The United States, Britain, Europe, and Canada on Saturday (February 26) moved to block certain Russian banks’ access to the SWIFT international payment system as part of more sanctions against Moscow as it continues its assault against Ukraine.
The measures, which will also include restrictions on the Russian central bank’s international reserves, will be implemented in the coming days, the nations said in a joint statement that also vowed further action to come.
“As Russian forces unleash their assault on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, we are resolved to continue imposing massive costs on Russia. Costs that will further isolate Russia from the international financial system and our economies,” said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the European Union’s executive.
Cutting Russian banks out of the SWIFT system will stop them from conducting most of their financial transactions worldwide and effectively block Russian exports and imports, she said.
The Kremlin said Saturday that Kyiv has refused to hold talks with Moscow, causing Russian forces to resume operations in Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian side has refused to negotiate. This afternoon Russian forces have resumed their advance in accordance with the plan of the operation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered a halt to military operations in light of the expected negotiations that were previously planned with Ukraine, local media reported citing Peskov.
Putin on Thursday authorized “a special military operation” in Donbass, and Ukraine confirmed that military targets across the country were under attack.
Also on Saturday, Oleksiy Arestovich, advisor to the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said Kiev refused to negotiate with Russia because the conditions Russia proposed are “unacceptable” for the country, calling those conditions as “an attempt to force us to surrender.”
The Russian Armed Forces have struck Ukrainian military objects with air- and sea-based cruise missiles, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Saturday.
“In total, the Russian Armed Forces hit 821 military infrastructure objects of Ukraine. Among them: 14 military airfields, 19 control points, and communication centers, 24 S-300 and Osa anti-aircraft missile systems, 48 radar stations,” Konashenkov said, according to a statement published by the ministry.
“I would like to emphasize once again that only military facilities are subject to attack, no damage is caused to residential and social infrastructure,” he added.
Konashenkov also said that the Russian Armed Forces have established full control over the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol, which the Russian Defense Ministry said earlier in the day that the Russian military had entered without meeting resistance.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday in a video message that Ukraine has successfully beat off “enemy attacks,” but battles are ongoing across the country.
He refuted reports that the country’s army will disarm and evacuate, noting that he did not leave Kyiv, which was under heavy shelling overnight.
He said on Twitter that “partners” are sending weapons to help Kyiv, adding that he had spoken by phone with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.
Zelensky also called on the European Union to grant Ukraine membership into the bloc.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Facebook that Ukraine shot down a Russian transport plane IL-76 near Vasylkiv town in Kyiv.
According to a report by the government-run Ukrinform news agency, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Saturday that a missile hit an apartment building on the southwestern outskirts of the city, but no casualties were immediately reported.
Klitschko said at least 35 Kyiv residents, including two children, were injured in clashes with Russian forces or shelling.
Fighting occured on Saturday in Kiev near the military unit of the 101st separate guard brigade of the General Staff of Ukraine, Sputnik cited local media as reporting.
Explosions were heard and fire was observed in the area, according to the video footage published by Ukrainian news agencies UNIAN and strana.ua.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a “special military operation,” and Ukraine confirmed that military installations across the country were under attack.
The Russian Armed Forces struck Ukrainian military objects with air- and sea-based cruise missiles, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.
The Russian Armed Forces struck Ukrainian military objects with air- and sea-based cruise missiles, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.
The U.S. move followed that of the European Union and Britain, which announced sanctions targeting the top Russian leadership earlier on Friday.
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden will sanction Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over Moscow’s ongoing military operation in Ukraine, the White House confirmed Friday.
“In alignment with the decision by our European allies, the United States will join them in sanctioning President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov and members of the Russian national security team,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told a regular news briefing on Friday, adding more specifics will be announced later in the day.
The U.S. move followed that of the European Union (EU) and Britain, which announced sanctions targeting the top Russian leadership earlier on Friday.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki (Rear) speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on June 8, 2021. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)
Biden on Thursday announced additional U.S. sanctions against Russia targeting the country’s major financial institutions and an additional number of Russian individuals and their family members with ties to the Kremlin, on top of the so-called “first tranche” of sanctions imposed on Russian state-owned banks, the Russian sovereign debt market as well as individual elites.
Asked about the possibility of his Russian counterpart, Biden didn’t commit to that on Thursday, only saying it remained an option on the table.
Psaki said Friday the reason Biden waited until after the EU and Britain announced their sanctions against the Russian president to decide on his own move is that his “strong principle … has been to take actions and steps in alignment with our European partners.”
Also on Friday, a senior administration official said future U.S. sanctions will not target Russian oil and gas industry.
“The sanctions will not target the oil flows as we go forward,” Amos Hochstein, the State Department’s senior energy security adviser, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
Hochstein said doing so won’t necessarily reduce Russia’s oil and gas revenue, and may instead lead to a scenario where “the United States and our allies would suffer the consequences.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on February 24 he is “convinced” Russian President Vladimir Putin would try to overthrow the Ukrainian government, which he regards as a puppet of the United States.
Blinken said it was also a possibility that Putin could move beyond Ukraine and invade a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) country.
“One of the things that Vladimir Putin has done, starting back in 2014 when they first went into Ukraine, seizing Crimea, seizing a part of eastern Ukraine, is to totally alienate the Ukrainian people from Russia. Before 2014, actually, Russia was pretty popular in Ukraine. It had a 70% favourability rating. Right now, it’s exactly the opposite – more than the opposite; 90% of Ukrainians now, if I can use the word, ‘detest’ Russia and certainly detest President Putin. My prediction would be that one way or another, they will strongly resist any effort to take away their sovereignty, take away their independence, take away their government.”Blinken said
The U.S. foreign minister made the comments in an interview on ABC World News Tonight.
Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine by land, air, and sea on Thursday following a declaration of war by Putin, in the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two.
Reuters
Putin says Russia is carrying out “a special military operation” to stop the Ukrainian government from committing genocide against its people – an accusation the West calls baseless.
Ukraine’s president said Friday his country had been left on its own to fight Russia after the Kremlin launched a large-scale invasion that killed 130 Ukrainians on the first day.
In a late-night speech on February 24 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, European leaders were afraid to lay out the path for Ukraine’s NATO membership.
” Today, I have asked 27 European leaders whether Ukraine will be in NATO. I have asked directly – everyone is afraid, no one answers. But we are not afraid, we are not afraid of anything. We are not afraid to defend our country, we are not afraid of Russia, we are not afraid to talk to Russia, we are not afraid to talk about anything, about security guarantees for our country, we are not afraid of talking about neutrality, we are not NATO members at the moment. But what guarantees will we get? And most importantly which countries will give us those guarantees? ” he said
Russia launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine by land, air, and sea on Thursday, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two and confirmation of the worst fears of the West.
Zelensky said 137 Ukrainians, both military personnel and civilians, died in the fighting and 316 people have been wounded since the start of the attack early Thursday.
” Defending the Zmiinyi Island, all our border guards died a heroic death. But they have not surrendered. They will all be awarded posthumously the title of the Hero of Ukraine. Let those who gave their lives for Ukraine be remembered forever.” he added
“We have been left alone to defend our state, Who is ready to fight alongside us? I don’t see anyone. Who is ready to give Ukraine a guarantee of NATO membership? Everyone is afraid,” Zelensky said to the nation after midnight.
He also said that Russians had entered the capital Kyiv, and urged the city’s citizens to remain vigilant and observe a curfew.
He added that he and his family remained in Ukraine.
“I remain in the capital, my family is also in Ukraine, my children are in Ukraine. My family are not traitors, they are citizens of Ukraine. Where exactly they are I have no right to say. According to the information we have the enemy has marked me as target No 1, my family as target No 2. They want to damage Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state.”
President Vladimir Putin “must and will fail,” top European Union leaders said on February 25 as they agreed on new sanctions over his invasion of Ukraine, saying he was trying to bring the continent back to the age of empires and confrontations.
Russia launched its invasion by land, air and sea on Thursday following a declaration of war by Putin. An estimated 100,000 people fled as explosions and gunfire rocked major cities. Dozens have been reported killed.
The bloc’s leaders agreed in principle at an emergency overnight summit to impose new economic sanctions, joining the United States and others in taking steps such as curbing Russia’s access to technologies.
EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told a news conference that the sanctions, would “cut Russia’s access to the most important capital markets” hence increasing the former Soviet Republic’s borrowing costs and rising inflation there.
Von der Leyen also said that export curbs to Russia would hurt its oil sector by stopping access to the material it needs from the EU for its oil refineries. That will, over time, trigger a depletion in Russia’s oil refining revenues, she said.
“First, this package includes financial sanctions that cut Russia’s access to the most important capital markets. We are now targeting 70 per cent of the Russian banking market, but also key state-owned companies, including the field of defence. These sanctions will increase Russia’s borrowing costs, raise inflation and gradually erode Russia’s industrial base. ” She said.
“Our export ban (towards Russia’s energy sector) will hit the oil by making it impossible for Russia to upgrade its oil refineries, which gave actually Russia export revenues of 24 billion euros in 2019.” Von der Leyen added.
However, whereas the United States issued detailed sanctions on Thursday, EU countries, split over just how far to go, leaving details to be worked out in the coming days.
French President Emmanuel Macron told the same news conference that the war showed Europe needed to become a real power and be independent in the fields of energy and security.
Ukrainians arrived at the Polish border crossing early on February 24 after Russian forces invaded Ukraine by land, air, and sea in the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two.
Cars and trucks waited at the border checkpoint as people crossed by foot carrying their suitcases with them.
Russian missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities and Ukraine reported columns of troops pouring across its borders into the eastern Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Luhansk regions. Russian troops also landed by sea at the port cities of Odessa and Mariupol in the south.
Explosions were heard before dawn in the capital Kyiv, a city of 3 million people. Gunfire rattled, sirens blared, and the highway out of the city choked with traffic as residents fled.
Black smoke rose over the headquarters of Ukraine’s military intelligence after an explosion in Kyiv near midday.
The assault followed weeks of fruitless diplomatic efforts by Western leaders to avert war and realised their worst fears about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambitions.
Alexander Bazhanov fled his home in eastern Ukraine with his wife and young child, taking only what they could carry and walking the final part of their journey to cross the Polish border on Thursday (February 24) after Russian troops launched an invasion.
The 34-year-old technical manager from Mariupol, located some 113 kilometres (70 miles) from Donetsk, decided to cross into Poland after a colleague had called him, informing him that “war started.”
“I don’t have any feelings other than that I am very scared,” Bazhanov told at the pedestrian border crossing in Mekya, located about 400 kilometres (248.5 miles) from the Polish capital Warsaw. “I will visit my father in Spain but I don’t have any money and I don’t know how I will do that.”
Bazhanov expects “total war” to break out in Ukraine following Russian attacks in the morning.
Russian forces fired missiles at several cities in Ukraine and landed troops on its coast, officials and media said, after President Vladimir Putin authorised what he called a special military operation in the east.
Central European nations that share a border with Ukraine, including Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland, have for weeks braced for an expected flood of refugees searching for sanctuary within the European Union.
Some Ukrainians entering the Polish border town where lines to enter the European Union grew during the morning said they decided to flee because they believed Russia could push far into Ukraine.
Russia has demanded an end to NATO’s eastward expansion and Putin repeated his position that Ukrainian membership of the U.S.-led Atlantic military alliance was unacceptable.
Putin said he had authorised military action after Russia had been left with no choice but to defend itself against what he said were threats from modern Ukraine, a democratic state of 44 million people.
Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya directly addressed his Russian counterpart during an emergency meeting held by the U.N. Security Council, after Russian forces invaded Ukraine upon President Vladimir Putin’s orders on February 24.
Russian forces fired missiles at several Ukrainian cities and landed troops on its south coast on Thursday, officials and media said, after Putin authorized what he called a special military operation in the east. The attack happened as the 15-member United Nations body met in New York to try and defuse weeks of mounting tensions.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia notified the council of Moscow’s move during the meeting, justifying it under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, which covers an individual or collective self-defence by states against armed attack.
During the meeting, Kyslytsya urged the council to “do everything possible to stop the war”.
“As I said, relinquish your duties as a Chair, call (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, call Lavrov to stop (the) aggression. And I welcome the decision of some members of this Council to meet as soon as possible to consider the necessary decision that would condemn the aggression that you’ve launched on my people. There is no purgatory for war criminals. They go straight to hell, Ambassador.”,” Kyslytsya told Nebenzia at the end of the council meeting.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki (Rear) speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on June 8, 2021. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)
SootinClaimon.Com 