Russian invasion of Ukraine

 

This major incident page is created to record in summarized format the Russian attack on Ukraine, which began on 24th February following the announcement of a Military Operation earlier in the day. The page highlights those issues and actions relevant to, and undertaken by Portugal in response. The information comes from multiple sources both in Portugal, overseas including directly from in Ukraine itself.

This page is for situation reports wef 28^th February at 1800 hrs.

Reports prior to then can be read here.

 

LATEST UPDATE 0800 HRS 5th MARCH 2022

 

Russia today announced a temporary ceasefire starting at 10:00 am in Moscow (07:00 am in Lisbon), for the opening of humanitarian corridors that allow the evacuation of civilians in the Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Volnovaja. Marioupol, a city with around 450,000 inhabitants by the Sea of ​​Azov, is “under blockade” and has been the target of “merciless attacks” for five days, wrote Vadim Boitchenko on the Telegram platform.

Ministry of Defence UK, inteligence report states that Russian artillery strikes have been less over last 24 hrs compared to previous days. (MOD)

However, shelling in the eastern city of Sumy, currently surrounded by Russian troops, began at 05:00 (02:00 GMT) local time on Saturday, according to news channel Ukraine-24. (BBC)

The Kyiv Independent outlet reported that multiple explosions were heard in Kharkiv. A resident sheltering in a train station tweeted about rockets hitting the platform as early as 03:00 local time on Saturday.

A Sky News crew has been evacuated back to the UK from Ukraine after journalists were shot during an ambush by a suspected Russian “death squad” on Monday. The team of five were attacked while out in a car, after unsuccessfully trying to visit the town of Bucha near Kyiv. Chief correspondent with Sky News, Stuart Ramsay, along with camera operator Richie Mockler were shot – Ramsay in the lower back while Mockler took two rounds in his body armour. (Sky News)

According to the Institute for the Study of War, Russian troops have also advanced further north-west from Kherson over the past 24 hours towards Voznesensk and near to another nuclear reactor.

PayPal shuts down its services in Russia citing invasion of Ukraine. Payments Company PayPal Holdings Inc shut down its services early on Saturday in Russia, citing “the current circumstances,” joining many financial and tech companies in suspending operations there after the invasion of Ukraine. (PayPal)

The United States Senate has been invited to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky via Zoom, reports say. Zelensky has been in touch with President Biden but this will be the first time the Senate as a whole will speak to the Ukrainian leader since Russia invaded more than a week ago.

The war has killed at least 331 civilians, the United Nations estimates, although the actual figures could be much higher. More than 1.2 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the invasion began on Feb. 24, most crossing the Polish border.

Singapore today announced sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, making it one of the few Southeast Asian governments to do so.

 

LATEST UPDATE 1730 HRS 4TH MARCH

 

PUTIN’S DENIAL OF BOMBING UKRAINE CITIES AND CONDITIONS FOR TALKS

Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz denied that Russian troops were bombing Ukrainian cities, dismissing such information as fake, the Kremlin said Friday. Putin said reports about “the alleged ongoing air strikes of Kyiv and other large cities are gross propaganda fakes,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

Putin “confirmed that Russia is open to dialogue with the Ukrainian side, as well as with everyone who wants peace in Ukraine. But under the condition that all Russian demands are met,” the Kremlin said. These include the neutral and non-nuclear status of Ukraine, its “de-Nazification”, recognition of Crimea as part of Russia and of the “sovereignty” of separatist territories in eastern Ukraine.

 

PEACE TALKS

The next meeting of delegations from Russia and Ukraine is expected during the weekend, according to one of Kyiv’s negotiators.

 

MILITARY OPERATIONS

The latest information also points out that the Russian army will have arrived for the first time in the city of Izyum, about 200 km north of Donetsk. “The battle is ongoing”, points out the Ukrainian military information blog “Military Land”

An airstrike by Russian forces in a residential area of ​​Kyiv killed at least seven people, two of them children, citing Ukrainian authorities. The attack reportedly took place in Markhalivka, about 10 kilometres from the capital. (Reuters)

Vitaliy Kim, governor of Mykolaiv, revealed in a video statement on Twitter that, despite some fighting still raging on the outskirts of the city, most Russian troops were expelled from the port region.

Javelin missiles in Ukraine: At least 280 Russian armoured vehicles have been destroyed with the American Javelin missile, out of 300 shots fired, according to a report. The Ukrainian military fighting the much larger Russian invasion force has been able to destroy hundreds of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles using a hand-held anti-tank missile supplied by the US, according to a US journalist who has been tracking the war in the east European nation. (NDTV)

 

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

Ukraine and Russia will face off Monday at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a hearing on emergency measures sought by Kyiv to order Moscow to suspend military operations, with Russia’s legal team weakened by the resignation of a key lawyer.

The case lodged by Ukraine at the U.N. court centres on the interpretation of a 1948 treaty on the prevention of genocide, signed by both Russia and Ukraine. The case lodged by Ukraine at the U.N. court centres on the interpretation of a 1948 treaty on the prevention of genocide, signed by both Russia and Ukraine.

The court is named in the treaty itself as the forum for resolving disputes related to it, and Ukraine’s suit argues that Russia has misinterpreted the treaty in several ways.

WAR CRIMES

The Russian army used cluster weapons in Kharkiv, a city in eastern Ukraine, that are indiscriminately lethal to the civilian population and whose use could constitute a war crime, the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today.

 

RAPE ALEGATIONS AGAINST RUSSIAN MILITARY

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Friday accused Russian troops of raping women and backed a call for the creation of a special tribunal to punish Moscow’s aggression. “We have numerous cases of, unfortunately, when Russian soldiers rape women in the Ukrainian cities,” Kuleba told a briefing at London’s Chatham House think-tank. He did not provide details but supported an appeal by former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and a swathe of international law experts for a special tribunal. (NDTV)

 

HUMANITARIAN

More than 1.2 million people have fled Ukraine, according to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), but the organization believes that the war will translate into more than 10 million refugees. (UNHCR)

German drug maker Bayer announced today that it will provide more humanitarian support to Ukraine with a €3 million fund, in addition to the donation of medicines earlier this week.

 

NATO

NATO stressed this Friday that it is a defensive organization that does not seek armed conflict with Russia, even in light of the aggression against Ukraine, but warned that if the conflict reaches the Alliance, it will protect “every centimetre” of the its territory, warned US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as he arrived at North Atlantic Treaty Alliance headquarters in Brussels for a meeting.

The organisation’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, also stressed that “NATO is not part of the conflict, NATO is a defence alliance”, which “does not seek military conflict with Russia”, but also warned of the intransigence of the organization in defence of all its members.

 

 

SANCTIONS

German drug maker Bayer announced today that it will provide more humanitarian support to Ukraine with a €3 million fund, in addition to the donation of medicines earlier this week.

The Michelin Guide, considered the world gastronomic bible, today announced the suspension of its activities in Russia due to the war in Ukraine. The decision to withdraw comes after the guide first awarded stars to nine Moscow restaurants last October, in what was seen as an international accolade for Russian cuisine, often scorned.

 

PROPAGANDA

Still in relation to Kherson, the Ukrainian Defence warns: there is a group of pro-Russian citizens accompanied by about 80 representatives of Kremlin propaganda who are currently in Crimea, but who in the coming days should be moved to Kherson with the aim of to organize “false demonstrations” in favour of the fall of the Ukrainian government – ​​and thus “legalize the occupation.”

 

PORTUGAL

Groups linked to the Ukrainian culture and community came together to create a logistical network for the collection of goods and subsequent shipment to Poland along the border with Ukraine, following the Russian military offensive in that country.

 

IN RUSSIA

Russia’s parliament on Friday passed a law imposing a jail term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally ‘fake’ information about the armed forces as Moscow fights back in what it casts as an information war over the conflict in Ukraine.

Russian authorities are carrying out searches of the premises of the non-governmental human rights organization Memorial, in Moscow, a source at that organization said through the social network Telegram. The raid comes on the same day that Russian lawmakers adopted a text that provides for heavy prison sentences for citizens who publish “misleading information” about the army.

Russian authorities on Friday restricted access to the websites of four independent media outlets, including the BBC’s local edition, further tightening control over information a week after the invasion of Ukraine began. According to the Russian media regulator (Roskomnadzor), access to the ‘sites’ of the Russian editions of the BBC and the German international radio and television Deutsche Welle (DW), the independent ‘site’ Meduza and Radio Svoboda was “limited” .

LATEST UPDATE 1800 HRS 3RD MARCH 2022

 

PEACE TALKS – SOME AGREEMENTS

The second round of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia has now ended. The two sides agreed to establish humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians.

Cited by Sky News, a Ukrainian official said the deal involved a possible temporary ceasefire during the withdrawal.

Despite the agreement, the Ukrainian side said the negotiations “did not go as we wanted” as they failed to agree on a complete ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops.

On the Russian side, the possibility of a temporary ceasefire to evacuate civilians was also confirmed. Russian officials also added that Thursday’s talks had led to “substantial progress”.

 

FRENCH PRESIDENT CALL TO PUTIN 

French President Emmanuel Macron believes “the worst is to come” in Ukraine after a 90-minute phone call with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin who appears intent on seizing “the whole” of the country, an aide to the French leader said. “The expectation of the president is that the worst is to come, given what President Putin told him,” a senior aide to the French leader told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that the goals of Russia’s operation in Ukraine – its demilitarisation and neutral status – will be achieved in any case, the Kremlin said.

 

PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE

President Zelensky said he will work to rebuild Ukraine after the war, indicating a resistance phase would come next if Russian forces manage to completely take hold of Ukraine. “We have nothing to lose but our own freedom,” he said, adding Ukraine was receiving daily arms supplies from its international allies.

“We will restore every house, every street, every city and we say to Russia: learn the word of reparations and contributions. You will reimburse us for everything you did against our state, against every Ukrainian in full,” Mr Zelensky said in a video statement.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he believed some foreign leaders were preparing for war against Russia and that Moscow would press on with its military operation in Ukraine until “the end”. Lavrov also said Russia had no thoughts of nuclear war.

 

PEACE TALKS

Talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials to secure a ceasefire in fighting in Ukraine have started on the Belarus-Poland border, Kyiv’s presidential advisor Mikhailo Podolyak said Thursday. Podolyak posted a photo of the Russian and Ukrainian representatives on Twitter, saying that an “immediate ceasefire” as well as “humanitarian corridors” for civilians were on the agenda, one week after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine.

 

MILITARY OPERATIONS

On the ground, Russian forces have taken the Black Sea port of Kherson in southern Ukraine, the first major city to fall after a string of setbacks for Moscow. They also pound and encircle the strategic port city of Mariupol, which is without water or electricity.

The Ukrainian military said on Thursday it believed that Belarusian troops have already received the order to cross Ukrainian border. Ukraine has said Russia is using Belarusian territory for missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and Minsk allowed Russian troops to enter Ukrainian territory. (ET)

CASUALTIES

We are seeing reports of deaths and casualties in the northern city of Chernihiv, which has been subject to heavy shelling in recent days.

Ukraine’s emergency state service (SES) reports 22 people have been found dead so far after air strikes hit residential buildings. According to the BBC’s Ukrainian Service, several high-rise buildings were also targeted during the shelling. (BBC)

HUMANITARIAN

More than one million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded, the UN’s refugee agency says, with the number rising rapidly. Russia’s Defence Ministry also announced “humanitarian corridors” for civilians to leave the most battered Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv and Mariupol.

The European Union (EU) Home Affairs ministers reached a “historic agreement” today to activate, for the first time, the directive that grants temporary protection in the bloc to refugees addressed to Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.

SANCTIONS

IKEA will temporarily suspend activity in Russia and Belarus. The Swedish company will close 17 stores and three factories, affecting around 15,000 workers.  In a statement, IKEA said that the war had a huge human impact and caused serious disruptions in the production and trade chain.  The Swedish giant also says that the devastating war in Ukraine is a human tragedy and sent a message of solidarity, empathy and concern for the millions of people affected. (SIC)

Top Japanese automakers including Toyota were forced to halt production in Russia as sanctions scrambled logistics and cut supply chains. Toyota is Russia’s top Japanese brand, producing about 80,000 vehicles at its St. Petersburg plant which employs 2,000 staff. (Reuters)

US to impose new sanctions on Russian oligarchs, including travel ban. The sanctions, first reported by Bloomberg, will match earlier EU measures against Russia’s wealthiest figures and expand them to include a travel ban to the United States and also prevent oligarchs from transferring their assets to family members, the source said. The EU sanctions announced on Monday targeted key, wealthy figures in President Vladimir’s regime. These included Igor Sechin, head of state oil giant Rosneft, and Nikolay Tokarev, boss of pipeline mammoth Transneft.

ENFORCEMENT OF SANCTIONS

French customs have seized a yacht belonging to Rosneft boss Igor Sechin as it tried to leave the Mediterranean port of La Ciotat in a breach of EU sanctions on Russian oligarchs. At least five superyachts owned by Russian billionaires were anchored or cruising in Maldives, an Indian Ocean island nation that does not have an extradition treaty with the United States. (Reuters)

 

SPORT

Formula One, the company that manages the Formula 1 World Cup, has dissolved its contract with Russia to hold World Championship races in that country following the invasion of Ukraine. F1 had already cancelled this year’s race, which was supposed to take place in Sochi on September 25, but this Thursday it even declared that Russia “will not have any races in the future”

NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

The UN nuclear watchdog has voiced concern after Russian forces claimed to have surrounded Ukraine’s biggest atomic plant, and called for its workers to be left alone to do their jobs. Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the Russian government had informed the agency that its troops had taken control of the area around the Zaporizhzhia plant in south-eastern Ukraine, the second biggest in Europe, housing six of the country’s 15 reactors.

China has called on Russia and Ukraine to ensure the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities, as fears mount over a potential environmental disaster amid an intensifying military offensive by Russia in the former Soviet state.

FAKE NEWS

The Chinese foreign ministry said that reports on Chinese and Russian coordination ahead of Russia’s attack on Ukraine are “fake news”. Senior Chinese officials told senior Russian officials in early February not to invade Ukraine before the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, the New York Times reported.

 

UKRAINIAN DIPLOMATS IN MOSCOW

Ukrainian diplomats formerly based in Moscow arrived in Latvia on Wednesday evening, Latvia’s foreign minister said.

“Latvia welcomes Ukrainian diplomats who left Moscow and crossed Latvian-Russian border last night,” minister Edgars Rinkevics tweeted on Thursday.

 

RUSSION SCIENTISTS AND ACCADEMICSCRITICISE WAR

Nearly 7,000 Russian scientists, mathematicians and academics had as of Thursday signed an open letter addressed to President Vladimir Putin “strongly” protesting against his war in Ukraine. The massive global backlash to Moscow’s invasion a week ago has already affected a range of scientific initiatives, including the International Space Station and a planned Russian-European mission to land a rover on Mars. (ET)

 

APPLICATIONS TO JOIN EU

Georgia officially presented its candidacy for membership of the European Union (EU) this Thursday, announced the prime minister of this former Soviet republic of the Caucasus, after Ukraine asked for integration into the EU bloc in the face of Russian invasion.

“We are applying for EU membership,” said Irakli Garibachvili in a statement after signing the letter formalizing the request, classifying this as a “strategic objective” for Tbilisi and underlining that “Georgia is a European state and continues to make a valuable contribution to their protection and development”.

 

 

 

LATEST UPDATE 0830 HRS 3RD MARCH

Brief overnight update

The UN says that more than one million people have now fled Ukraine since the start of the invasion, with the number rising rapidly

An investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine has been launched by the International Criminal Court in The Hague

The famous hacking group Anonymous claims to have deactivated the Russian space agency. At stake is a measure that, according to cyber attackers, aims to make Vladimir Putin, Russian president, stop having “control over spy satellites”, at a time when his army is carrying out an invasion of Ukraine.

Russian authorities detained an elderly woman who was holding two posters at a demonstration in St. Petersburg. Her name is Elena Osipova, known in the country for being a survivor of the military siege of Leningrad by German troops during World War II.

The United States will impose “devastating” economic measures against Belarus and Russia’s defence industry, following the measures already adopted after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian military convoy heading to Kiev was paralyzed between the last 24 and 36 hours, by the Ukrainian resistance and because the Russian forces would be regrouping and evaluating the situation, the Pentagon said.

Maryna Fenina, a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), died during a bombing in Kharkiv on Tuesday. In a statement, the organization added that the victim “died collecting essential goods for the family in an area that became a battlefield”.

Some more details now on the breaking news that athletes from Russia and Belarus have both been banned from competing in the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing, due to start tomorrow. A statement on Thursday from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said the “situation in the athlete villages is escalating and ensuring the safety of athletes has become untenable”.

 

LATEST UPDATE 1700 HRS – 2ND MARCH 2022

 

UNITED NATIONS

 

MILITARY OPERATIONS

On the other two main fronts in the east and north, Russia so far has little to show for its advance, with Ukraine’s two biggest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, holding out in the face of increasingly intense bombardment. (NDTV)

Ukraine’s south-eastern port of Mariupol was under constant shelling from Russia and unable to evacuate the injured while Kherson, on the Black Sea to the west, was completely surrounded by invading forces, Ukrainian authorities said on Wednesday. “We are fighting, we are not ceasing to defend our motherland,” Mariupol mayor Vadym Boichenko said live on Ukrainian TV. A statement from the Mariupol City Council says the city is still under the control of Ukraine. However, they say civilians are being targeted by Russian shelling. (Reuters)

The Ukrainian military says Russian paratroopers have landed in Kharkiv, with the BBC reporting there were immediate clashes as the troops attacked a hospital. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of state terrorism because of what’s happening in Kharkiv, which is roughly 40 kilometres from the Russian border. (BBC)

Moscow claims control of the area of ​​the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and the city of Kherson, but Ukrainian forces guarantee that this port on the Black Sea has not yet fallen into the hands of the invaders. (SIC)

Russia is closing in on Kyiv as Ukraine said it destroyed two Russian planes in an airborne battle over the capital. Kyiv’s mayor said Russia is gathering forces “closer and closer” to the Ukrainian capital after a long convoy of military vehicles stalled around 20 miles northwest of the city in the early hours of Wednesday. Ukraine’s air force said to Ukrainian MIG-29 fighters fought two Russian planes in a battle over the Kyiv region, destroying the two planes and losing one fighter of their own. (SkyNews)

 

CASUALTIES

The Russian military on Wednesday announced the destruction of 1,502 Ukrainian military installations since the start of the “special operation” in Ukraine, without mentioning casualties on its side, which Ukraine said that 5,840 Russian soldiers have already been killed in the first days of the conflict.

Ukraine on Wednesday sharply raised the number of civilians killed in the Russian invasion to over 2,000.

Up to 15,000 people are currently hiding from bombs in the Kyiv metro stations. The figure was provided by Viktor Brahinsky, head of the Ukrainian capital’s metro, and who guarantees that the stations have the capacity to accommodate up to 100,000 people. At the stations there is water, toilets, food and medicines available.

 

VIOLATION OF AIRSPACE

Four Russian fighter jets violated the ban imposed by the European Union (EU) and entered Sweden’s airspace, the country’s Armed Forces reveal.

The breach took place east of Gotland, when two SU 24 fighter-bombers and two SU 27 fighter-bombers flew over Swedish airspace. The moment was captured by the Armed Forces, according to a statement that Notícias ao Minuto had access to.

PEACE TALKS

Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will continue this Thursday and the ceasefire is on the agenda. Russia said it had sent delegates for a second round of peace talks in Belarus. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia must stop bombing if it wanted to negotiate.

 

RUSSIAN MILITARY PRISIONERS IN UKRAINE

The Ukrainian Security Service (SSU) has shared, in recent hours, several videos of Russian prisoners who are filmed reporting the terror they experienced. Many are not much more than 20 years old and are asking their family to rally against Putin. In addition to calling themselves “cannon fodder”, they swear that they didn’t want to fight and that they are “killing civilians who are defending their territory”. On the phone with the family, one of the soldiers says: “Don’t let the children come here! Get together and go after Putin!” Another asks “mom, get me out of here”.

On social media, the Ukrainian Security Service asks that these videos be shared so that the “acquaintances and relatives” of the Russian “invaders” know what is happening.

 

RUSSIAN MILITARY MORALE

The Pentagon official told New York Times that a significant number of the Russian troops are young who are poorly trained and not prepared for a full-scale war. They are also suffering from low morale and shortage of resources, including food and fuel, the official further said.

These soldiers have deliberately punched holes in their vehicles, just to avoid the combat, the NYT report said.

The assessment is presumably based on the statements given by captured Russian soldiers and is the reason why the 40-mile convoy of tanks and armoire vehicles near Kyiv has come to a near crawl in the past few days, the report added.

But, the Pentagon official cited by NYT, said that Russian commanders leading the armoured column may be rethinking their battle plans to push forward, and encircle and capture the Ukrainian capital.

A British intelligence agency has released intercepted radio messages, which back the claims made in the New York Times report. The voice recordings, carried by Daily Mail, reveal that Russian troops are refusing to obey their command orders to shell Ukrainian towns.

 

PRIME MINISTER UKRAINE

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday nearly 6,000 Russians had been killed in the first six days of Moscow’s invasion, and that the Kremlin would not be able to take his country with bombs and airstrikes.

Referring to Russia’s attack on Babyn Yar – the site of a Second World War massacre of Jews by German occupation troops and Ukrainian auxiliaries – Zelenskiy said: This strike proves that for many people in Russia our Kyiv is absolutely foreign. They don’t know a thing about Kyiv, about our history. But they all have orders to erase our history, erase our country, and erase us all.

 

HUMANITARIAN

The number of refugees from Ukraine to neighbouring countries has reached 836,000 people, according to the latest report by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, released this Wednesday.

The European Commission is proposing to grant temporary protection to people fleeing war in Ukraine, including a residence permit and access to employment and social welfare. Over 650,000 people have fled Ukraine to neighbouring EU member states since Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, the EU executive said. Designed to deal with such mass arrivals of displaced persons in the EU, the new legislation will apply in all member states, without requiring Ukrainians to go through lengthy asylum processes. The proposal, which had been previously announced, will be discussed by EU interior ministers on Thursday.

Kyiv has sent humanitarian aid to the city of Bucha, which is defending itself from Russian troops on the outskirts of Kyiv. The mayor of Kiev Vitaly Klitschko reported about it in the video address. “The residents of Bucha, which is destroying the enemy, were sent medicines, bandages, hygiene products and baby food,” said Vitali Klitschko. He thanked the Red Cross for providing the necessary assistance to Kyiv. (Kyiv City Council)

European rail operations, including in Poland, Germany and France, are now allowing free travel to anyone carrying Ukrainian personal-identification papers. Ms. Faeser said that over 5,000 Ukrainian refugees have been registered in Germany since the start of the war last week. “We will of course take in those who come to Germany,” Ms. Faeser said in a television show Tuesday evening.

India sent an urgent appeal to all its nationals in Kharkiv, asking them to leave immediately, as Russian action intensified in Ukraine’s second largest city. In back-to-back tweets in all caps, the Indian Embassy — which had to stop operations in Ukrainian capital Kyiv yesterday — said Indians should reach e towns of Pisochyn, Babai or Bezlyudivka latest by 6 pm local time (9.30 pm IST), on foot if need be. (NTV)

 

INFORMATION/COMMUNICATIONS

An electronic platform has been created, through which everyone who has the opportunity can join the support of the city in the following areas: medicines and medicines, food, basic necessities, logistics services, human resources (volunteers).  “Please follow the information on our resources, as the humanitarian headquarters needs a large number of volunteers,” said the first deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration.(Kyiv City Council)

Fake news: Police in Poland warned that fake reports of violent crimes being committed by people fleeing Ukraine are circulating on social media after Polish nationalists attacked and abused groups of African, south Asian and Middle Eastern people who had crossed the border last night.

 

AIRLINE INDUSTRY

Airbus has stopped providing support services to its customers in Russia in response to international sanctions levied by the European Union, the company said Wednesday, further hobbling Russian carriers’ ability to operate flights. The plane maker has also halted the supply of spare parts for its aircraft to Russian airlines in line with the new restrictions, it said in a statement. Airbus operators in Russia include three of the country’s biggest: national flag carrier Aeroflot, S7 Airlines and Rossiya Airlines. (WSI)

 

CYBERSECURITY

Cybersecurity experts have identified a second so-called “wiper” cyber-attack targeted at Ukraine, reports Dan Milmo. The warning from ESET research labs, a Slovakia-based cyber-security firm, comes after it flagged an initial salvo on 23 February, which it had dubbed HermeticWiper.

Wiper attacks disable computers, the most notorious example being the 2017 NotPetya attack, attributed to Russia, which wreaked havoc across Ukraine and elsewhere by irretrievably encrypting computers. ESET said in a report on Tuesday that it had detected a second wiper attack against a Ukrainian governmental network, discovered on the day the offensive began on 24 February that it has named IsaacWiper. It described it as “way less sophisticated” than HermeticWiper. (Guardian)

 

PORTUGAL

Telecommunications operators Meo (Altice Portugal), NOS, Nowo and Vodafone Portugal are providing free calls to Ukraine. Meo has informed customers that, “to facilitate communications and bring families together”, it “temporarily offers all its customers international mobile calls to Ukraine and makes the Ukrainian TV pack available free of charge” . This measure, according to the operator of Altice Portugal, is in force until March 15, “and may be extended as the situation evolves”. (PN)

The Portuguese Minister of National Defence, João Gomes Cravinho, called for this Wednesday a meeting of the Superior Military Council, his main consultation body, to analyse the situation in Ukraine, the ministry announced. According to a note, the analysis of the “situation in Ukraine” is the only item on the agenda of the meeting of the main body of consultation of the Minister of Defence on matters related to national defence and the Forces.

Portuguese notaries have created an internet platform with free services to support Ukrainian citizens leaving the country due to the war, announced the Order of Notaries (ON), which guaranteed that it was already responding to many requests.

In a statement, ON highlights, among the services provided free of charge, “certified exit permits, translated into Ukrainian, Russian and English, to allow parents with minor children to move and leave the country; a disclaimer that serves as a visa to Schengen borders; and document translation certificates”.

The SEF will provide, as of Thursday, service desks dedicated exclusively to Ukrainian citizens, which will work between 8.30 am and 8 pm .

In a statement, the Foreigners and Borders Service said that these service desks will be operating at SEF delegations across the country and at the National Support Center for the Integration of Migrants (CNAIM). The service stresses that these counters will work “exclusively with SEF elements who have volunteered and after working hours, to receive requests for temporary protection for Ukrainian citizens and do not collide or interfere with the schedules of others. foreign citizens”.

Portugal is one of the 26 European countries involved in the campaign to send humanitarian aid to the thousands of refugees from Ukraine, who are fleeing the Russian onslaught, coordinated by the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union (EU).

According to data released this Wednesday by the European Commission, Portugal, Norway, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Luxembourg were the countries that most recently joined the appeal to send aid, contributing, in particular, with medical aid kits, medicines, bags -bed and generators.

 

UN SECURITY COUNCIL

Ukraine wants a review of Russia’s right to a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday. “We are confident that after a legal analysis it will turn out that Russia is illegitimately in the UN Security Council,” he said in a televised briefing.

 

FINANCIAL

Russia bans payments to foreigners holding rouble bonds and shares

Foreign investors are effectively stuck with their holdings of Russian stocks and rouble-denominated bonds after the Bank of Russia put a temporary halt on payments and major overseas’ settlement systems stopped accepting Russian assets. Moscow is blocking foreign investors, who hold tens of billions of dollars worth of Russian stocks and bonds, from exiting after its invasion of Ukraine triggered a wave of economic sanctions and a haemorrhage of assets.

Russia’s largest lender Sberbank said Wednesday it was leaving the European market after Western sanctions were levelled against the state bank in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “In the current environment, Sberbank has decided to withdraw from the European market,” the bank said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies. (ET)

 

US PRESIDENT STATE OF UNION ADDRESS

State of the Union: President Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin is more isolated from the rest of the world than ever after invading Ukraine, using Tuesday’s State of the Union address to highlight the coordinated response of the U.S. and allies and rally Americans behind defending democracy.

 

SPORT

Athletes from Russia and Belarus will participate in the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games under a neutral flag, and will not be included in the medal table, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced on Wednesday. “The Russian Paralympic Committee (PRC) and Belarus will participate in a neutral way in the Games, under a neutral flag and without being included in the medal table”, indicates the IPC, in a statement, released two days before the start of the competition, which will take place between Friday and March 13th. (Expresso)

 

ANTI-WAR PROTEST RUSSIA

A spokesperson for jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has called on Russians to stage daily protests against Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine. “Alexei Navalny has called for people to go out and protest against the war every day at 19:00 and on weekends at 14:00. The main squares of your towns, wherever you are,” spokesperson Kira Yarmysh wrote on Twitter. Navalny’s movement had previously called for a campaign of civil disobedience to protest against Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.

 

CHINA

China has signalled its willingness to play a mediator role in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as the war entered its sixth day. In his first phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, since the outbreak of the war, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, said on Tuesday that Beijing “laments” the outbreak of the conflict and is “extremely concerned” about the harm to civilians, according to a Chinese readout.

 

OVERSEAS

Athens on Wednesday launched an operation to evacuate Greek diplomats, journalists and other citizens from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol as Russian forces push further into the country. A convoy of 21 cars with over 80 people had set out, accompanied by the ambassador to Ukraine, Greek public television ERT reported.

 

 

 

 

LATEST UPDATE 0800 HRS – 1ST MARCH 2022

 

PEACE TALKS

The President of Ukraine said today that he had received “some signals” from Russia, in the negotiations between representatives of the two countries, but still not the intended result.

Russia has expressed its demands and we have expressed our demands to end the war. We have received some signals. When the delegation returns to Kiev, we will analyse what we have heard and then decide how to proceed to the second round,” said Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Ukrainian head of state stressed that despite Kiev’s call for an immediate ceasefire, hostilities in Ukraine had not ceased while negotiators were on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. “I think Russia wants to put pressure on with this rather cunning method, but it’s not worth wasting time, this tactic doesn’t work for us,” he warned. The next round of negotiations between the delegations of Russia and Ukraine will be held on the Polish-Belarusian border, reports Sputnik quoting Russia’s delegation head.

 

RUSSIAN PRESCIDENCY OF UN SECURITY COUNCIL

Russian presidency of the UN Security Council ended at 05:00 hrs today. During the month of March, the position will be taken over by the United Arab Emirates – one of three countries that refrained from condemning Russia for the invasion of Ukraine. This Monday, at midnight (local time, 05:00 in Lisbon), the term of Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia as president of the United Nations Security Council ends. The position is rotating, changing country every month.

 

OPERATIONS

Kyiv Municipal Council reports – The night of March 1 in the capital and on the outskirts of the city passed quietly, there were several clashes between Troop fighters and saboteurs. The first deputy chairman of KSCA Nikolay Povoroznyk reported about it. City services are currently equipping protective structures at the entrances to the capital. The city’s infrastructure is working, with light, heat and water. Hospitals work in an intensive mode and are provided with everything necessary.

British intelligence services this morning gave an update on the advance of Russian forces in Kyiv in the last 24 hours. According to the update, quoted by Reuters, Russian forces have made little progress towards Kyiv in the past 24 hours. However, there was an increase in the use of artillery north of the Ukrainian capital.

“The Russian advance on Kyiv has made little progress in the last 24 hours, probably as a result of continuing logistical difficulties,” the British Defence Ministry said, adding that “Russian forces have increased their use of artillery north of Kyiv and in the vicinity of Kharkiv and Chernihiv. The morning strike appeared to target government offices in Freedom Square in the city centre of Kharkiv. The use of heavy artillery in densely populated urban areas greatly increases the risk of civilian casualties.” The report also reveals that Russia failed to gain control of airspace over Ukraine, opting for night operations to reduce losses. (Reuters)

Satellite images taken on Monday show a Russian military convoy north of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv that stretches for about 40 miles (64 kilometres), substantially longer than the 17 miles (27 kms) reported earlier in the day. Kyiv has already repulsed several assaults.

At least 44 injured, Russian shelling has killed at least 11 civilians in Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv.

Russia has moved from having 40% of its forces inside Ukraine to around 75%, a military academic says. Dr Jack Watling is a research fellow in land warfare and military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme a large body of Russian troops is advancing south from Belarus and starting to set the conditions to be able to conduct an assault into Kyiv.(BBC)

The Russian army has arrived at the gates of the Ukrainian city of Kherson, in the north of Crimea, the local mayor said today. “At the entrances to Kherson, the Russian army has set up checkpoints. It is difficult to say how the situation will evolve,” wrote Igor Kolikhayev on the Facebook page. “I’m in my office coordinating municipal services so that they wake up in a relatively peaceful city,” he added, urging residents to remain “calm and cautious” and not go out during curfew. “The city is actually surrounded, there are a lot of Russian soldiers and military equipment on all sides, they set up checkpoints at the exits,” Kherson-based journalist Alena Panina said on national broadcaster Ukraine 24.

The journalist added that there was still electricity, water, and heating in Kherson but added that challenges had arisen in bringing food into the city of 300,000 as the food was stockpiled in warehouses on the city’s outskirts.

During Russia’s air attack on the Vasilkov and Brovary regions, Ukrainian fighter pilots intercepted and disabled two Russian aircraft. The work of Ukrainian fighters was assisted by S-300 anti-aircraft missile divisions, hitting three Russian aircraft. In total, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry claims, the Air Force “disabled five” Russian fighter jets. In the statement published on the government’s official Facebook account. Near Kiev, the Buk M-1 anti-aircraft missile system shot down a cruise missile and an enemy helicopter.

 

PORTUGAL

The repatriation operation of the first 38 Portuguese and Luso-Ukrainian citizens from Ukraine, who left that eastern European country due to the Russian invasion, was completed today with their arrival in Lisbon. 

Speaking to journalists at Humberto Delgado Airport, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva detailed that “two groups crossed the Ukrainian border with Moldova and then headed to Romania, where they converged”. “From Romania, from Bucharest, it was possible to organize an air connection and this is the one that ends”, he observed.

HUMANITARIAN

Russia launched a military offensive in Ukraine early Thursday morning, with ground forces and bombing targets in several cities, which have killed more than 350 civilians, including children, according to Kiev. The UN reported more than 100,000 displaced people and nearly 500,000 refugees in Poland, Hungary, Moldova and Romania. “In the last 24 hours, 100,000 people have crossed the Poland-Ukraine border,” Maciej Wasik told Radio 1.

 

UKRAINE’S EU MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

The European Parliament is holding an extraordinary meeting today, to discuss the situation in Ukraine. On the table will also be the country’s application for membership of the European Union, signed by Zelensky this Monday. In addition to the discussion, the European Parliament will also vote on whether or not to grant formal EU candidate status. The session will be attended by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen. Voting results will be announced in the afternoon. (SIC)

 

INTERNATIONAL

OSCE – All members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s special monitoring mission will leave the separatist-controlled Ukrainian city of Donetsk on Tuesday, a diplomatic source told Reuters. The mission used to monitor and report violations of the ceasefire agreement between Kiev and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. OSCE monitors reported the use of multiple rocket launch systems, heavy machine guns and small arms. (Reuters)

UK – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will begin a visit to countries on NATO’s border with Russia this Tuesday, stressing that Vladimir Putin “will feel the consequences” of invading Ukraine. Boris Johnson will travel this morning to meet with colleagues in Poland and Estonia and visit British troops as he presses for Western unity by punishing the Russian president for starting a conflict that has “taken hundreds of lives”. The secretary general of NATO will be in Poland and Estonia this Tuesday. Jens Stoltenberg will visit two military bases where troops from the transatlantic alliance are stationed.

North Korea – With the conflict in Ukraine, North Korea pointed the finger at “the hegemony policy of the United States and the West”. “The root cause of the crisis in Ukraine lies entirely in the hegemony policy of the US and the West, which surrender to arbitrariness and arbitrariness in relation to other countries,” said the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. North Korea claims that the US and the West have “systematically undermined the security environment in Europe by becoming more blatant in their attempt to deploy strike weapons systems while defiantly pursuing NATO’s eastward expansion.”

BELARUS

The United States has suspended operations at its embassy in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, Secretary of State Antony Blinken says. Blinken added in a statement that Washington had also authorised non-essential staff at the US Embassy in Russia to leave the country. (Aljazeera)

 

IN RUSSIA

Russian authorities have blocked the websites of some Russian media outlets over their reporting of the invasion of Ukraine, while hackers transposed a message across the main pages of others condemning the war

 

CHINA

The Russian invasion is drawing mixed reactions in China’s tightly-controlled online environment. Some social media users have heaped praise on Russian president Vladimir Putin, labelling him as “awesome” and perceiving his actions as a way to counter US influence in the world. “I support Russia, oppose US. That’s all I wanna say,” writes a commenter. “America always wants to create mess in the world!” says another.  However, there have been critics that still manage to make their voices heard despite stringent censorship conditions in the country. Over the weekend, five prominent Chinese academics wrote an open letter denouncing Russia’s actions. (BBC)

 

 

 

LATEST UPDATE 18.00 HRS – 28^TH FEBRUARY 2022

 

UNITED NATIONS

The United Nations General Assembly observed a minute of silence for Ukraine Monday as it opened a special emergency session to discuss whether to condemn Russia’s invasion of its neighbour. Assembly president Abdulla Shahid led the UN’s 193 members in the moment of meditation before calling for “an immediate ceasefire” in the conflict. (AFP)

 

OPERATIONS

1710 hrs – A few minutes ago, a strong explosion lit up the skies of the Ukrainian capital and the sirens sounded again. Kyiv is under rocket fire. A short video of the moment is already being shared on social networks. https://twitter.com/i/status/1498343325610528770

Guards intercepted a group of saboteurs plotting a suspected attack on one of Ukraine’s best known religious sites, the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv, a spokesman for the site has said. Ukrainian church leaders have been at odds with Russia after Ukraine formed a new Orthodox church in January 2019, pushing away centuries of ties to Moscow.

Rights groups have called on Russia to stop using cluster munitions in Ukraine, saying fatal strikes using the indiscriminate weapons on a hospital and a school could constitute war crimes.

The United States of America said this Monday that there is no reason to raise the nuclear alert level at this time. The statement made by the White House spokeswoman comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the order to put the country’s nuclear forces on alert. (CNN)

“We don’t change our own warnings and we don’t change our own assessment on that front, but we also need to be very clear about their use of threats,” Jen Psaki said during an interview with US channel MSNBC, quoted by Reuters. (Reuters)

ARMS SUPPLY

European Union defence ministers are set to discuss plans later to jointly finance deliveries of weapons worth 500 million euros ($560m) to Ukraine, and these will include a range of defensive arms aimed at helping assist Kyiv’s efforts to repel Russian forces, the bloc’s foreign policy chief says. “Member states have to provide these arms, they have to coordinate with what they are doing … with these resources,” Josep Borrell said ahead of the virtual meeting of the bloc’s defence ministers.

All Russian banks will have their assets frozen within days, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Monday, as part of plans to ramp up economic sanctions. “We will bring in a full asset freeze on all Russian banks in days, looking to coordinate with our allies,” Truss told parliament, saying it was designed to prevent the Kremlin funding its invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)

 

UKRAINE – RUSSIAN TALKS

The Ukraine – Russian talks have now ended for today – the outcome is as yet unknown. A second round of talks is planned, but no date has yet been set.

Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from Moscow this afternoon, says Ukraine and Russia “seem very, very far apart on what they want out of the talks”. “Russia, we already know, has asked for an unconditional surrender of the Ukrainian forces,” Smith said. (Al Jazeer)

 

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, signed the application for membership of the European Union, it was announced this Monday on the official account of the Ukrainian Parliament via Twitter. The announcement comes after the Ukrainian president asked this Monday for the country’s immediate accession to the EU under a simplified procedure, reported this Monday Politico (open access / content in English).

“We ask the European Union for the immediate accession of Ukraine through a new special procedure,” Zelensky said via Telegram. “Our aim is to be with all Europeans and, more importantly, to be on an equal footing. I’m sure it’s fair. I am sure it is possible,” he added.

Earlier a top EU official said Monday there were disagreements among the 27 member states on enlarging the bloc, as Kyiv appealed for membership in the face of a Russian invasion. “There are different opinions and sensitivities within the EU on enlargement,” European Council chief Charles Michel said. He said that Kyiv would have to submit an official request to join, then member states would have to come up with a unanimous position. (AFP)

 

HUMMANITARIAN AID

More than 500,000 people have fled Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion, Filippo Grandi, the UN’s high commissioner for refugees, says. The latest and still growing count had 281,000 people entering Poland, more than 84,500 in Hungary, about 36,400 in Moldova, more than 32,500 in Romania and about 30,000 in Slovakia, UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo said.

Ukraine’s president says Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has agreed to provide Kyiv with $100m of aid, on top of existing financial support.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry says it has evacuated at least 499 of the country’s citizens from Ukraine in recent days. The ministry said in a statement that a further 160 citizens were awaiting evacuation at the Ukraine-Poland border, and an additional 21 were currently en route to the Ukraine-Hungary border.

The European Union is preparing to grant Ukrainians who flee the war the right to stay and work in the 27-nation bloc for up to three years, senior EU and French officials said, thanking volunteers at the borders for helping those who arrive.(AFP)

Home rental company Airbnb Inc said today its non-profit arm Airbnb.org would offer free, temporary housing for up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine. Chief Executive Brian Officer Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, the chairman of Airbnb.org, have sent letters to leaders of Poland, Romania, Germany and Hungary offering help to house the refugees

 

OPPOSITION

More than a thousand writers and artists from all over the world, including some Nobels, such as the Turkish Orhan Pamuk and the Belarusian Svetlana Alexievich, signed a letter condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, announced PEN International.

Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster, Jonathan Franzen, Maria Ressa – journalist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 – Salman Rushdie, Olga Tokarczuk, Benjamin Moser, Joyce Carol Oates and Siri Hustvedt are other personalities who signed the PEN International document, chaired since September 2021 by Turkish writer Burhan Sonmez. (SIC)

 

AIR TRAVEL

Russia this Monday banned airspace to airlines from 36 countries, including Portugal, in response to sanctions imposed by several countries, advances Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

Russian Foreign Minster Sergei Lavrov has cancelled a trip to Geneva for disarmament talks because his plane would not be able to pass through airspace that the European Union has closed to Russian aviation as part of sanctions against Moscow, RIA news agency quoted a diplomatic source as saying on Monday. (Reuters)

 

SHIPPING

The United Kingdom on Monday banned Russian-flagged ships from docking in its ports. The ban extends to ships registered in Russia or owned by Russian citizens.

“The maritime sector is fundamental to international trade and we must do our part to constrain economic interests”, said Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, in a letter addressed to British citizens.

 

ELECTRICITY DISRUPTION

About 322,000 Ukrainian citizens are experiencing disruptions (partial or complete) in access to electricity, the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy advances through Facebook.

In the publication, the Ministry guarantees that the authorities are working to restore the normality of services.

 

HACKING ATTACKS

The website of Russian state news agency TASS appears to have been hacked, the Reuters news agency reports, with its regular site replaced with an anti-war message and calls to stop Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We urge you to stop this madness, do not send your sons and husbands to certain death,” the message read, Reuters reported, citing checks from several different devices.

After several Russian ministries were attacked by hackers in recent days, the latest target was Russia’s biggest bank Sberbank became inoperable this Monday (TASS)

 

RUSSIAN ECONOMY

The sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia are causing economic turmoil. The ruble, the Russian currency, has never been worth less and there is already a run on ATMs. In Moscow, the stock exchange did not open this Monday. All trading on the markets is suspended until further notice. The ruble plummeted after the announcement of new economic sanctions on Vladimir Putin. A ruble is worth less than a cent. To get an idea, to buy something that cost just one euro, you would need 110 rubles.

 

INTERNATIONAL SPORTS

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) says its executive board has recommended that international sports federations ban Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from participating in events. The board said in a statement that in cases where it proves impossible to prevent athletes from the two countries competing, such as if there is insufficient time to give notice or for other “organisational or legal reasons”, they should be prevented from doing so under their nations’ banner.

Russia has been expelled from the 2022 World Cup and its teams suspended from all international football competitions “until further notice” after its invasion of Ukraine, FIFA announced in a joint statement with UEFA on Monday. The men’s team had been due to play in qualifying play-offs in March for the World Cup in Qatar later this year, while its women’s side had qualified for the European Championship in England, to be held in July.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommends that Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials are banned from any organised international competitions. 

 

TRANSPORT

The trains are free and everyone can enter up to the maximum limit. Even so, several families were being separated as only children and women could pass.  The capital’s central train station is completely packed. This comes after the Russian Defence Ministry said civilians can safely leave Kyiv.

 

SANCTIONS

Switzerland, a traditionally neutral country, will adopt all European Union sanctions against Russia, “without any exception”, the government announced on Monday, after the president had given this possibility as “very likely”.

Ignazio Cassis admitted that this is an “unprecedented and difficult step” that needed “careful consideration”.

Finance Minister Ueli Maurer added that “there will not be a single exception” to European sanctions and that “it is essential” to maintain the integrity of the Swiss financial centre.

 

NETFIX AND SPOTIFY

Some Netflix and Spotify members in Russia say they are having trouble paying their subscription fees.

As SkyNews reports, some service users say they are receiving error messages related to their bank cards, especially from banks such as Sberbank, Tinkoff and Alfa-Bank.

It is possible that these difficulties are related to the exclusion of these banks from the SWIFT financial system but, for the moment, none of the companies has commented on the situation.

 

 

RUSSIAN BANKING

All Russian banks will have their assets frozen within days, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Monday, as part of plans to ramp up economic sanctions. “We will bring in a full asset freeze on all Russian banks in days, looking to coordinate with our allies,” Truss told parliament, saying it was designed to prevent the Kremlin funding its invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)

Russia has a system that can replace the SWIFT global payments system internally, the governor of the country’s central bank says.Elvira Nabiullina added that all banks in Russia will fulfil their obligations and all funds on their accounts are secured.