Russia-Ukraine War
LIVE - EU Sanctions Press in, Exclude 7 Russian Banks from SWIFT Network
Russia Ukraine conflict updates: Biden's challenge was to
show Americans he is on top of the West's response to the most
tense period in relations with Russia since the Cold War ended 30 years
ago.
Vladimir Putin “badly miscalculated"
with his invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden said in his first State of
the Union address on Tuesday, calling the Russian leader a “dictator" and
warning that the war will leave his country weaker.
In a show of solidarity with Ukraine, Biden
asked the audience for his speech to stand. Many lawmakers and guests held
Ukrainian flags.
Russian ambassador to the United Nations
Gennady Gatilov said Moscow sees no desire on the
part of Ukraine to find a legitimate and balanced solution to the problems. G7
will impose further sanctions on Russia including seeking to freeze and seize
assets of Russian elites.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday called
Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal and urged UN unanimity to
condemn his invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainians said they were fighting on in the first
sizeable city Russia claimed to have seized, while Moscow stepped up its lethal
bombardment of major population centres that its
invasion force has so far failed to tame.
Japan is ready to take in Ukrainians fleeing Russia's
invasion, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on
Wednesday.
German logistics giant DHL announced Wednesday it was
stopping deliveries to Russia and Belarus, joining a growing list of Western
businesses to cease operations in the countries after Moscow's invasion of
Ukraine.
EU excludes 7 Russian banks from SWIFT network under
sanctions, official says
URGENT
ADVISORY TO ALL INDIAN NATIONALS IN KHARKIV.
FOR THEIR SAFETY AND SECURITY THEY MUST LEAVE KHARKIV IMMEDIATELY.
PROCEED TO PESOCHIN, BABAYE AND BEZLYUDOVKA AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES THEY MUST REACH THESE SETTLEMENTS *BY 1800 HRS
(UKRAINIAN TIME) TODAY*.
The UN nuclear watchdog on Tuesday began an extraordinary
meeting to weigh up a draft resolution condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Coordinated actions with 🇬🇧 Prime Minister @BorisJohnson.
Reported on the course of 🇺🇦 defense and the latest crimes of Russia against the
civilian population. We are grateful for 🇬🇧 continued significant assistance in combating
aggression. Together with partners we defend 🇺🇦!
Eighty years after the ravine at Babi Yar
served as the mass grave of 30,000 Jews murdered by Ukraine's Nazi occupiers,
five more corpses lay on the ground Wednesday covered in dust and fine layer of
snow.
China won’t join the United States and European
governments in imposing financial sanctions on Russia, the country’s bank
regulator said Wednesday.
Nearly 836,000 refugees have now fled the conflict in
Ukraine for safety in neighbouring countries, United
Nations figures showed Wednesday.
Russian forces said they had captured a Ukrainian port on
Wednesday as Russian and Ukrainian troops battled for another urban centre and President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow wanted to "erase" his
country.
Four killed, nine wounded in Ukraine's Kharkiv, confirms emergency services
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.
Russia will not allow Ukraine to obtain nuclear weapons,
TASS news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
as saying on Wednesday.
Russia is gathering troops closer and closer to Kyiv, the
Ukrainian capital's mayor Vitali Klitschko
wrote in an online post on Wednesday.
European Union diplomats have approved new sanctions
against Belarus for its supporting role in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the
French Presidency of the EU said on Wednesday.
The Kremlin said Wednesday that a Russian delegation was
ready to continue peace talks with Ukraine as Moscow's invasion of the
pro-Western country entered its seventh day.
The International Court of Justice said Tuesday it would
hold genocide hearings on March 7 and 8 over the war in Ukraine, as fighting
intensifies.
The mayor of the Ukrainian city, Konotop,
said the Russians have delivered an ultimatum - either he surrenders the city
to them, or they will completely destroy it.
He said the occupiers have delivered an ultimatum -
either he surrenders the city to them, or they will completely destroy it.
Airbus said on Wednesday it had stopped sending spare
parts to Russia and supporting Russian airlines, but was analysing
whether its Moscow engineering centre could keep
providing services to local customers under Western sanctions.
Spain will supply "military hardware" to
Ukraine following Russia's invasion of its pro-Western neighbour,
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told parliament on Wednesday.
Russia on Wednesday said it is working
"intensely" to create a "humanitarian corridor" for safe
passage to Russian territory of Indians stuck in Kharkiv,
Sumy and other conflict zones in Ukraine.
India has requested Russia for the emergency evacuation
of its citizens stranded in Ukraine through Russian territory, informed Russian
Ambassador-designate to India Denis Alipov on
Wednesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed concern that Russian attacks could
threaten holy religious sites and said Russian troops are trying to “erase our
history."
In a speech posted on Facebook, Zelenskyy
on Wednesday denounced a Russian strike that hit Holocaust memorial site Babi Yar in Kyiv.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed Wednesday that Russian
aviation disabled the main TV tower in Ukraine's capital in an airstrike, but
said the attack did not hit any residential buildings.
Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov
did not address deaths from Tuesday's strike or damage to the adjacent Babi Yar memorial to Kyiv's Holocaust victims. He said the
attack was aimed at disabling Ukraine's ability to stage “information
attacks."
Russian military claims to have taken control of
Ukraine's Kherson
Alphabet Inc's Google said on
Tuesday that it has blocked mobile apps connected to RT and Sputnik from its
Play store, in line with an earlier move to remove the Russian state publishers
from its news-related features.
A number of tech companies have limited distribution and
advertising tools to Russian news outlets in recent days as the European
Commission readies a ban on them out of concern that they are spreading
misinformation about the war in Ukraine.
The Russian central bank has banned coupon payments to
foreign owners of ruble bonds known as OFZs in what it called a temporary step
to shore up markets in the wake of international sanctions.
The Bank of Russia issued the instruction to depositaries
and registries as part of a raft of measures announced this week that included
a freeze on local security sales by foreigners. It could leave foreign
investors who held almost 3 trillion rubles ($29 billion) in the debt at the
start of February unable to collect income on their holdings, which are already
blocked from sale by restrictions.
United Airlines said Wednesday it has stopped using
Russian airspace for flights between the U.S. and Mumbai and Delhi in India.
An airline spokesperson called the move “temporary,"
but gave no further details.
American Airlines has avoided Russian airspace for
flights between Delhi and New York by flying south of Russia.
Airplane manufacturer Boeing says it has suspended major
operations in Moscow and temporarily closed its office in Kyiv.
The company said in a statement it is also suspending
parts, maintenance and technical support services for Russian airlines.
Russian airborne troops land in Ukraine's second city Kharkiv: Ukrainian army
U.S. President Joe Biden used his first State of the
Union address to label Vladimir Putin a “dictator," and said the Russian
president would pay a high price for his invasion of Ukraine.
The U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal
Aviation Administration said orders blocking Russian aircraft and airlines from
entering and using all U.S. airspace will be fully in effect by the end of
Wednesday.
The orders suspend operations of all aircraft owned,
certified, operated, registered, chartered, leased, or controlled by, for, or
for the benefit of, any Russia citizen. This includes passenger and cargo
flights, and scheduled as well as charter flights that will "effectively
closing U.S. air space to all Russian commercial air carriers and other Russian
civil aircraft," the department said.
President Joe Biden is closing U.S. airspace to Russian
aircraft, joining most European nations and Canada in response to the invasion
of Ukraine, he said in his State of the Union address.
“Tonight I’m announcing that we will join our allies in
closing off American airspace to all Russian flights, further isolating Russia
and adding additional squeeze on their economy," Biden said Tuesday night
to bipartisan applause before Congress.
The United States will release 30 million barrels of oil
from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of an international effort to
stabilize the market after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden said
Tuesday.
U.S. President Joe Biden sharply criticized Russian
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and led a standing ovation for the
embattled Ukrainian people in a State of the Union speech that he rewrote to
address Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Brent crude broke above $110 a barrel on Wednesday and
WTI was up more than five percent as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued to
fan fears over supplies of the crucial commodity from the resource-rich region.