Western allies announced sweeping new sanctions against
Moscow on Saturday, including kicking key Russian banks off the main global
payments system, as a defiant President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian
forces were repelling Russian troops advancing on Kyiv.
Seeking to ratchet up economic punishment for Russian
President Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine, the United States and
its European partners also said they would impose restrictions on Russia's
central bank to limit its ability to support the rouble and finance his war
effort.
The announcement came as fighting continued across Ukraine.
Reuters witnesses in Kyiv reported occasional blasts and gunfire in the city on
Saturday evening, but it was not clear exactly where it was coming from. The
capital and other cities have been pounded by Russian artillery and cruise
missiles.
Putin launched what he called a special military operation
on Thursday, ignoring weeks of Western warnings and saying the
"neo-Nazis" ruling Ukraine threatened Russia's security - a charge
Kyiv and Western governments say is baseless propaganda.
Russia's assault is the biggest on a European state since
World War Two and threatens to upend the continent's post-Cold War order.
A US defence official said Ukraine's forces were putting up
"very determined resistance" to the three-pronged Russian advance
that has sent hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing westwards, clogging
major highways and railway lines.
"As Russian forces unleash their assault on Kyiv and
other Ukrainian cities, we are resolved to continue imposing costs on Russia
that will further isolate Russia from the international financial system and
our economies," the Western allies said as they escalated their punitive
response.
"We will implement these measures within the coming
days," according to a joint statement from the United States,
France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Britain and the European Commission.
After initially shying away from such a move largely because
of concern about the impact on their own economies, the allies said they
committed to "ensuring that selected Russian banks are removed from the
SWIFT messaging system." They did not name the banks that would be
expelled but an EU diplomat said some 70% of the Russian banking market would
be affected.
The move - which the French finance minister had earlier
called a "financial nuclear weapon" because of the damage it would
inflict on the Russian economy - deals a blow to Russia's trade and makes it
harder for its companies to do business.
SWIFT, or the "Society for Worldwide Interbank
Financial Telecommunication", is a secure messaging network that
facilitates rapid cross-border payments, making it a crucial mechanism for
international trade.
Sanctions on Russia's central bank could limit Putin's use
of his more than $630 billion in international reserves, widely seen as
insulating Russia from some economic harm.
The new measures will prevent Russia from "using its
war chest," according to Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European
Commission, the European Union's executive.
'The fighting goes on'
Clay Lowery, executive vice president for the Institute of
International Finance, said the new sanctions "will most likely exacerbate
ongoing bank runs and dollarization, causing a sharp sell-off, and a drain on
reserves."
But because Russia's large banks are deeply integrated into
the global financial system, new sanctions imposed on them, such as cutting
them off from SWIFT, could have a spillover effect, hurting trading partners in
Europe and elsewhere.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said in a Twitter
post early on Sunday: "Thanks to our friends ... for the commitment to
remove several Russian banks from SWIFT."
The Kremlin said its troops were advancing again "in
all directions" after Putin ordered a pause on Friday. Ukraine's
government said there had been no pause.
"We have withstood and are successfully repelling enemy
attacks. The fighting goes on," Zelenskiy said in a video message from the
streets of Kyiv posted on his social media.
The crisis has galvanised the NATO Western military
alliance, which has announced a series of moves to reinforce its eastern flank.
While NATO has said it will not deploy troops to Ukraine, a string of countries
are sending military aid.
US President Joe Biden approved the release of up to $350
million worth of weapons from US stocks, while Germany, in a shift from its
long-standing policy of not exporting weapons to war zones, said it would send
anti-tank weapons and surface-to-air missiles.
Amid a barrage of cyberattacks blamed on Moscow, Ukrainian
Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said his government will create an
"IT army" to fight back. Kyiv already has quietly called on its
hacker underground to help against Russian forces, Reuters exclusively
reported.
Fedorov also called on Saturday on SpaceX billionaire Elon
Musk to provide Ukraine with the company's Starlink satellite broadband
service. Musk responded on Twitter: "Starlink service is now active in
Ukraine. More terminals en route."
Ukraine, a democratic nation of 44 million people, won
independence from Moscow in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union and wants
to join NATO and the EU, goals Russia opposes.
Putin has said he must eliminate what he calls a serious
threat to his country from its smaller neighbour, accusing it of genocide
against Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine - something Kyiv and its Western
allies reject as a lie.
A Ukrainian presidential adviser said about 3,500 Russian
soldiers had been killed or wounded. Western officials have also said
intelligence showed Russia suffering higher casualties than expected and its
advance slowing.
Russia has not released casualty figures and it was
impossible to verify tolls or the precise picture on the ground.
"We know that (Russian forces) have not made the
progress that they wanted to make, particularly in the north. They have been
frustrated by what they have seen is a very determined resistance," the US
official said, without providing evidence.
Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko said there was no major
Russian military presence in the capital but that saboteur groups were active.
Klitschko, a former world heavyweight boxing champion, later told Germany's
Bild tabloid the city was "nearly encircled".
Authorities have handed thousands of assault rifles to
residents and told citizens to make petrol bombs.
At least 198 Ukrainians, including three children, have been
killed and 1,115 people wounded so far, Interfax quoted Ukraine's Health
Ministry as saying.
Interfax later cited the regional administration in Donetsk,
eastern Ukraine, saying 17 civilians had been killed and 73 wounded by Russian
shelling.
Moscow says it is taking care not to hit civilian sites.
UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said more than 150,000 Ukrainian
refugees have crossed into neighbouring countries - half to Poland and many to
Hungary, Moldova and Romania.
Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces had captured
Melitopol, a city of 150,000 in southeastern Ukraine. Ukrainian officials did
not comment and Britain cast doubt on the report.
If confirmed, it would be the first significant population
centre the Russians have seized.
Several European countries, including Russia's Baltic
neighbours Lithuania and Latvia, said they were closing their airspace to
Russian airliners. Germany said it was preparing to follow suit.
Russian bank Sanction Ukraine Russia War
Comment
American and British forces carried out a fresh wave of strikes Saturday against 18 Huthi targets in Yemen, following weeks of unrelenting attacks on Red Sea shipping by the Iran-backed rebels.
The strikes "specifically targeted 18 Huthi targets across eight locations in Yemen" including weapons storage facilities, attack drones, air defense systems, radars, and a helicopter, a joint statement said.
It was co-signed by Australia, Bahrain, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand, who gave unspecified "support" to the new round of strikes, the second this month and fourth since the rebels began their attacks on ships in the region.
"The Huthis' now more than 45 attacks on commercial and naval vessels since mid-November constitute a threat to the global economy, as well as regional security and stability, and demand an international response," the statement said.
Huthi-run Al-Masirah television reported "a series of raids on the capital Sanaa," while AFP correspondents in the rebel-controlled city in western Yemen said they heard several loud bangs.
"The United States will not hesitate to take action, as needed, to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world's most critical waterways," Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said in a separate statement after the strikes.
"We will continue to make clear to the Huthis that they will bear the consequences if they do not stop their illegal attacks, which harm Middle Eastern economies, cause environmental damage, and disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen and other countries."
Huthi military spokesman Yahya Saree was defiant, vowing in a social media statement that the rebels would "confront the American-British escalation with more qualitative military operations against all hostile targets in the Red and Arab Seas."
The UK Ministry of Defence said four Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s targeted "several very long-range drones, used by the Houthis for both reconnaissance and attack missions," on Saturday, at a site north-east of Sanaa.
Saturday's operation comes after several merchant vessels were struck this week in the region, including the fertilizer-filled Rubymar, whose crew had to abandon ship after it was hit Sunday and began taking on water.
Apart from the joint operations with Britain, the United States has also carried out unilateral strikes against Huthi positions and weaponry in Yemen, and downed dozens of missiles and drones in the Red Sea.
- Anti-ship missile downed -
Earlier on Saturday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that an American Navy ship had shot down an anti-ship ballistic missile "launched into the Gulf of Aden from Iranian-backed Huthi controlled areas of Yemen."
The missile "was likely targeting MV Torm Thor, a US-Flagged, owned, and operated chemical/oil tanker," CENTCOM said on X, formerly Twitter.
US forces on Friday also shot down three attack drones near commercial ships in the Red Sea and destroyed seven anti-ship cruise missiles on land, CENTCOM said.
The Huthis say they are targeting Israel-linked vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza, which has been ravaged by the Israel-Hamas war.
Following previous US and UK strikes, the Huthis declared American and British interests to be legitimate targets as well.
The Huthis will "persist in upholding their religious, moral and humanitarian duties towards the Palestinian people, and their military operations will not stop unless the aggression stops and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted," military spokesman Saree said.
Anger over Israel's devastating campaign in Gaza -- which began after an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 -- has grown across the Middle East, stoking violence involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
Comment
Israel launched air strikes Thursday on southern Gaza's Rafah after threatening to send troops into the city, where around 1.4 million Palestinians have sought shelter from around the territory.
Global powers trying to navigate a way to end the Israel-Hamas war have so far come up short, but a US envoy was expected in Israel on Thursday to try to secure a truce deal.
International concern has spiralled over the high civilian death toll and dire humanitarian crisis in the war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack against Israel.
More than four months of relentless fighting and air strikes have flattened much of the Hamas-run coastal territory, pushing its population of around 2.4 million to the brink of famine, according to the UN.
International concern has in recent weeks centred on Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah, where more than 1.4 million people forced to flee their homes elsewhere in the territory are now living in crowded shelters and makeshift tents.
The last city untouched by Israeli ground troops, Rafah also serves as the main entry point via neighbouring Egypt for desperately needed relief supplies.
Israel has warned it will expand its ground operations into Rafah if Hamas does not free the remaining hostages held in Gaza by next month's start of the Muslim holy month Ramadan.
- 'My daughter' -
The war started when Hamas launched its attack on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Hamas militants also took about 250 hostages -- 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 30 presumed dead, according to Israel.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 29,313 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest count by the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory.
War cabinet member Benny Gantz said Israel's operation in Rafah would begin "after the evacuation of the population", although his government has not offered any details on where civilians would be evacuated to.
In the early hours of Thursday, AFP reporters heard multiple air strikes on Rafah, particularly in the Al-Shaboura neighbourhood.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said early Thursday that 99 people had been killed around Gaza during the night, most of them women, children and elderly people.
Abdel Rahman Mohamed Jumaa said he lost his family in recent strikes on Rafah.
"I found my wife lying in the street," he told AFP. "Then I saw a man carrying a girl and I ran towards him and.... picked her up, realising she was really my daughter."
He was holding a small shrouded corpse in his arms.
- 'Possibility of progress' -
Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, was expected to arrive in Israel Thursday -- his second stop in the region after Egypt as part of US efforts to advance a hostage deal and broker a truce.
Hamas's chief Ismail Haniyeh was in Cairo for talks as well, according to the group.
Israel's Gantz said there were efforts to "promote a new plan for the return of the hostages".
"We are seeing the first signs that indicate the possibility of progress in this direction."
Matthew Miller, US State Department spokesman, said Washington was hoping for an "agreement that secures a temporary ceasefire where we can get the hostages out and get humanitarian assistance", but declined to give details on ongoing negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted the army will keep fighting until it has destroyed Hamas and freed the remaining hostages.
Israel's parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly backed a proposal by Netanyahu to oppose any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.
The vote came days after the Washington Post reported that US President Joe Biden's administration and a small group of Arab nations were working out a comprehensive plan for long-term peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
It included a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state, the report said.
Separately, a report by an Israeli group that fights sexual violence said Hamas's October 7 attack also involved systematic sexual assaults on civilians, based on witness testimonies, public and classified information, and interviews.
The report came the same week UN rights experts called for an independent probe into alleged Israeli abuses against Palestinian women and girls -- which Israel rejected as "despicable and unfounded claims".
Israeli officials have repeatedly alleged the militants committed violent sexual assaults during the attack -- something Hamas has denied.
- 'Waiting for death' -
Combat and chaos have stalled sporadic aid deliveries for civilians in Gaza, while in Khan Yunis -- a city just north of Rafah -- medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said an Israeli tank had fired on a house sheltering their employees and families.
Two relatives of MSF staff were killed and six others injured, it said, condemning the strike in the "strongest possible terms".
When contacted by AFP about the incident, the Israeli army said its forces had "fired at a building that was identified as a building where terror activity is occurring", adding that it "regrets" harm to civilians.
In the same town, the Palestinian Red Crescent said another hospital was also hit by "artillery shelling".
Israel has repeatedly said Hamas militants use civilian infrastructure including hospitals as operational bases -- claims that Hamas has denied.
Comment
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today stressed the need for expanding business between Bangladesh and India using their own currencies.
"We can do our business through exchanges of Bangladeshi Taka and Indian Rupee. It has already started, but we have to expand it further so that we can increase our businesses," she said while Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar paid a call on the Prime Minister.
The meeting was held at Hotel Bayerischer Hof, the conference venue, here on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) 2024, this morning.
Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud briefed newsmen about the outcome of the meeting upon its completion.
The Foreign Minister said the Bangladesh Premier and Jaishankar attached importance to doing business between the two friendly countries through their own currencies to reduce dependency on other currencies like the US dollar.
He said Bangladesh and India have excellent bilateral relations and it has elevated to another height under the leadership of the prime ministers of the two countries.
"The relations between the countries are getting stronger day by day," he said, adding that the two leaders discussed the issues during the meeting.
Quoting Jaishankar, Hasan said, "Our relations will further be closer in the days ahead."
Bangladesh Ambassador to Germany Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and PM's Deputy Press Secretary Md. Noorelahi Mina were present during the briefing.
Bangladesh Prime Minister arrived in Munich on February 15 evening on a three-day official visit to join the Munich Security Conference 2024.
Upon completion of the tour, Sheikh Hasina will leave Munich tomorrow night and is scheduled to reach Dhaka on February 19.
(BSS)
Comment
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called upon all concerned to find ways to stop Russia-Ukraine war while holding a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy here.
"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina always says we are against all kinds of war. Today, she discussed time and again about how the war can be stopped while holding talks with Zelenskyy," said Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud at a news briefing after the meeting.
The meeting between the two leaders was held at Hotel Bayerischer Hof here on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) 2024, this morning.
Hasan also said that they also discussed how the attacks on innocent men and women in Gaza can be stopped.
The Premier reminded all that war can't bring wellbeing for any one.
"Others can be benefitted from the war. But the war cannot bring welfare for the countries involved in war and their people have to be affected by the war," said Sheikh Hasina.
In this connection, the Prime Minister recollected her memories about the sufferings of the countrymen and she herself faced during the Great War of Liberation in 1971.
She recalled her inhuman sufferings and the birth of her only son Sajeeb Wazed Joy under the captivity of the Pakistani occupation forces during the War.
"Bangladesh's foreign policy - 'Friendship to all, malice to none’ - prominently came up in the discussion between Prime Minister and Zelenskyy," the foreign minister said.
Replying to a query, Hasan said the friendly relations between Bangladesh and Russia which got foundation during the Liberation war , will not hamper at all.
"Our relationship with Russia is very wonderful. Russia stood beside us during the Liberation War and played a pivotal role in rebuilding Bangladesh after the war," he said.
He said they only discussed how to stop the war.
Bangladesh Ambassador to Germany Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and PM's Deputy Press Secretary Md. Noorelahi Mina were present during the briefing.
Bangladesh Prime Minister arrived in Munich on February 15 evening on a three-day official visit to join the Munich Security Conference 2024.
Upon completion of the tour, Sheikh Hasina will leave Munich tomorrow night and is scheduled to reach Dhaka on February 19.
(BSS)
Comment
Comment
American and British forces carried out a fresh wave of strikes Saturday against 18 Huthi targets in Yemen, following weeks of unrelenting attacks on Red Sea shipping by the Iran-backed rebels. The strikes "specifically targeted 18 Huthi targets across eight locations in Yemen" including weapons storage facilities, attack drones, air defense systems, radars, and a helicopter, a joint statement said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today stressed the need for expanding business between Bangladesh and India using their own currencies. "We can do our business through exchanges of Bangladeshi Taka and Indian Rupee. It has already started, but we have to expand it further so that we can increase our businesses," she said while Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar paid a call on the Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called upon all concerned to find ways to stop Russia-Ukraine war while holding a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy here. "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina always says we are against all kinds of war. Today, she discussed time and again about how the war can be stopped while holding talks with Zelenskyy," said Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud at a news briefing after the meeting.