প্রকাশ: 27/02/2022
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.
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