its western border and then another 30,000 in Belarus, consistently denying it had any attention of making incursions into Ukraine.įrantic diplomatic negotiations were pursued by the likes of US secretary of state Antony Blinken, French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Olaf Scholz and UK foreign secretary Liz Truss in the hoping of averting calamity, but ultimately failed. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky swiftly introduced martial law, while he remained in Kyiv to lead the defence.Īlmost two months on, fighting continues to rage with thousands of people killed on both sides, including many Ukranian civilians and children, and atrocities alleged against Russian soldiers. Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in a televised address to his citizens in the early hours of Thursday 24 February, explaining that he hoped to “de-Nazify and demilitarise” Ukraine’s government, a spurious rationale that only served to draw a line under the West’s diplomatic efforts to avert calamity.Įxplosions were reported soon afterwards on the outskirts of the eastern cities of Kharkiv, Kramatorsk, Mariupol, as well as the capital Kyiv. The Associated Press contributed to this report.After weeks of rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine over Moscow’s build-up of armed forces along their shared border, war finally returned to Europe in February. White’s escape is still under investigation. Singleton said his department is “actively investigating” the incident and will look into previous interactions between the two to “make sure something else is going on.” Singleton told news outlets that Vicki White turned in her pension papers the day before she went missing. The deputies tried to contact Vicki White, but her phone repeatedly switched to voice mail. But that didn’t happen,” Singleton said.Īccording to the sheriff, Vicki White also told colleagues that she had a doctor’s visit scheduled, which was confirmed, but the office said the assistant never showed up. “Our policy is to have two sworn assistants accompany any prisoner with such charges. She was alone with a prisoner, which the sheriff said violated departmental rules. Singleton also said that the courthouse had not scheduled a mental health examination for the prisoner.
It took about six hours before anyone realized that the two had gone missing around 3:30 pm.Īt a press conference later Friday, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said Vicki White was armed when she left jail with a prisoner to go to the courthouse. The car in which the two left the detention center was in the parking lot of a local shopping center. was a mental health assessment of Casey White. White, 56, an assistant director of corrections and with the department for 16 years, left the detention center with inmate White at approximately 9:30 am Friday on her way to the courthouse for what she said. Marshal of North Alabama Marty Keely said Sunday. “Casey White is considered to pose a serious threat to the corrections officer and the community,” U.S.