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Russia Ukraine War (Putin's War) - Page 12
oc-media.org

While Putin’s man in Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has gained attention for his bombastic support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine — other Chechens are once again taking up arms against Russia.  On 25 February, the day after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov gathered over 10,000 members of the Russian security forces in the centre of Grozny in a show of force. ‘We have gathered to secure our state and our people. Therefore, we once again gathered to show that we will support any decision of the Commander-in-Chief [Vladimir Putin]. We won't let you down. We will follow any order’, Kadyrov told state TV. The next day, Kadyrov announced on Telegram that elements of the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardiya) from Chechnya were taking part in the war.
CBS News

Reports on Tuesday from one of the Ukrainian cities hardest hit by Russia's seemingly indiscriminate artillery barrage suggested Russia might make good on its latest promise to allow civilians to flee. But even if the truce in the northeast city of Sumy holds and Russia keeps its promise to allow "humanitarian corridors" for evacuations from other cities, it will be a small saving grace in a tragedy that deepens by the hour. The United Nations said Tuesday that more than 2 million people have fled from Ukraine into neighboring nations since Russia launched its brutal invasion 13 days ago. more...
By Pavel Polityuk and Carlos Barria

LVIV/IRPIN, Ukraine, March 7 (Reuters) - Moscow said on Monday it would provide corridors for residents of Ukraine's two main cities to flee to Russia and Belarus, a move Ukraine called an immoral stunt to exploit the suffering of civilians under Russian bombardment. Russian and Ukrainian delegations assembled for a third round of talks in Belarus, both sides said. Two previous rounds yielded little beyond pledges to open routes for humanitarian access that have yet to be successfully implemented. more...
By Pavel Polityuk and Carlos Barria

LVIV/IRPIN, Ukraine, March 7 (Reuters) - Moscow said on Monday it would provide corridors for residents of Ukraine's two main cities to flee to Russia and Belarus, a move Ukraine called an immoral stunt to exploit the suffering of civilians under Russian bombardment. Russian and Ukrainian delegations assembled for a third round of talks in Belarus, both sides said. Two previous rounds yielded little beyond pledges to open routes for humanitarian access that have yet to be successfully implemented. more...
Some of the evacuation routes would funnel civilians toward Russia or its ally Belarus, unlikely destinations for many Ukrainians.
By Yuras Karmanau, Associated Press

LVIV, Ukraine -- Russia announced a yet another cease-fire and a handful of humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to flee Ukraine starting Monday, but previous such measures have fallen apart and Moscow's armed forces continued to pummel some Ukrainian cities with rockets even after the announcement. A day earlier, hundreds of thousands of civilians attempting to flee to safety were forced to shelter from what Ukrainian officials said was Russian shelling in cities in the center, north and south. more...
Official Chinese news sites have also published baseless claims that the US trained Ukrainian neo-Nazis to destabilize Hong Kong during protests there in 2019
By Jordyn Haime

TAIPEI (JTA) — Many countries have roundly rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s argument that his attack on Ukraine is needed to achieve the “denazification” of that country. But the argument is alive and well in Chinese state-run media. “Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned in a televised speech a few days ago that the military operation against Ukraine is aimed at protecting the people who have suffered abuse and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years. For this reason, Russia will seek to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine,” one article on the state-backed site Wen Wei Po read. more...
Crude prices spike, Dow futures fall about 350 points
By Mike Murphy

U.S. stock-index futures fell sharply after trading began late Sunday, as investors remain rattled by the ongoing war in Ukraine. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures YM00, -0.72% tumbled more than 400 points, while S&P 500 futures ES00, -0.64% and Nasdaq-100 futures NQ00, -0.74% each fell more than 1.5% early Monday. Last week, all three major indexes booked losses, with the Dow falling for a fourth straight week. Dow DJIA, -0.97% dropped 179.86 points, or 0.5%, to close at 33,614.80, while the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.95%  fell 34.62 points, or 0.8%, to finish at 4,328.87, and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -1.01%  shed 224.5 points, or 1.7%, to end at 13,313.44. more...
Thousands of African immigrants joining throngs of Ukrainians trying to flee the country say they face red tape and discrimination.

By Char Adams, Zinhle Essamuah, Shamar Walters and Rima Abdelkader Alexander Somto Orah, 25, was among thousands of people crowding a Kyiv train station Friday, hoping to flee Ukraine amid the Russian invasion. He said he and his friends hoped to get to safety at the Polish border quickly but that officials wouldn’t allow the group of Africans to board trains out of the region. “I was like, ‘You are picking only white people!’” Orah said. He said he and his friends briefly made it onto a second train headed to Poland but were quickly kicked off, with officials telling them “Ukrainians only.” more...
Sberbank, Alfa Bank and Tinkoff Bank said they are working on the possibility of issuing cards powered by China’s UnionPay
By Patricia Kowsmann and Alexander Osipovich

Russian banks that have been cut off from global payments networks are turning to China’s state-owned UnionPay system as the country tries to sidestep boycotts by Western businesses for its invasion of Ukraine. Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. said they are suspending their Russian operations, making it difficult for Russians to buy goods from abroad. The moves by the two companies go beyond sanctions issued against many Russian banks. more...
By Tim Lister, Josh Pennington, Luke McGee and Radina Gigova, CNN

Kyiv, Ukraine CNN — Concern was mounting Sunday for the plight of civilians trapped in the besieged southeastern Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha, as well as in the capital, Kyiv, after three people were reported killed Sunday in a blast at an evacuation crossing point. Two mortar or artillery shells hit the checkpoint in the suburb of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities said, and two children were among those killed. Social media video showed extensive destruction. more...
By Melissa Quinn

Washington — Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that NATO members have the go-ahead to send fighter jets to Ukraine as the U.S. and allies continue their efforts to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia's invasion. "That gets a green-light," Blinken said in an interview with "Face the Nation" when asked whether the Polish government, a member of NATO, could send fighter planes to Ukraine. "In fact, we're talking with our Polish friends right now about what we might be able to do to backfill their needs if in fact they choose to provide these fighter jets to the Ukrainians. What can we do? How can we help to make sure that they get something to backfill the planes that they are handing over to the Ukrainians?" more...
David Knowles·Senior Editor

Russia's government moved Friday to suppress free speech and criticism of its invasion of Ukraine, passing a law punishing those who promote what authorities deem as “fake news” about the Russian military with 15 years in prison. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the new law that was passed earlier in the day by Russia's parliament. “Literally by tomorrow, this law will force punishment — and very tough punishment — on those who lied and made statements which discredited our armed forces,” Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of Russia’s State Duma legislative body, said in a statement quoted by Reuters. more...
Reuters

LVIV, Ukraine, March 4 (Reuters) - A fire broke out in a training building at the largest nuclear power plant in Europe during intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces, Ukraine's state emergency service said on Friday. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said there was no indication of elevated radiation levels at the Zaporizhzhia plant, which provides more than a fifth of total electricity generated in Ukraine. A video feed from the plant verified by Reuters showed shelling and smoke rising near a building at the plant compound. more...
Laurel Wamsley

More than a million Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries to escape the Russian invasion — and that number could soar to more than 4 million in coming months, the United Nations refugee agency says. More than half have entered Poland, with others going to Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia and Romania — and they have been receiving a warm welcome. Ukrainians arriving in Hungary are coming to a "friendly place," Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said. "We will do everything to provide safe shelter in Poland for everyone who needs it," said Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski. more...
Kate Duffy

Alexei Mordashov, Russia's wealthiest oligarch and one of the people sanctioned this week by the European Union, has transferred control of a $1.1 billion stake in a mining company to his wife, Bloomberg first reported. Marina Aleksandrovna Mordashova became "a person with significant control" of Nordgold on Monday, according to UK filings from this week included in Bloomberg's report. According to the filings, Mordashova now holds between 50 and 75% of the voting rights in Nordgold, which targeted a valuation of up to $5 billion last year when it was planning an initial public offering, Reuters reported. more...
By Tassilo Hummel and Alasdair Pal

PARIS, March 2 (Reuters) - France and Germany have seized two superyachts owned by Russian oligarchs, French authorities and Forbes magazine said, hitting Russia's super-rich under sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. more...
Grace Hauck USA TODAY

Hundreds of refugees from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Yemen were stranded at the border of Belarus and Poland late last year, starving and freezing in the cold forest as Polish guards and barbed wire fencing blocked them from entering the European Union. At least eight people died, and hundreds more, including young children, were later moved to a nearby warehouse. more...
By Jennifer Korn

New York (CNN Business) The business fallout from the war in Ukraine is about to extend to outer space.
OneWeb, a London-based satellite startup striving for global internet connectivity and a key competitor to Elon Musk's StarLink satellite internet constellation, was set to launch a batch of 36 internet satellites Friday as part of its plan for a 648-satellite constellation. But those plans are now in jeopardy as Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, appears set to roadblock the effort. A Russian-built Soyuz rocket operated by France's Arianespace SA was meant to deliver the satellites into low Earth orbit, launching from Russia-owned Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. OneWeb and Russia inked a multi-year deal for satellite launches, with the company launching its satellites exclusively on Russia's Soyuz rocket. more...
Reuters

LVIV, Ukraine, March 3 (Reuters) - Mariupol city council said Russian forces were constantly and deliberately shelling vital civilian infrastructure in the southeastern Ukrainian port, leaving it without water, heating or power and preventing bringing supplies or evacuating people. more...
By Ashley Lutz

Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov publicly asked all major crypto exchanges to freeze accounts in a bid to further challenge Russia’s resources and stop the war. But the cofounder of one of the most popular crypto trading venues in the U.S. has refused, explaining his position in a Twitter thread. While he has “deep respect” for the people of Ukraine, he said he believes crypto should enforce individualism, rather than nationalistic alliance to a country. “Besides, if we were going to voluntarily freeze financial accounts of residents of countries unjustly attacking and provoking violence around the world, step 1 would be to freeze all U.S. accounts,” Powell wrote on Twitter. “As a practical matter, that’s not really a viable business option for us.” more...
By Justin Klawans

Kherson, a key strategic point along the Black Sea, has been captured by Russia, making it the first major Ukrainian city to fall to invading Russian forces. As the fighting raged into its seventh day, throngs of the Russian military were seen advancing upon the city of approximately 300,000 people. By Wednesday, reports emerged that the city center had fallen to the Russians, with the Russian Defence Ministry saying that its military had "taken full control" of Kherson. While the Ukrainian government has disputed Russia's claim that the city has been captured, Kherson Mayor Ihor Kolykhaiev said in a translated Facebook post that: "There were armed visitors in the city council today." more...
Jerome Socolovsky, Jonathan Franklin

The number of refugees fleeing across the borders of Ukraine has reached a grim milestone, the U.N. said, as Russia's siege of key cities across the country extended into Thursday, with Moscow saying it now controls a city in southern Ukraine. The U.N.'s top refugee official said on Wednesday that 1 million people have now fled across the borders of Ukraine since Russian forces invaded a week ago. "In just seven days we have witnessed the exodus of one million refugees from Ukraine to neighbouring countries," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi wrote in a tweet on Wednesday. more...
By Zoe Strozewski

Russian and Ukrainians civilians are rapidly cashing in their national currencies for bitcoin as the Russian attack on Ukraine continues to take a steep financial toll on their economic sectors. In Russia, unprecedented sanctions imposed by the U.S., U.K. and Europe have caused the value of Russian rubles to decrease, a drop civilians are trying to counter with exchanges via the cryptocurrency, the Associated Press reported. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government has restricted the ability of citizens to conduct electronic transactions, so many are now cashing in the hryvnia for bitcoin. more...
By Jake Thomas

A Russian businessman is offering $1 million to any military officer who apprehends Russian President Vladimir Putin "dead or alive" for committing war crimes in his invasion of Ukraine. Alex Konanykhin, an entrepreneur and former banker, posted the bounty on social media as Russia enters a full week of military action against the neighboring country. Western governments and companies have responded to the invasion by seeking to economically punish Putin and Russia's ruling elite. The bounty offered by Konanykhin, who is now based in the U.S., places an even more direct target on the Russian leader as backlash over the invasion continues to escalate. more...
By Samuel Shen and Andrew Galbraith

SHANGHAI, March 3 (Reuters) - The Moscow branch of a Chinese state bank has seen a surge in enquiries from Russian firms wanting to open new accounts, a person familiar with the matter said, as the country's businesses struggle with international sanctions after its invasion of Ukraine. "Over the past few days, 200-300 companies have approached us, wanting to open new accounts," the person, who works at the Moscow branch of a Chinese state bank and has direct knowledge of its operations, told Reuters. He declined to be named or have his bank identified as he is not authorised to speak with media. more...
By Maksym Levin

BORODYANKA, Ukraine, March 3 (Reuters) - Russia's invasion of Ukraine entered its second week on Thursday an apparent tactical failure so far, with its main assault force stalled for days on a highway north of Kyiv and other advances halted at the outskirts of cities it is bombing into wastelands. The number of refugees who have fled Ukraine rose to more than 1 million, the United Nations said. Hundreds of Russian soldiers and Ukrainian civilians have been killed, and Russia itself has been plunged into isolation never before experienced by an economy of such size. more...
Stavros Atlamazoglou

The invasion of Ukraine isn't going as planned for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Days into the operation, his forces are struggling to meet their objectives and facing fiercer-than-expected Ukrainian resistance. Sooner or later, Russian quantitative and qualitative military superiority might give Putin his so-desired victory. But then the unconventional war will begin, and Ukrainians have been preparing for that since Russia's invasion and seizure of Crimea in 2014. US and Western special-operations forces have worked extensively with the Ukrainian military in the years since, setting up commando units, training them, and preparing them to wage a guerrilla campaign against an occupying force. more...
A wave of sanctions hitting Russia highlights the complex web of connections that make up contemporary global society – and its ultimate fragility.
By David Z Morris

Vladimir Putin’s Russia is facing a wave of truly unprecedented financial sanctions in retaliation for its widely scorned invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions have suddenly revealed the massive power that lay dormant in the unified global banking system for decades. But it likely also marks the beginning of that power’s end, and the dawn of something more fragmented. Russia’s dependence on systems like SWIFT bank messaging, correspondent banking and ApplePay is a product of the global dominance of a unified market-capitalist status quo. This status quo represents the neoliberal “End of History” that was widely presumed to have arrived with the fall of the Soviet Union. But there may be no better sign of the end of the End of History than the weaponization of finance happening right now. more...
John Bacon, Matthew Brown, Joey Garrison, Jorge L. Ortiz, Celina Tebor | USA TODAY

Russian military forces escalated attacks on civilian areas of Ukraine's largest cities Wednesday as the nation's leaders pledged to repel the invaders and the citizenry joined the military effort to defend their battered country. Meanwhile, the United Nations General Assembly voted 141-5, with 35 abstentions, to demand Russia halt the war. The vote came after the 193-member assembly convened its first emergency session in a quarter century. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a televised address to the nation one week into the hostilities, rallied his people and praised them for their resolve. more...
Eric Schmitt and Julian E. Barnes

WASHINGTON — Plagued by poor morale as well as fuel and food shortages, some Russian troops in Ukraine have surrendered en masse or sabotaged their own vehicles to avoid fighting, a senior Pentagon official said Tuesday. Some entire Russian units have laid down their arms without a fight after confronting a surprisingly stiff Ukrainian defense, the official said. A significant number of the Russian troops are young conscripts who are poorly trained and ill-prepared for the all-out assault. And in some cases, Russian troops have deliberately punched holes in their vehicles’ gas tanks, presumably to avoid combat, the official said. more...
Henry HollowayImogen BraddickAnthony Blair

RUSSIA today issued a chilling warning for Ukrainians to flee parts of Kyiv NOW ahead of another massive bombardment. At least five people were killed after Russian missiles rained down on the city, hitting a Holocaust memorial and the biggest TV mast in the Ukrainian capital. more...
By Tariq Tahir, The Sun

Heartbreaking pictures appear to show young Russian kids arrested for protesting against their country’s invasion of Ukraine. The photos were shared by an opposition politician after thousands across the country were detained for voicing opposition to Vladimir Putin’s war. The pictures show children of school age in the back of a police van in Moscow after taking part in anti-war protests. The kids were held when they reportedly went to lay flowers at the city’s Ukrainian embassy. more...
By Monique Beals

Imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny called upon Russians to protest Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on a daily basis. Navalny, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critics, called the president an "obviously insane tsar" in a statement published to his Twitter. "Let’s at least not become a nation of frightened silent people. Of cowards who pretend not to notice the aggressive war against Ukraine unleashed by our obviously insane tsar," the statement said. more...
By Monique Beals

A Kremlin spokesperson on Wednesday said that the Russian economy was taking "serious blows" amid sanctions imposed by foreign governments as Moscow continues its attack on Ukraine. "Russia's economy is experiencing serious blows," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a call with foreign reporters, according to CNN. "But there is a certain margin of safety, there is potential, there are some plans, work is underway," he added. more...
Reuters

KYIV/KHARKIV, March 2 (Reuters) - Ukrainians said on Wednesday they were battling on in the port of Kherson, the first sizeable city Russia claimed to have seized, as air strikes and bombardment caused devastation in cities that Moscow's bogged down forces have failed to capture. After nearly a week, Russia has yet to achieve its aim of overthrowing Ukraine's government, but has, according to the Ukrainian emergency service, killed more than 2,000 civilians and destroyed hospitals, kindergartens and homes. more...
Reuters

ANKARA, March 2 (Reuters) - Russia cancelled a bid to send four of its warships through Turkish waters into the Black Sea at Turkey's request, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, adding the decision was made before Ankara closed the straits over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. more...
Sam Meredith

The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog on Wednesday warned Russia’s onslaught of Ukraine is raising the risk of nuclear accidents, calling for restraint from all actions that could jeopardize the safe operations of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities. It comes as Russia’s war with Ukraine enters its seventh day, with fighting raging across the country. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marks the first time a military conflict has taken place amidst the facilities of a large and established nuclear power program — which in this case includes the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986. more...
Guardian News

Thousands of people in cities across Russia have been defying police threats and staging protests against the invasion of Ukraine. Authorities have a low tolerance for demonstrations and marches, and attending them can have serious consequences, including fines, mass arrests and even imprisonment. video...  
Elliot Smith

LONDON — Shares of Russia’s Sberbank plunged 95% on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday to trade as low as a penny after the bank announced that it was pulling out of the European market. Russia’s largest lender said its European subsidiaries had experienced “abnormal cash outflows” and expressed concern for the safety of its employees and properties. The European Central Bank ordered the closure of Sberbank’s European arm, Austria’s Financial Market Authority said Wednesday, suggesting it was “failing or likely to fail” after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a run on deposits. more...
Evelyn Cheng

BEIJING – China’s banking and insurance regulator said on Wednesday that the country opposes and will not join financial sanctions against Russia. “Everyone is watching recent military conflict, or war, between Russia and Ukraine,” Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said at a press conference in Mandarin, according to a CNBC translation. “China’s position has been stated clearly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Our international policies are consistent.” more...
By Alasdair Pal

NEW DELHI, March 2 (Reuters) - At least five superyachts owned by Russian billionaires were anchored or cruising on Wednesday in Maldives, an Indian Ocean island nation that does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, ship tracking data showed. more...
By Adam Durbin

Boris Johnson has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of committing war crimes in Ukraine. At Prime Minister's Questions, he said bombing innocent civilians "already fully qualifies as a war crime". He was responding to the Scottish National Party's Ian Blackford, who called for Mr Putin to be prosecuted. Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky has already accused Russia of war crimes after air strikes on the country's second city, Kharkiv. more...
Reuters

MOSCOW, March 2 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that if a third World War were to take place, it would involve nuclear weapons and be destructive, the RIA news agency reported. more...
Grayson Quay, Weekend editor

Russia may be planning aggressive moves against the Republic of Moldova, according to a map Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko displayed during a meeting of his country's security council. Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He seemingly allowed Putin to use Belarus as a staging ground for his invasion of Ukraine and is reportedly planning to commit his own country's troops to the conflict. The map, which Financial Times Moscow bureau chief Max Seddon shared on Twitter, shows Ukraine split into its four operational command districts and features red arrows that appear to indicate planned troop movements. more...
by John Vandiver

RZESZOW, Poland — NATO airspace will not be used to transfer fighter planes to the Ukrainian military, alliance leaders said Tuesday after a meeting in Poland, where top U.S. commanders were on hand for high-level security talks. Ukraine has requested additional military hardware from the West to help stave off Russia’s full-scale invasion, which was on its sixth day when the NATO talks occurred. But one day after a top European Union official said some countries were ready to provide fighters to Ukraine, NATO appears to have put on the brakes. more...
By Oliver Darcy, CNN Business

New York (CNN Business) DirecTV is cutting ties with RT, the Russia-backed television network infamous for promoting Vladimir Putin's agenda. A spokesperson for the US satellite carrier told CNN on Tuesday that the company had already been reviewing whether to renew the outlet's carriage agreement, which was due for expiration later this year, and that Russia's unprovoked war on Ukraine sped up its decision. "In line with our previous agreement with RT America, we are accelerating this year's contract expiration timeline and will no longer offer their programming effective immediately," the DirecTV spokesperson said in a statement. DirecTV has been one of only two major television providers in the US to carry RT, so its decision, first reported by Axios, deals a major blow to the network's reach in the country. more...
Most will comply with curbs on individuals, but some say bans ‘fly in the face of the reason why crypto exists’
FT.com

Crypto exchanges are coming under pressure to block transactions with Russia, as western politicians fear that cryptocurrencies provide a back door to move money around the world while they seek to shut Russia out of the global financial system. Trading between the Russian rouble and crypto assets such as bitcoin and tether has doubled since the assault on Ukraine began, reaching $60mn a day on Monday, according to data from Chainalysis, a crypto research group. That suggests Russian accounts — barred from the established dollar-based financial system through sanctions — are stashing funds in crypto or moving wealth overseas. more...
From CNN's Chris Liakos

Two of the world’s biggest container shipping companies are halting cargo bookings to and from Russia. “As the stability and safety of our operations is already being directly and indirectly impacted by sanctions, new Maersk bookings to and from Russia will be temporarily suspended, with exception of foodstuffs, medical and humanitarian supplies,” shipping giant Maersk said in a statement on Tuesday. more...
By Laura Ly and Nimi Princewill, CNN

(CNN) Representatives from the three African nations on the UN Security Council -- Kenya, Ghana, and Gabon -- all condemned reports of discrimination against African citizens at the Ukrainian border during a meeting at the UN HQ in New York City Monday. There have been widespread reports from African students fleeing the country that they faced segregation, racism and abuse. "In the unfolding emergency, there have been disturbing reports about the racist treatment of Africans and people of African descent seeking to flee Ukraine to safety. The media is covering these appalling incidents and several states have confirmed that their citizens are suffering such treatment. We strongly condemn this racism and believe that it is damaging to the spirit of solidarity that is so urgently needed today. more...
Peter Weber

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Burrell said Sunday that individual EU countries had agreed to donate Soviet-era fighter jets to Ukraine to help it defend itself against Russia's invasion, and Ukraine's parliament said Monday that Bulgaria, Poland, and Slovakia had agreed to give the country more than 70 MiG-29s and Su-25s. A Ukrainian government official told Politico Monday that Ukrainian pilots were already in Poland to start the process of taking control of the 28 MiG-29s they are expecting to be donated. (Joseph Trevithick at The Drive explains why he's skeptical.) more...
Niamh Cavanagh

More than 100 U.N. diplomats from 40 nations walked out when Russia’s foreign minister began to speak at the Human Rights Council on Tuesday. Dozens of envoys boycotted Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s speech in protest over the Kremlin-led invasion of Ukraine, which has entered its sixth day. Diplomats from the United States, the European Union and the U.K. abruptly left their seats at the U.N. in Geneva, while envoys from China, Venezuela and Syria were among those who stayed seated. more...
By YURAS KARMANAU, JIM HEINTZ, VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV and DASHA LITVINOVA

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces stepped up their attacks on crowded urban areas Tuesday, bombarding the central square in Ukraine’s second-biggest city and Kyiv’s main TV tower in what Ukraine’s president called a blatant campaign of terror. “Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed after the bloodshed on the square in Kharkiv. Ukrainian authorities said five people were killed in the attack on the TV tower, which is a couple of miles from central Kyiv and a short walk from numerous apartment buildings. Officials said a TV control room and a power substation were hit, and at least some Ukrainian channels briefly stopped broadcasting. more...
By Brian Fung, CNN Business

Washington (CNN Business) As hacking by nation-states has grown more pervasive in recent years, Microsoft has long called for the creation of a new Geneva Convention governing cyberspace. But now, for the first time, the tech giant appears to be suggesting that cyberattacks tied to the war in Ukraine could potentially be considered war crimes under existing international law. On Monday, Microsoft (MSFT (MSFT)) said that in the hours leading up to Russia's invasion, it detected a new form of "offensive and destructive" software targeting Ukrainian institutions. Microsoft also said it has observed a barrage of cyberattacks zeroing in on Ukraine's agricultural, commercial, finance and energy sectors. more...
Arjun Kharpal

Payment and credit card giants Visa and Mastercard have blocked financial institutions from their networks in response to sanctions targeting Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Last week, Russia launched an unprecedented invasion of Ukraine, forcing the U.S. and governments around the world to impose a series of sanctions aimed at cutting off Moscow from the global financial system. Last week, the U.S. placed a number of Russian individuals and financial institutions on a sanctions list called the Specially Designated Nationals list. It effectively blocks U.S. companies and people from doing business with any individual or entity on that list. Washington also sanctioned Russia’s central bank on Monday. more...
By Matt Egan, CNN Business

New York (CNN Business) Russia faces the specter of a full-blown financial meltdown. Punishing sanctions leveled by the West have sent the ruble crashing to record lows, shuttered Moscow's stock market and made Russian assets toxic on the world stage. The White House has even taken aim at Vladimir Putin's financial fortress, removing access to at least a chunk of Russia's $630 billion rainy-day fund that was designed to cushion the economic blow of this very crisis. more...
Rajan Dhall

(Kitco News) - Statista Data Journalist Katharina Buchholz has recently put together some data on where the Russian central bank's gold is being held. It seems like a very prominent subject at the moment as governments around the world are putting sanctions on the nation. China was the single-biggest foreign holder of Russian central bank reserves as of June 30, 2021, holding 13.8 percent of the total of Russia’s reserves. It has been said that this is a mix of gold and foreign currency and roughly the same share of assets held in Chinese currency Yuan Renminbi. more...
By Carolyn Cohn and Lawrence White

LONDON, March 1 (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday it was placing temporary curbs on foreigners seeking to exit Russian assets, putting the brakes on an accelerating investor exodus driven by crippling Western sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine. more...
By FATIMA HUSSEIN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The harsh sanctions imposed on Russia and the resulting crash of the ruble have the Kremlin scrambling to keep the country’s economy running. For Vladimir Putin, that means finding workarounds to the Western economic blockade even as his forces continue to invade Ukraine. Former Treasury Department officials and sanctions experts expect Russia to try to mitigate the impact of the financial penalties by relying on energy sales and leaning on the country’s reserves in gold and Chinese currency. Putin also is expected to move funds through smaller banks and accounts of elite families not covered by the sanctions, deal in cryptocurrency and rely on Russia’s relationship with China. Right now, “the biggest two avenues that Russia has are China and energy,” said John Smith, former director of Treasury’s financial intelligence and enforcement arm. more...
John Bacon, Celina Tebor | USA TODAY

Residential areas in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, were being pounded by Russian shells while a massive 40-mile convoy of Russian tanks and vehicles rolled toward the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Tuesday as the Ukraine war roared into its sixth day. At least 11 people were killed and 35 wounded in the rockets strikes on Kharkiv, Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said. He said the rubble was still being cleared and that death toll was expected to rise. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an attack on the city's main square “frank, undisguised terror” and a war crime. “Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget," Zelenskyy said. "This is state terrorism of the Russian Federation.” more...
CNN

A large explosion destroyed a government building in central Kharkiv, Ukraine, according to videos of the incident posted by the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ukrainian government officials. It comes after the Ukrainian president accused Russia of committing war crimes by bombing Kharkiv and attacking civilians. video...
Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Russia's advance on Kyiv has made little progress in the past 24 hours due to logistical difficulties and the army has increased its use of artillery north of the capital, a British military intelligence update said. "The Russian advance on Kyiv has made little progress over the past 24 hours probably as a result of continuing logistical difficulties," the British defence ministry said in a military intelligence update. more...
By Ben Blanchard and Yew Lun Tian

TAIPEI/BEIJING, March 1 (Reuters) - A delegation of former senior U.S. defence and security officials sent by President Joe Biden arrived in Taipei on Tuesday on a visit denounced by China and happening in the midst of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The visit, led by one-time chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen, comes at a time when Taiwan has stepped up its alert level, wary of China taking advantage of a distracted West to move against it. more...
By JUSTIN SPIKE

BEREGSURANY, Hungary (AP) — The mass exodus of refugees from Ukraine to the eastern edge of the European Union showed no signs of stopping Monday, with the U.N. estimating more than 520,000 people have already escaped Russia’s burgeoning war against Ukraine. Long lines of cars and buses were backed up at checkpoints at the borders of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and non-EU member Moldova. Others crossed the borders on foot, dragging their possessions behind them. Several hundred refugees were gathered at a temporary reception center in the Hungarian border village of Beregsurany awaiting transport to transit hubs, where they would be taken further into Hungary and beyond. more...
Guardian News

Ukraine's ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, has accused Russia of using a vacuum bomb in its invasion of Ukraine. video...
CBS News

Russia's currency is tumbling after Western nations on Saturday agreed to put crippling sanctions on the country's financial sector in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. The ruble fell about 30% against the dollar Monday — making it worth less than 1 U.S. cent — after the U.S., European Union and United Kingdom announced moves to block some Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system and to restrict Russia's use of its massive foreign currency reserves. The system is used to move billions of dollars around more than 11,000 banks and other financial institutions around the world. more...
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