Ukraine invasion news live: Russian troops enter Kyiv as residents told to 'make petrol bombs and neutralise the occupier'
Ukraine war latest news as Russian troops enter Kyiv; residents told to make petrol bombs and defend city; 137 Ukrainians die in first day of attacks; UK says 450 Russian personnel died after invasion launched.
MOSCOW, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Three Russian banks including the country's biggest, Sberbank (SBER.MM), on Friday played down the impact of sanctions imposed on them by the United States and it's Nato Allies after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and said they were continuing to work normally.
Dmytro Kuleba@DmytroKuleba
I will not be diplomatic on this. Everyone who now doubts whether Russia should be banned from SWIFT has to understand that the blood of innocent Ukrainian men, women and children will be on their hands too. BAN RUSSIA FROM SWIFT.
Ukraine , Russia Invasion Day 2. Now that Russia has moved forward with its assault, European countries, Japan and South Korea have said they will join the United States in imposing even harsher sanctions. So far, these include freezing trillions of dollars in Russian assets, including the funds controlled by Russian elites and their families; severing more of the country’s banks from transactions with non-Russian entities; and imposing sweeping export controls on technologies and inputs needed by Russian industry.
Yet once again, the measures unveiled did not target Russia’s fossil fuel exports, reportedly because of concerns over domestic blowback to high energy prices. Nor did they exclude Russia from Swift, the payment system used for transactions between banks around the world. That omission drew criticism from Representative Adam B. Schiff, the California Democrat who leads the House Intelligence Committee, and from Ukraine’s foreign affairs minister.
Apparently Germany and Italy are dragging their heels about financial sanctions.
But regardless of who is to blame Ukraine has been let down since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 . Then the writing was on the wall, but nobody read it, and just like Syria and Afghanistan, the West, the United Nations failed to preserve lives and justice.
Nuclear Putin knows he can do what he likes, break international laws commit war crimes. His population protest and thousands are arrested in 50 Russian cities. Where it ends only Putin knows because he is intent on restoring the USSR of 30 years ago.
AS for the UK government they have been bank rolled by Russians for a decade. Russians are accused of interfering with the Brexit vote and the election of Trump and Johnson. There is only one motive for financing a foreign political party and that is to carry favours. The City of London financial institutions have long been associated with Russian money laundering.
It was in Putin’s interest to divide the west and isolate Britain from the EU. Johnson who has a Russian security risk history with Russian diplomats played into Putin’s hands for personal gain and not in the national interest.
Why haven’t Ukraine’s allies gone further? In the view of Times columnist Paul Krugman, the West’s own entanglement with Russian interests may be limiting its response. Europe, for example, is deeply dependent on Russian fossil fuels, drawing nearly 40 percent of its gas and more than a quarter of its oil from the country in recent years. Italy has sought to exclude luxury goods — a favourite purchase among the Russian elite — from any sanctions package. And while there is plenty of offshore Russian wealth that democratic governments could seize, doing so would also make life harder for the West’s own money launderers.
Now the consequences of dithering , of deception, of corruption are costing the lives of a 40 million population in an independent Sovereign state and Boris and the world just watch it unfold.
How Russia Makes Its Money
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/040414/how-russia-makes-its-money-and-why-it-doesnt-make-more.asp
Ukrainian officials are preparing for a Russian assault on the capital, Kyiv, as the full-scale attack enters a second day.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says 137 people have been killed so far, including civilians.
The UN’s refugee agency says about 100,000 Ukrainians have been displaced, with thousands fleeing to nearby European states.
Western powers have announced sweeping sanctions on Russia.
Hundreds of Russians have staged anti-war protests in cities across the country.
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