Ammunition, Not a Ride:  Ukrainian forces are putting up stiff resistance as Russian troops press to take the capital of Kyiv and other major cities. 

  The street fighting is reported to be intense as the government is handing out guns to any Ukrainian who will take one to the fight. Thousands of rifles have been handed out and even former President Petro Poroshenko was found by CNN carrying an AK-47 in the street. Citizens are being taught how to make Molotov cocktails.

  Explosions rocked Kyiv last night as the Russians pressed in. An apartment building was seriously hit, injuring six people. In the cities, Ukrainians are hunkering down in their homes and deep in subway tunnels. As many as 100,000 have already fled into Poland.

  Casualty figures are uncertain, but hundreds of fighters on both sides have been killed. Ukraine’s health minister said that 198 civilians have been killed, including three children. Another 1,115 civilians have been wounded, he said. 

  Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky so far is hanging on. He said in a video statement that his countrymen had “withstood and successfully repelled enemy attacks.” He said, “The fighting continues in many cities and districts of our state, but we know what we are protecting — the country, the land, the future of children.” 

  The US confirms that Zelensky has declined evacuation from the country and said what he needs is ammunition, “not a ride.”

  In a further effort to push back, President Biden announced that the US will place economic sanctions personally on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. It could be a largely symbolic move. You have to assume those two guys have buried their pilfered wealth under a million computer digits. 

  Continuing to spring surprises himself, Putin said yesterday that he’s open to talks after the leadership in Kyiv said they would discuss the country adapting “neutral status.” Lavrov had previously said Moscow would not negotiate until Ukraine stopped fighting.

Order in the Court: President Joe Biden yesterday named District of Columbia Appeals Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his nominee to the Supreme Court. She would be the first Black woman to serve on the highest court.

  Brown leans liberal, which is why Biden named her, so expect some politics over this.

  The 51-year-old Brown is a 1992 graduate of Harvard and a 1996 graduate of Harvard Law. She has clerked for three judges during her career and was for a time an assistant public defender.

  President Barack Obama named Jackson to the DC district court in 2013 and Biden placed her on the appellate  court less than a year ago.  

  Brown can expect only two or three Republican votes. Even South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, who voted to put her on lower courts, said her nomination “means the radical Left has won President Biden over yet again.”

Viral News: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday issued new guidelines for dealing with the  coronavirus that  would allow 70 percent of Americans to stop wearing masks, as well as relaxing social distancing and avoiding indoor crowds.

  County health agencies would be able to judge local Covid risks as low, medium, or high according to three factors:

• New Covid-related hospital admissions over the previous week.
•  The percentage of hospital beds occupied by Covid patients.
• The number of new coronavirus cases per 100,000 of population over the previous week.

The Spin Rack:  The country’s three largest drug distributors and a major pharmaceutical manufacturer say that a supermajority of states and localities have accepted terms of a $26 billion settlement of thousands of claims related to opioid addiction. The  first checks are expected to go out in early April. — Retired Florida police captain Curtis Reeves was acquitted of murder yesterday in the 2014 shooting death of a man in a movie theater. The two got into an argument over the other man texting and Reeves, now 79, claimed he feared for his life. — The national average price for gasoline has risen to $3.57, according to Triple A, and if you can find it at that price, fill up.

Skyfall: The Russians warned yesterday that sanctions on their country could result in the International Space Station falling from orbit. 

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