UNICEF, the U.N. Children’s Fund, is scaling up programs for millions of children in Ukraine threatened by Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, is under attack. Russian forces have entered the country from multiple directions.  Deaths and injuries reportedly are growing. Since Russian President Vladimir Putin began his invasion of the country Thursday, the dangers to civilians have risen exponentially.

UNICEF regional director for Europe and Central Asia Afshan Khan warns the war is posing an immediate threat to Ukraine’s 7.5 million children.

“As we speak, there have been major attacks in Kyiv that have created great fear and panic among the population, with families really scared, moving alongside their children into subways and shelters.  And this is clearly a terrifying moment for children across the country,” Khan said.

UNICEF has been providing humanitarian assistance to millions of children and families in Ukraine for eight years.

The agency has been particularly active in the Russian-backed searatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, where it has been trucking safe water to areas affected by conflict.

UNICEF has placed health, hygiene, and emergency education supplies in areas near the contact line. That is the 500-kilometer zone separating Russian-backed territories from the rest of Ukraine. The agency also has provided psychosocial support for traumatized children living in the volatile area.

Khan says needs are increasing with the escalating crisis.  She says fuel is in short supply, as is the cash needed to buy emergency supplies of medicines, hygiene kits and other essential relief for people in the Donbas region and across the country.

“Obviously, Kyiv and the West have not suffered the same consequences.  And now, as a result of the critical situation families and children are finding themselves in, we see an increased risk of fear, trauma, the need for shelter, the need for cash. And we will see an increasing need for additional supplies,” Khan said.  

UNICEF says the needs of children and families are escalating in line with the conflict. The agency is seeking $66.4 million to increase access to basic services for up to 7.5 million children inside Ukraine.  

It says the appeal will provide water and sanitation, immunization and health care, schooling, and learning.  The agency says it aims to expand the number of mobile teams currently moving around the country providing psychosocial support to traumatized children. Boosting this service, it says, will allow it to keep pace with a fast-rising number of requests for psychological support, and care for children.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Refugee Agency warns that up to 4 million people may flee to other countries in Europe if the crisis escalates. Given this reality, Khan says UNICEF, with the refugee agency, and other U.N. agencies will issue a flash appeal in the coming days to support an influx of refugees in surrounding countries.

According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, more than 150,000 Ukrainians have already crossed into neighboring countries.
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French sea police seized a ship on Saturday that authorities suspect belongs to a Russian company targeted by European Union sanctions over the war in Ukraine, a government official told Reuters.

The cargo vessel transporting cars, which was headed for St. Petersburg, is “strongly suspected of being linked to Russian interests targeted by the sanctions,” said Captain Veronique Magnin of the French Maritime Prefecture.

The ship was diverted to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. (0200-0300 GMT), Magnin said, adding ongoing checks were being carried out by customs officials and the ship’s crew was “being cooperative.”

The Russian Embassy in France is seeking an explanation from authorities over the seizure, Russia’s RIA news agency quoted the embassy as saying.

French newspaper La Voix Du Nord, which first reported the news, said the vessel was the Baltic Leader, which, according to website marinetraffic.com, sails under a Russian flag.

The company that owns the ship belongs to a Russian businessman who is on the EU’s list of sanctioned people, Magnin said.

EU states on Friday agreed to freeze European assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister to punish Russia for the attack on Ukraine. A wider list of sanctioned people was put in place earlier this month.
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Explosions and gunfire could be heard Saturday in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as Russian and Ukrainian forces battled for control of the city.

Ukrainian officials are urging the country’s citizens to help defend Kyiv against the Russian forces. An army base in the capital was attacked, but Ukraine’s military said that attack was repelled.

A high-rise apartment building in the capital was hit early Saturday. Ukraine’s foreign minister said the building was struck by a Russian missile. There were no reports of casualties.  Video images of the building showed extensive damage on upper floors.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had predicted the attacks on Kyiv would become more intense Saturday.

“Kyiv requires special attention,” he said.  “We cannot lose the capital.”

Zelenskyy said Saturday on Twitter that he had spoken with French President Emmanuel Macron.  “Weapons and equipment from our partners are on the way to Ukraine.  The anti-war coalition is working,” he posted.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that Russian troops have captured the southeastern Ukraine city of Melitopol. 

Russian forces advancing on Kyiv and other key cities as part of a plan to “decapitate” Ukraine’s government appear to have lost some momentum, U.S. and Western officials said Friday, as they and Moscow ramped up information operations to keep up with fighting on the ground.

Explosions and gunfire Friday continued to rock areas near Kharkiv in the north and Kherson in the south, as Russian forces continued a slow march farther into Ukraine.

A senior U.S. defense official, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence, said the Russian forces had unleashed a barrage of more than 200 ballistic and cruise missiles since the invasion began, most of them targeting the Ukrainian military.

But the official said intelligence indicated the operation is not going as smoothly as Russian commanders might have hoped.

“The Russians have lost a little bit of their momentum,” the official said. “They are not advancing as far or as fast as we believe they expected they would.”

The Russian advance on Kyiv, in particular, seems to have gotten bogged down.

“They’re meeting more resistance than they expected,” the U.S. official said, adding that Russian forces had yet to establish air superiority despite a numerical advantage and efforts to eliminate Ukrainian air defenses.

Ukraine’s command and control “is intact,” the official added.

In Kyiv, Zelenskyy sought to rally the nation, rejecting rumors that he had fled the city and insisting he and other government officials “are all here, defending our independence, our state.”

Russian claims

Russian officials countered Friday that their forces had made solid progress in what they described as an effort to eliminate a terrorist threat.

In one social media post, Russian Major General Igor Konashenkov said his country’s forces had disabled more than 200 Ukrainian military facilities and dozens of air defense batteries and radar stations, while destroying a handful of Ukrainian combat planes, helicopters and military vehicles.

Russia’s military also said Friday it took control of the strategic Hostomel airport northwest of Kyiv.

Russia’s claim was not immediately confirmed, but Ukrainian authorities reported heavy fighting there.

On the ground in Ukraine

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, meanwhile, denounced what he called “horrific rocket strikes” on the city, some of which hit civilian areas.

Separately, Kyiv’s mayor, former world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, said the city has gone into a defensive phase and warned that Russian saboteurs were on the loose.

Western officials, despite praising Ukrainian forces, cautioned the situation was fluid, and noted that things could change rapidly, especially given that about two-thirds of the 190,000 Russian troops along the Ukrainian border had yet to take part in the fighting.

They also warned of Russian attempts to use disinformation to cloud the situation on the ground and scare Ukraine’s forces into submission.

“Our information indicates Russia is creating a disinformation campaign by publicizing false reports about the widespread surrender of Ukrainian troops,” a U.S. official said Friday.

“Our information also indicates that Russia plans to threaten killing the family members of Ukrainian soldiers if they do not surrender,” the official added.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby praised the Ukrainian forces Friday, even as Russian troops move deeper into the country from the north and the south.

“We see clear indications that Ukrainian armed forces are fighting back and bravely,” he told reporters. “[The Russians] have experienced some setbacks.”

Kirby also said the United States was continuing to find ways to help Ukraine defend itself “both from a lethal and nonlethal perspective.”

On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden authorized the State Department to release $350 million in military aid to Ukraine.

NATO response

The Pentagon voiced support for NATO’s decision to activate the NATO Response Force Friday, citing Russia’s aggression.

“It’s not entirely clear if Mr. Putin has designs beyond Ukraine, and it’s because that’s not perfectly clear that we continue to look for ways to bolster our NATO capabilities and to reassure our allies,” Kirby said.

NATO on Friday vowed to continue to support Ukraine’s government and military and warned it had taken unprecedented action to ensure the security of alliance members.

“We are deploying elements of the NATO Response Force on land, at sea, and in the air to further strengthen our posture and to respond quickly to any contingency,” Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels following a virtual meeting of alliance heads of state.

“There must be no space for miscalculation or misunderstanding,” he said of NATO activating the 40,000-strong force for the first time. “We will do what it takes to protect and defend every ally and every inch of NATO territory.”

Opening for talks

After meeting Friday with foreign ministry officials from the separatist-controlled regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters that Russia was “ready for talks at any moment” once Ukrainian forces “stop their resistance and lay down their arms.”

Ukraine’s Office of the President said earlier it is ready to open negotiations with Russia to agree on “neutral status,” but it wanted security guarantees in return. “We should stop this war,” an adviser to the president said.

In response to Ukraine’s offer, the Kremlin said Friday that Russia is ready to send a delegation to Belarus for talks with Ukrainian officials. Ukraine countered that it wanted to hold the talks in Poland.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Friday that Russia’s offer for talks with Ukraine was an attempt to conduct diplomacy “at the barrel of a gun.” He said if Russia is serious about diplomacy, it must stop bombing Ukraine.

The United Nations Refugee Agency warned Friday the two-day assault by Russian forces already has forced more than 50,000 people to flee their homes.

U.S. officials said many have been trying to make their way to the Polish border, estimating tens of thousands of Ukrainians are on the move.

At the United Nations, Security Council members voted Friday on a resolution condemning Russia for invading Ukraine and reaffirming the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. Russia, a Security Council member, vetoed the measure, as expected.

The vote was 11-1, with China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining. The draft measure is expected to be taken up next by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly.

White House correspondent Anita Powell, U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer, National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin, VOA refugee correspondent Heather Murdock in Slovyansk and Jamie Dettmer in Kyiv contributed to this report.

Some information in this report came from Reuters.
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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, all times EST:

12:39 a.m.: The BBC reports that missiles are being launched at Ukraine from the Black Sea.

12:26 a.m.: The Associated Press reports that street fighting is under way.

12:05 a.m.: Russia blocked a move Friday in the U.N. Security Council to condemn and halt its invasion of Ukraine, but several nations said they would seek accountability from the full U.N. membership in the General Assembly. VOA’s Margaret Besheer has the story.

12:01 a.m.: Agence France-Presse has a timeline of major events in the conflict:

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Russia blocked a move Friday in the U.N. Security Council to condemn and halt its invasion of Ukraine, but several nations said they would seek accountability from the full U.N. membership in the General Assembly.

“Let me put it plainly: Vote yes if you believe in upholding the U.N. Charter. Vote yes if you support Ukraine’s — or any state’s — right to sovereignty and territorial integrity. Vote yes if you believe Russia should be held to account for its actions,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council. “Vote no, or abstain, if you do not uphold the charter, and align yourselves with the aggressive and unprovoked actions of Russia. Just as Russia had a choice, so do you.”

The text, drafted by the United States and Albania, was supported by 11 of the 15 council members. China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstained. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes to pass.

The Norwegian ambassador questioned whether the Russian ambassador should have even been allowed to vote.

“A veto cast by the aggressor undermines the purpose of the council. It’s a violation of the very foundation of the U.N. Charter,” Mona Juul said. “Furthermore, in the spirit of the charter, Russia, as a party, should have abstained from voting on this resolution.”

Russian dismissal

Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia, who happens to be president of the council this month, presided over the meeting in which his government was widely condemned. He also had the task of reading out the names of dozens of countries that co-sponsored the measure that sought to reprimand Moscow.

By the end of the meeting, more than 80 countries had joined that list.

Nebenzia dismissed the draft resolution not only as “anti-Russian” but also as anti-Ukrainian, because, he said, it ran counter to the interests of the Ukrainian people.

“Today’s draft resolution — your draft resolution — is nothing other than yet another brutal, inhumane move in this Ukrainian chessboard,” he said.

He denied that Moscow was waging a war on the Ukrainian people, but rather said it was carrying out a “special operation” against nationalists to protect residents of eastern Ukraine.

“These objectives will soon be achieved, and the Ukrainian people will gain an opportunity to once again independently determine their future,” he said.

‘Russia is isolated’

The British ambassador called him out on claims that Russia’s aggression is in self-defense, to protect people living in the Russian-backed separatist areas.

“This is absurd. Russia’s only act of self-defense is the vote they have cast against this resolution today,” British Ambassador Barbara Woodward said. “Make no mistake: Russia is isolated. It has no support for the invasion of Ukraine.”

Ukraine’s envoy said his country is under siege from nearly every direction.

“Last night was the most horrific for Kyiv since, just imagine, 1941, when it was attacked by Nazis,” Sergiy Kyslytsya said.

He told the council that his country faces a difficult night ahead, and he took the unusual step of asking the diplomats in the room to have a moment of silence to pray or meditate for peace.

“To pray for souls of those who have already been killed, for souls of those who may be killed,” he said. “And I invite the Russian ambassador to pray for salvation.”

The Russian ambassador interjected to say the people who have died in eastern Ukraine in the past eight years should also be included. The U.N. says 14,000 people have died in the conflict.

“All human lives are valuable,” Nebenzia said.

A round of applause broke out in the chamber after the silence.

“The United Nations was born out of war to end war,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters after the vote. “Today, that objective was not achieved. But we must never give up. We must give peace another chance.”

He said soldiers need to return to their barracks and leaders need to turn to the path of dialogue and peace.

Next steps

“It was inevitable that Russia would block the Security Council from taking meaningful action over Ukraine,” said Comfort Ero, president of the International Crisis Group. “But it is important that all U.N. member states, from all regions, use the U.N. to communicate to Moscow how badly this war will damage its global image.”

Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth said that Russia’s veto shows its indifference to international law. He urged the General Assembly to step up to fill the void left by the Security Council.

“International scrutiny is needed to spare civilians from possible large-scale violations of international humanitarian law,” he said.

“We will be taking this matter to the General Assembly, where the Russian veto does not apply and the nations of the world will continue to hold Russia accountable,” Thomas-Greenfield confirmed to reporters.

The draft is likely to be adopted in the coming days with a large majority of the 193 members, sending a strong symbolic message to Moscow that it is largely isolated in the international community because of its aggression.
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VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from Kyiv on the effect the invasion is having on Ukraine.
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The United States announced Friday that it would freeze the assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, following similar steps taken by the European Union and Britain, as nations around the world sought to tighten sanctions against Russia’s government over its invasion of Ukraine.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced the action after EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels unanimously agreed to freeze the property and bank accounts of the top Russian officials.

Britain’s government took the same action Friday, with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss writing on Twitter, “We will not stop inflicting economic pain on the Kremlin until Ukrainian sovereignty is restored.”

A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said the sanctions against Putin and Lavrov reflected the West’s “absolute impotence” in foreign policy, according to the RIA news agency.

World leaders are rarely the target of direct sanctions. The only other leaders currently under EU sanctions are Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to Agence France-Presse.

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said the move was “a unique step in history” toward a country that has a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, but said it showed how united EU countries were in countering Russia’s actions.

The EU sanctions against Putin and Lavrov are part of a broader sanctions package that targets Russian banks, oil refineries and the Russian defense industry.

EU leaders agreed, however, it was premature to impose a travel ban on Putin and Lavrov because negotiating channels need to be kept open.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called Friday for nations to cut Russia off from the SWIFT international bank transfer system “to inflict maximum pain.”

Ukraine has lobbied for a SWIFT ban on Russia, urging Europe to act more forcefully in imposing sanctions against Moscow. However, some European nations, including Germany, are hesitant to take that step.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Friday that the package of banking sanctions the EU has passed would hit Putin’s government harder than excluding Russia from the SWIFT payments system.

“The sword that looks hardest isn’t always the cleverest one,” she said, adding, “the sharper sword at the moment is listing banks.”

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said, “The debate about SWIFT is not off the table. It will continue.”

In response to the sanctions, Russia has taken its own measures, including banning British flights over its territory, after Britain imposed a similar ban on Aeroflot flights.

The United States and several allies had imposed a first tranche of sanctions Tuesday, after Putin declared the disputed eastern Ukraine regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent states, much as he appropriated Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

Biden added another round of sanctions on Russia on Thursday, hours after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, declaring at the White House after meeting virtually with leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations and NATO that “Putin chose this war, and now he and his country will bear the consequences.”

Biden said those U.S. sanctions, which target Russian banks, oligarchs and high-tech sectors and include export controls, would “squeeze Russia’s access to finance and technology for strategic sectors of its economy and degrade its industrial capacity for years to come.”

Effects on markets

NATO allies, including Britain and the European Union, also imposed more sanctions Thursday, and the effects were felt almost immediately when global security prices plunged and commodity prices surged. Biden acknowledged that Americans would see higher gasoline prices.

More than half of all Americans, 52%, viewed the Russia-Ukraine conflict before Russia’s invasion “as a critical threat to U.S. vital interests,” a significant increase from 2015, when 44% thought it was a threat after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, according to a poll released Friday by Gallup.

The poll was conducted from February 1-17 before the Russian government recognized the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk and deployed troops to those areas.

As in 2015, roughly half of Democrats and Republicans said they were likely to see the conflict as a critical threat to U.S. vital interests.

Also Friday, an International Criminal Court prosecutor warned that the court might investigate whether Russia has committed any war crimes in its invasion of Ukraine.

“I remind all sides conducting hostilities on the territory of Ukraine that my office may exercise its jurisdiction and investigate any act of genocide, crime against humanity or war crime committed within Ukraine,” ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said Friday in a statement.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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U.N. aid agencies are increasing humanitarian operations to help Ukrainians whose lives have been upended since Russia invaded the country.

The Russian offensive has thrown the country into turmoil. Aid agencies are scrambling to assess the dangers and priority needs and to help millions of people in an environment of extreme insecurity.

Preliminary figures of casualties are daunting. As of February 24, the U.N. human rights office says it has received reports of at least 127 civilian casualties, including 25 killed and 102 injured. Most of those casualties were reported in government-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine’s separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Shabia Mantoo is a spokeswoman for UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency. She says there has been substantial displacement and movement within the country and across borders since the offensive began.

“There are more than 100,000 people who we estimate have left their homes and maybe are displaced inside the country. And we are also aware of several thousand who have crossed international borders in the region. And we have seen those really just happening since the onset of the situation.”

The UNHCR warns up to four million people may flee to other countries if the situation escalates.

The World Health Organization representative in Ukraine, Jarno Habicht, was traveling when the Russian invasion started. He is stuck in Spain because the airspace in Ukraine is closed to civilian traffic.

He has lived in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, for three years and says he is personally concerned for the safety, health, and well-being of people across the country.

He says just one week ago, WHO staff was scaling up its COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Ukraine. He says inroads were being made in halting a recent polio outbreak and reforms to the country’s health system was gathering pace.

“Now, our priorities have shifted to trauma care, ensure access to services, continuity of care, mental health, and psycho-social support, but also moving forward all the reforms. So, humanitarian response is our top critical area now where we need to ensure also that our health and humanitarian response is protected.”

In response to the crisis, the WHO has released $3.5 million from its emergency contingency fund to purchase and deliver urgent medical supplies.

In addition, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has allocated $20 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund.

Earlier this year, the U.N. appealed for $190 million to assist 1.8 million vulnerable people in government and non-government areas in eastern Ukraine.
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Hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war in a pre-dawn Thursday televised address, social media users living in countries near Ukraine began setting up online networks to support refugees.

By Friday evening, at least 100,000 people had signed up to various groups on Facebook and other platforms, offering their homes, money and carpools to Ukrainians escaping the Russian invasion.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians, mostly women and children, crossed into Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia as of Friday as Russian missiles pounded the capital of Kyiv and men of fighting age were told to remain.

Malgorzata Krentowska was one of many Poles who joined a 3,500-member Facebook group, “Ukraine, I’m helping you!,” to advertise an unused apartment in southern Poland.

“My grandmother was born there in 1912, and my mother used to tell me Russian fairy tales which I still remember fondly,” she wrote. “If anyone would like to stay there I can share the keys. There is cold running water and electricity.” 

Another Facebook group, “Aid to Ukraine,” has gained close to 104,000 members since it was set up by Polish entrepreneur Marta Lisowska a day earlier.

Lisowska told Reuters her mother’s death had prompted her to help people, and she soon hoped to welcome refugees into her old flat in Gdansk, on the Baltic coast.

Her friend Witold Wodzynski, who helps manage the group along with his wife, Sylwia, said Ukrainians had been positively surprised that so many Polish people wanted to help.

“Host a Sister,” a network that helps members accommodate one another for free, added 10,000 new members in the last week, according to the group’s Facebook page, as women from neighboring countries rushed to offer their homes. 

Meanwhile in Poznan, a 700-member group called “Kejterski Patrol” offered help to people fleeing with their dogs by temporarily housing and walking the animals. 
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Hundreds of Australians of Ukrainian descent joined those with Russian heritage to demonstrate against the Russian invasion of Ukraine in downtown Sydney on Friday.

It was an act of solidarity many thousands of kilometers away from the conflict in Ukraine.

Protesters held signs urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the killing.

The Australian government has joined the international condemnation of the Russian attack.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison also condemned China for undermining Western sanctions against Russia.

In early February, China’s president, Xi Jinping, and Putin agreed to boost trade ties.

Australia insists the agreement was aimed at undermining the United States’ network of global alliances and any sanctions that it would impose on Russia.

Morrison urged China to act responsibly.

“You don’t go and throw a lifeline to Russia in the middle of a period when they are invading another country,” he said. “That is simply unacceptable from the reports that we have seen, and I would urge all nations to say this is not a time to be easing trade restrictions with Russia. We should all be doing the exact opposite.”

A Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson suggested Thursday the attack should not be called an “invasion” because Russia was only targeting Ukrainian military bases.

Morrison had previously described Russian invaders as “thugs” and “bullies.”

Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton has said that China’s President Xi might be one of the few global leaders who could persuade his Russian counterpart to halt the invasion.

The Australian government will send medical supplies, financial support and military equipment, but not weapons, to Ukraine to help its fight against Russia.

The Russian embassy in the Australian capital, Canberra, has said sanctions imposed by Australia were “xenophobic.”
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International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan on Friday expressed his concern over the Russian invasion of Ukraine and said his court may investigate possible war crimes in the country.

“I have been closely following recent developments in and around Ukraine with increasing concern,” Khan said in a statement.

“I remind all sides conducting hostilities on the territory of Ukraine that my office may exercise its jurisdiction and investigate any act of genocide, crime against humanity or war crime committed within Ukraine.”

Following the Russian annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and the subsequent fighting in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government forces, Ukraine accepted ICC jurisdiction for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on its territory since February 2014.

In December 2020, the office of the prosecutor announced it had reason to believe war crimes and other crimes were committed during the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

The preliminary examination was closed, but a formal request to judges to open a full investigation has not been filed yet.

Judges must agree before an investigation can be opened.

In December last year, Khan said there was no update on the case when asked about progress of the examination.

Russia is not a member of the ICC and has opposed the ICC case.

However, the court can investigate alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Ukraine regardless of the nationality of the alleged perpetrators.
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After Russian troops invaded Ukraine Thursday morning, Americans took to the streets Thursday afternoon. Groups pleading for peace and for an end to the war protested across the country. VOA’s Senior Washington Correspondent Carolyn Presutti has our story.
Camera: Michael Eckels, Scott Stearns and Ihar Tsikhanenka
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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, all times EST:

12:10 a.m.: Facebook and rumors of “kill lists.”

12:03 a.m.: VOA’s Jeff Seldin on Vladimir Putin:

12:01 a.m.: Reuters reports that protests around the world denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Like many people in Ukraine today, we knew about the invasion before we could hear the bombs.

Around 5 a.m. our phones were pinging, with WhatsApp, Signal and Facebook posts: “We heard a blast in Kyiv. Blasts heard in Mariupol … bombs in Kramatorsk,” and so on.

By the time we could hear bombing in the distance from our hotel in Slovyansk, a quiet town about 20 kilometers from the nearest place of military significance, we were not surprised. In fact, we were already planning our departure, thinking someplace farther from the battle zones would be safer.

Within the next hour, our translator told us it was too dangerous for her to work, and several drivers wisely said they would not risk being separated from their families during this crisis.

By 8 a.m. the streets began to fill, with crowds gathered outside grocery stores and pharmacies, and forming long lines near ATMs. Dasha, a young mother who traveled 30 kilometers to a cash machine, said she left her husband and daughter in her rural home early that morning, after the bombing subsided.

“We are preparing,” she said. “But we hope nothing will happen.”

What did happen may not have surprised some world leaders, but it sent shockwaves through Ukraine. In the morning hours after the bombs, Russian forces entered through multiple borders.

By around noon we made it to Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, not far from the usually peaceful border with Russia. One of the few hotels still open was fully booked, and most businesses were closed.

As we searched our social media and called friends, colleagues and contacts around the country to find out where we could go, we met Anton, who said he was an oncologist and had a brother traveling a few hours out of the city. Russian forces, he said, were on their way.

“If you stay here,” Anton said, “In two hours you will be in Russia.”

What we saw

After about two hours, videographer Yan Boechat and I were on the road to Kyiv with an enthusiastic young driver, Igor. Along the road we saw a bus on fire, with black smoke billowing into the sky across the street from an abandoned military truck.

A few blocks later, locals gathered around a house that appeared to have been bombed not long before and was now on fire. Some soldiers loitered around other military trucks, appearing uncertain what to do.

The road to Kyiv was not a great option because of reports of early-morning bombings and expected evening clashes. But it was, as far as we could tell, the only option that did not include running headfirst into Russian forces.

Hours later . . .

We’ve now been traveling toward the capital on backroads for many hours without seeing any incidents. We’ve also heard that Russia is pausing hostilities, presumably to renegotiate with a stronger hand. But to be clear, the exact movements and objectives of the Russian forces are not clear at this time. There were videos of Russian tanks entering Ukraine this morning but we didn’t see pictures of the advancing Russian army circulating on social media.

We have seen Ukrainian tanks and heavy artillery moving mostly toward the border, but we’ve also heard that after the chaos of the day, cities and towns bombed early this morning are now quiet. Colleagues who stayed back in Kharkiv hoping to get pictures of Russian soldiers rolling into a Ukranian city are disappointed but relatively safe and comfortable.

About 150 kilometers outside Kyiv we stopped at a gas station and minimart for sandwiches and coffee. The bright room selling snacks, gifts and imported wines and beers was a little crowded and definitely relaxed. Three female soldiers washed their faces in the bathroom sink and Yan, the videographer, commented on the atmosphere after such a tense day.

“This is what I like to see,” he said.

What’s next?

While this evening feels like a respite from weeks of buildup and this terrible day of danger, the war is far from over, and perhaps has only begun. Russian rhetoric has heightened in recent days, with President Vladimir Putin going as far as suggesting Ukraine and Russia are one country by nature.

Even before Putin made this speech, we heard locals speak vehemently against the idea, and some matter-of-factly for it. Activists in Kyiv told us Russians wished to eliminate them, their language and their culture. Families along the border with Russia near Kharkiv told us Russian is their language; their relatives live in Russia, and they do not feel strongly about who controls their area.

Which is not to say any part of Ukraine presents a monolith of ideas. In a village by the border, two women in a store selling clothes, appliances and office supplies talked about Russia as a “brotherly country” and said the only danger the two sides face is further separation. Extended families already are unable to cross to see relatives across the border, and the 30 passenger trains that used to cross daily haven’t operated since 2014.

Outside the shop, Roman, a 48-year-old grandfather, said he would fight for Ukraine against Russia if he could. When he was 9, he fell from a tree and lost one arm, he said, making it impossible to fight.

But Roman said he has two brothers, one who supports Russia and would be happy to see it control their portion of Ukraine. His other brother, like himself, supports Ukraine and its sovereign rights.

“We just can’t get along with our pro-Russian brother,” Roman said.
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It was among the most worrying developments on an already shocking day, as Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday: warfare at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, where radioactivity is still leaking from a nuclear disaster 36 years ago. 

Russian forces took control of the site after a fierce battle with the Ukrainian national guards protecting the decommissioned plant, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told The Associated Press. The condition of the plant’s facilities, a confinement shelter and a repository for nuclear waste is unknown, he said.  

An official familiar with current assessments said Russian shelling hit a radioactive waste repository at Chernobyl, and an increase in radiation levels was reported. The increase could not be immediately corroborated. 

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, a 2,600-square-kilometer (1,000-square-mile) zone of forest surrounding the shuttered plant, lies between the Belarus-Ukraine border and the Ukrainian capital. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian officers fought to defend it, “so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated.” He called it a “declaration of war against the whole of Europe.” 

Podolyak said that after an “absolutely senseless attack … it is impossible to say that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is safe.” He warned that Russian authorities could blame Ukraine for damage to the site or stage provocations from there. 

Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashenko warned that any attack on the waste repository could send radioactive dust over “the territory of Ukraine, Belarus and countries of the EU.” 

Russian officials, who have revealed little of their operations in Ukraine and not revealed their goals, did not publicly comment on the battle. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency said it is following the situation in Ukraine “with grave concern” and appealed for maximum restraint to avoid any action that may put Ukraine’s nuclear facilities at risk. 

Rafael Mariano Grossi, the IAEA’s general director, said Ukraine has informed the Vienna-based agency that “unidentified armed forces” have taken control of all facilities at the plant and that there had been no casualties or destruction at the industrial site. Grossi said it is “of vital importance that the safe and secure operations of the nuclear facilities in that zone should not be affected or disrupted in any way.” 

Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, said, “I can’t imagine how it would be in Russia’s interest to allow any facilities at Chernobyl to be damaged.” 

In an interview, Lyman said he is most worried about spent fuel stored at the site, which has not been active since 2000. If the power to cooling pumps is disrupted or fuel-storage tanks are damaged, the results could be catastrophic, he said. 

Reactor No. 4 at the power plant exploded and caught fire deep in the night on April 26, 1986, shattering the building and spewing radioactive material high into the sky. 

Soviet authorities made the catastrophe even worse by failing to tell the public what had happened, angering European governments and the Soviet people. The 2 million residents of Kyiv weren’t informed despite the fallout danger, and the world learned of the disaster only after heightened radiation was detected in Sweden. 

The building containing the exploded reactor was covered in 2017 by an enormous shelter aimed at containing radiation still leaking from the accident. Robots inside the shelter work to dismantle the destroyed reactor and gather up the radioactive waste. 

It’s expected to take until 2064 to finish dismantling the reactors. Ukraine decided to use the deserted zone as the site for its centralized storage facility for spent fuel from the country’s other remaining nuclear power plants.  

Germany’s vice chancellor and economy minister, Robert Habeck, told The Associated Press that Russia would not need to obtain nuclear material from Chernobyl if it wanted to use it for any purpose, because it has enough such material of its own. 

 
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Russian police detained more than 1,300 anti-war protestors in 50 Russian cities Thursday, according to OVD-Info, an independent Russian human rights group.

Anti-war rallies broke out after a military operation targeting Ukraine was announced. The human rights organization said most of the detentions, 660, were in Moscow.

The group said arrests were also made in Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and other cities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin used a televised address to announce what he called a “special” military operation in eastern Ukraine, in response to what he termed Ukrainian threats. He warned other countries not to intervene, declaring they will face “consequences they have never seen” if they do.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the government was introducing martial law throughout the country after “Russia treacherously attacked our state in the morning, as Nazi Germany did in the World War Two years.”

NATO is bolstering its military presence to defend allied countries in eastern Europe, if necessary, the military alliance said hours after Russian forces invaded Ukraine.

U.S. President Joe Biden said the people of Ukraine were suffering “an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces,” adding, “The world will hold Russia accountable.”
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President Joe Biden announced additional sanctions that “will impose severe costs on the Russian economy” following its invasion of Ukraine.  

“Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war and now he and his country will bear the consequences,” Biden said from the White House Thursday.

Watch President Biden’s press conference:

The new sanctions will target Russian banks, oligarchs and high-tech sectors

Earlier, a U.S. Defense official said Russia has “every intention” of overthrowing the Ukrainian government with President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the neighboring country on Thursday.

“What we are seeing is initial phases of a large-scale invasion,” a senior Pentagon official told reporters. “They’re making a move on Kyiv.”

“They have every intention of decapitating the Ukraine government,” the official said.

The official said the first Russian assault involved more than 100 short-range ballistic missiles, but also medium-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and surface-to-air missiles. The missiles were targeted at military sites — airfields, barracks and warehouses.

The United States has “seen indications” that Ukrainian troops “are resisting and fighting back,” the official said. 

Putin launched the invasion early Thursday in the biggest European onslaught since the end of World War II, attacking Ukrainian forces in the disputed eastern region and launching missiles on several key cities, including the capital, Kyiv.   

Putin called it a “special military operation” aimed at the “demilitarization and denazification” of its southern neighbor, once a Soviet republic but an independent country since 1991.   

Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and Reuters.
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Russian authorities on Thursday warned anti-war sympathizers from gathering for protests after President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine.

The Investigative Committee, a government body that investigates major crimes, warned Russians of legal repercussions for joining unsanctioned protests related to “the tense foreign political situation.”

It said it was responding to social media calls to protest against Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine.

“One should be aware of the negative legal consequences of these actions in the form of prosecution up to criminal liability,” it said.

The Russian interior ministry said it will take “all necessary measures to ensure public order.”

Russia has strict protest laws and demonstrations often end in mass arrests.

Some Russians called on social media for people to take to the streets to protest against the Ukraine attack.

Independent rights monitor, OVD-info, said at least 27 people had been arrested throughout Russia for holding anti-war protests.

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said earlier on Thursday that he was against the invasion in a speech during his trial, held behind bars.

“I am against this war,” Navalny was heard saying in a video published by independent news outlet Dozhd.

“This war between Russia and Ukraine was unleashed to cover up the theft from Russian citizens and divert their attention from problems that exist inside the country,” Navalny said.
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U.S. lawmakers condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine early Thursday, calling on the Biden administration to act swiftly to address the first full-scale war in Europe in more than 70 years.

“History will prove Vladimir Putin’s decision to sacrifice the lives of countless Ukrainians and Russians was made out of fear — fear of allowing a neighboring independent, sovereign nation to pursue democracy and freedom,” said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez in a statement early Thursday.

“This unprovoked attack has brought into sharp focus the need to expel the current Kremlin leadership from the international community. Today must mark a historical shift in how the world views and deals with the despot in Moscow,” he continued.

In a speech late Wednesday, Putin rationalized the unprovoked attack on the independent eastern European nation claiming, without evidence. that a genocide was occurring in Ukraine and calling for the “de-Nazification” of the country, which is led by an elected Jewish president.

The top-ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Jim Risch, said the Russian bombardment of cities in Ukraine was “a premeditated and flagrant act of war. Despite committed efforts to find a diplomatic solution, Putin has violated the border of a sovereign country.”

Earlier this year, both Menendez and Risch introduced legislation sanctioning Russia for a possible invasion of Ukraine.

As Putin massed troops at the Ukraine border in recent weeks, U.S. lawmakers struggled to reach an agreement on sanctions legislation. Republicans favored triggering sanctions earlier to deter Putin while Democrats favored the Biden administration approach of working in concert with European allies to negotiate a diplomatic solution.

Now that a full-scale Russian invasion has begun, there are several options at the disposal of lawmakers, including $750 million in aid for Ukraine in the 2022 omnibus spending bill and as much as $1 billion in humanitarian aid.

The U.S. Congress is on recess this week and not set to return to Washington until Monday. But lawmakers will receive an unclassified phone briefing from administration officials later on Thursday.

Congressional Republicans have criticized the Biden administration for not acting forcefully enough to deter Putin from the invasion and warned about the consequences of the United States appearing weak on the international stage.

However House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republican Michael McCaul, House Armed Services Committee Lead Republican Mike Rogers and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Lead Republican Mike Turner issued a statement putting the blame for the violence in Ukraine squarely on the Russian president.

“Every drop of Ukrainian and Russian blood spilled in this conflict is on Putin’s hands, and his alone,” they wrote. “In response, we are committed to enacting the strongest possible sanctions and export controls to cripple Russia’s ability to make war, punish its barbarity and relegate the Putin regime to the status of an international pariah. We cannot respond like we did in 2008 or 2014.”

Lawmakers called on Biden to impose the toughest possible sanctions on Putin ahead of an expected speech to the nation at midday U.S. time. Republican Senator Rob Portman, the co-chair of the Ukraine Caucus, said in a statement, “We can and we must cripple Russia’s military by starving it of financing. Next, we must impose export and import controls, especially of vital electronic goods like semiconductors. Doing so could restrict the tools Russia needs to manufacture and resupply its military.”

Portman also called for increased military support to Ukraine and other U.S. allies in the region, including supplying anti-tank, anti-ship and anti-aircraft weaponry.

While some wings of both the Republican and Democratic parties have expressed concern about the U.S. being drawn into a ground conflict in Ukraine, Biden has repeatedly stated the U.S. will not commit its own troops to the conflict.
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Stocks plunged and oil prices surged by more than $5 per barrel Thursday after President Vladimir Putin launched military action in Ukraine, prompting Washington and Europe to vow sanctions on Moscow that may roil the global economy.

Market benchmarks in Europe and Asia fell by as much as 4% as traders tried to figure out how large Putin’s incursion would be and the scale of Western retaliation. Wall Street futures retreated by an unusually wide daily margin of 2.5%.

Brent crude oil briefly jumped above $100 per barrel in London for the first time since 2014 on unease about possible disruption of supplies from Russia, the No. 3 producer. Benchmark U.S. crude briefly surpassed $98 per barrel. Prices of wheat and corn also jumped.

The ruble sank 7.5% against the dollar.

Financial markets are in a “flight to safety and may have to price in slower growth” due to high energy costs, Chris Turner and Francesco Pesole of ING said in a report.

In Brussels, the president of the European Commission said Thursday the 27-nation European Union planned “massive and targeted sanctions” on Russia.

“We will hold President Putin accountable,” Ursula von der Leyen said.

In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London fell 2.5% to 7,311.69 as Europe awakened to news of explosions in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, the major city of Kharkiv and other areas. The DAX in Frankfurt plunged 4% to 14,047.18 and the CAC in Paris lost 3.6% to 6,537.32.

The futures for Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were off 2%.

That was on top of Wednesday’s 1.8% slide for the S&P 500 to an eight-month low after the Kremlin said rebels in eastern Ukraine had asked for military assistance. Moscow had sent soldiers to some rebel-held areas after recognizing them as independent.

Putin said Russia had to protect civilians in eastern Ukraine, a claim Washington had predicted he would make to justify an invasion.

President Joe Biden denounced the attack as “unprovoked and unjustified” and said Moscow would be held accountable, which many took to mean Washington and its allies would impose additional sanctions. Putin accused them of ignoring Russia’s demand to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO and to offer Moscow security guarantees.

Washington, Britain, Japan and the EU earlier imposed sanctions on Russian banks, officials and business leaders. Additional options include barring Russia from the global system for bank transactions.

Prices of benchmark U.S. and international oils hovered near $100 per barrel.

West Texas Intermediate soared $5.86 to $97.96 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 25 cents to $92.10 on Wednesday.

Brent crude advanced $5.57 to $99.62 per barrel in London after spiking above $100. It lost 20 cents to $94.05 the previous session.

In Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo fell 1.8% to 25,970.82 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 3.2% to 22,901.56. The Shanghai Composite Index shed 1.7% to 3,429.96.

Asian economies face lower risks than Europe does, but those that need imported oil might be hit by higher prices if Russian supplies are disrupted, forecasters say.

The Kospi in Seoul lost 2.6% to 2,648.80 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 fell 3% to 6,990.60.

India’s Sensex fell 3.4% to 55,283.65. New Zealand lost 3.3% and Southeast Asian markets also fell.

Investors already were uneasy about the possible impact of the Federal Reserve’s plans to try to cool inflation by withdrawing ultra-low interest rates and other stimulus that boosted share prices.

The dollar weakened to 114.68 yen from Wednesday’s 114.98 yen. The euro fell to $1.1243 from $1.1306.
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Russia fired missiles at more than half a dozen Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, targeting air defense facilities and military infrastructure just before dawn Thursday and landed soldiers on the country’s south coast. The action unfolded shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on television what he described as a “special military operation,” but what Ukrainian leaders say is a full-scale invasion of their country, the second biggest in Europe.

In an angry address broadcast just before 6 a.m. Moscow time, Russia’s president said he could no longer tolerate what he called the threats from Ukraine. He ended his speech warning outside powers not to interfere. He said his goal was the “demilitarization and de-Nazification of Ukraine.” He added: “We will bring to court those who have committed many crimes, responsible for the bloodshed of civilians, including Russian citizens,” he said.

Putin warned that if Ukrainian soldiers don’t lay down their weapons, they would be responsible for bloodshed.

Shortly after he spoke, intense rocket fire could be heard in the eastern city of Kharkiv and then sporadic rumbling explosions could be heard coming from the outskirts of Kyiv, from the direction of the capital’s main Boryspil international airport and its second airport at Zhuliany.

“Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes,” Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter. “This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now,” added Kuleba.

Within hours of the missile attacks, Russian tanks rolled across Ukraine’s borders, from Russia, Belarus and from Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula Moscow annexed in 2014. Ukrainian officials said amphibious Russian forces landed near Odesa on the Black Sea coast.

Ukraine’s State Border Guards said Lukansk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Zhytomyr and Chernihiv oblasts have come under attack. And they said Russian forces were crossing into Ukraine from Crimea.

Ukraine’s response

Broadcasting from his phone, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Ukrainians he would declare martial law and, urging Ukrainians to stay home, he said: “Don’t panic. We are strong. We are ready for everything. We will defeat everyone. Because we are Ukraine.”

But as the tanks rolled into Ukraine, they appeared to be facing little coordinated initial resistance and Russia broadened its air assault firing Cruise missiles at military airports in western Ukraine.

Ukrainian military officials said they shot down five Russian warplanes and a helicopter.

In Kyiv, the city administration issued an airstrike warning and sounded sirens several hours after the city’s airports were struck. The first explosions could be heard from downtown Kyiv just before 5 a.m., local time. The blasts sounded a long way off and then came in short flurries. Television footage later showed fires raging at Boryspil.

Other cities issued warnings and in Lviv on the Polish border, where many European embassies relocated to earlier this month, air-raid sirens sounded. The wide-ranging offensive took many by surprise here in Kyiv and as the attack unfolded, the city’s early morning commute got under way and only thinned out as startled workers began to understand that the long-feared invasion was getting under way.

Hotels in Kyiv quickly emptied with guests checking out in droves. “Everything is OK,” said a worker in a fitness spa in one five-star hotel in the city center. “Keep calm,” she added. By there were few pedestrians on the streets of the city — with only dog-walkers loitering. Couples could be seen pulling their luggage. One young woman struggling with a huge bag was asked where she was going: “Away,” she responded.

Blasts were more intense and concentrated in eastern Ukraine, on the borders of Moscow’s breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. Local residents reported four loud blasts early Thursday in Kramatorsk, which serves as the Ukrainian government’s de facto capital in the Donbas region. Blasts were also reported in the southeastern port city of Mariupol.

Britain’s ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons, tweeted a “wholly unprovoked attack” on Ukraine was starting. She added: “A wholly unprovoked attack on a peaceful country, Ukraine, is unfolding. Horrified. Just because you’ve prepared and thought about this possibility for weeks and months doesn’t mean it isn’t shocking when it actually happens.”

In some Ukrainian towns there were reports civilians rushed to bomb shelters as dawn broke.

Russia’s defense ministry claimed it was using “high-precision weaponry to take out Ukrainian military infrastructure, air defense, aerodromes, and aviation.”

Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said the initial assault had led to hundreds of casualties. Roads leading out of Kyiv were soon clogged with families packed into cars and determined to head for Lviv in the west.
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Facing criticism that its initial package of sanctions on Russia was not severe enough, the Biden administration on Wednesday both defended its actions and announced an expansion of the penalties, which are meant to deter what appears to be an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On Wednesday afternoon, in a statement released by the White House, President Joe Biden announced that he had included Nord Stream 2 AG, the company that built a controversial natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, as well as its senior executives, on the list of entities being sanctioned.

The move came a day after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that his government would not certify the pipeline, a necessary step in making it operational. The U.S. sanctions effectively prevent a reversal of Scholz’s decision, because it would subject any company doing business with Nord Stream 2 to U.S. sanctions.

“These steps are another piece of our initial tranche of sanctions in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine,” Biden said. “As I have made clear, we will not hesitate to take further steps if Russia continues to escalate.”

Also Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a news conference that the measures the U.S. and its allies have taken will result in a “vicious feedback loop” that will damage Russia’s economy by raising interest rates, encouraging investors to flee Russian assets and weakening the Russian ruble against other currencies.

Initial response criticized

Biden and his administration faced sharp criticism Tuesday, after announcing sanctions on two Russian banks and a handful of wealthy Russian citizens, and imposing restrictions on the purchase of Russia’s sovereign debt.

The measures fell far short of the devastating response that the Biden administration had spent weeks warning Russia to expect and drew criticism from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

In an appearance on CNN, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez, a Democrat, said, “I think you should use the overwhelming amount of (sanctions) now. You may reserve something like what I call the ‘mother of all sanctions,’ unplugging Russia from the SWIFT financial system. But at the end of the day, when is it that we’re going to be clear to Putin that there are severe consequences for what he’s doing?”

Marsha Blackburn, a Republican senator from Tennessee, said in a statement, “Joe Biden has refused to take meaningful action, and his weakness has emboldened Moscow.”

Expert sees merit in both approaches

There are reasonable arguments for both the incremental approach to sanctions and a “shock and awe” approach that puts them all in place at the same time, said Daniel Ahn, a global fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington and a former chief economist for the U.S. Department of State.

On the incrementalist side, he said, the argument is that, “You may want to keep some ammunition in reserve in case of different contingencies, and also to achieve as much political consensus as possible, both domestically and internationally.”

On the side of full implementation, he said, the argument is that incrementalism weakens the signaling effect of sanctions and “gives time for adjustments to be made” by Russia.

However, Ahn said, the difference between the ultimate effects of each approach may not be as great as advocates think.

“As long as there is a sense of uncertainty, or market expectation that there could be future sanctions coming online, that already has a bit of a chilling effect on existing economic and financial activity,” he said. “The risk or uncertainty that sanctions could impose could deter a lot of private sector behavior, which is where the bite of sanctions come from. So, I think from an actual impact perspective, there’s less daylight between the two (approaches) than people think.”

More steps possible

After announcing what it described as the “first tranche” of sanctions Tuesday, the White House said that more would be coming.

In an appearance on CNN Wednesday morning, Daleep Singh, a deputy national security adviser, repeated that assurance.

“Yesterday was a demonstration effect,” he said. “And that demonstration effect will go higher and higher. Russia is already feeling the pain, and let’s remember the bigger purpose. Our purpose is not to max out on sanctions. That serves no purpose to itself. Our purpose is to prevent a large-scale invasion and … seizure of large cities in Ukraine. Our purpose is to prevent human suffering that could involve tens of thousands of casualties. And our purpose is to prevent a puppet regime from taking over in Kyiv that bends to the will of Moscow. That’s what this is all about.”

Incremental approach

The administration’s response may have been affected by the limited nature of the actions Putin took on Monday. U.S. officials have, for weeks, been warning that a massive invasion of Ukraine was imminent, pointing to the more than 150,000 Russian troops positioned on its borders.

Putin on Monday announced that Russia had recognized the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk, two Ukrainian provinces that are partially controlled by Russian-backed separatists. He also said that he would send troops, which he characterized as “peacekeepers,” into the two provinces, although on Wednesday it remained unclear whether Russian soldiers had crossed the border.

In a background briefing Tuesday, a senior administration official characterized Russia’s steps as “the beginning of an invasion” and said the first round of sanctions should be seen as “the beginning of our response.”

U.S. consulting with allies

The sanctions announced by the United States are in addition to similar sanctions being levied by the European Union, United Kingdom, and other U.S. allies. In the U.K., in particular, there have been calls to sanction wealthy Russian oligarchs, many of whom own property in London.

In a statement Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman spoke with representatives of France, Germany, Italy and the U.K.

“The deputy secretary and her counterparts underscored that Russia’s flagrant disregard for international law demands a severe response from the international community and agreed to coordinate closely on next steps, including massive additional economic sanctions, should Russia continue to escalate its aggression against Ukraine,” Price said. “They highlighted their continuing commitment to diplomacy, while reiterating that progress can only be made in an environment of de-escalation.”
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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

For the latest developments of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, all times EST:

12:39 a.m.: VOA’s Jamie Dettmer in Kyiv: “Bigger explosion near center of Kyiv. Officials tell me Russians are targeting military infrastructure with Cruise missiles. Also told Russian troops have landed near the port city of Odessa in south. Reports also from officials of Russian soldiers appearing near Kharkiv. Ukrainian officials say there have been hundreds of casuistries. They think the Russians are targeting air defense systems. The weird thing is the morning commute is underway and some people are heading to work in Kyiv.”

12:37 a.m.: VOA’s Eastern Europe Chief Myroslava Gongadze reports Ukrainians will be gathering outside the Russian Embassy in Washington at 1 a.m. EST.

12:15 a.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared martial law Thursday across the country. He urged his countrymen not to panic and said he had spoken to U.S President Joe Biden.

Biden confirmed their conversation via Twitter.

VOA’s Jamie Dettmer tweets about what he’s seeing in Kyiv this morning.

12 a.m.: After the United Nations Security Council’s meeting late Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield a draft resolution would be put on the table Thursday.

A European diplomat said security council members are discussing a resolution that will make clear that Russia is not complying with the U.N. Charter, international law, or council resolution 2202.

Russia would be expected to veto such a measure, but a strong number of members voting for it would increase Moscow’s isolation in the council. Diplomats would then likely move quickly to the General Assembly where it could be adopted without a threat of veto, but with no legal backing.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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White House officials have called the latest package of sanctions against Russia “a severe action,” with President Joe Biden saying the economic restrictions will “cut off Russia’s government from Western financing” — powerful claims that some critics and even some Biden allies say are overblown and will do little to stop President Vladimir Putin on his military push toward Ukraine.

The package of U.S. sanctions announced Tuesday and Wednesday include several elements: action to block Russia’s revenue-raising Nord Stream 2 pipeline plus sanctions on two large banks, Russia’s sovereign debt, and a handful of elites with ties to Putin.

Any problem solved?

China, which is Russia’s largest trading partner, came out hard against the very concept of sanctions Wednesday. China, as a rule, follows a policy of noninterference in the internal affairs of other states.

“Our position is that sanctions are never fundamentally effective means to solve problems,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying. “We consistently oppose all illegal unilateral sanctions.”

She cited U.S. Treasury data showing the U.S. has increased its use of sanctions tenfold in the last two decades, and asked, rhetorically: “Have the U.S. sanctions solved any problem? Is the world a better place because of those sanctions? Will the Ukraine issue resolve itself thanks to the U.S. sanctions on Russia? Will European security be better guaranteed thanks to the U.S. sanctions on Russia? … I would also like to point out that the illegal unilateral sanctions by some countries including the U.S. have caused severe difficulties to relevant countries’ economy and livelihood.”

But analyst Chris Miller of the American Enterprise Institute predicted that these sanctions would not do much to Putin’s bottom line.

“The sanctions announced [Tuesday] — notably the sovereign debt sanctions — will have a minor, negative macroeconomic impact on Russia,” he told VOA.

Anti-corruption campaigners have lobbied the administration to target several dozen members of Putin’s inner circle.

“Existing sanctions don’t reach enough of the right people,” Vladimir Ashurkov, director of the Moscow-based Anti-Corruption Foundation, said in a January letter to Biden. “The West must sanction the decision-makers who have made it national policy to rig elections, steal from the budget, and poison. It must also sanction the people who hold their money. Anything less will fail to make the regime change its behavior.”

He was referring to allegations that Putin ordered security officials to poison now-jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The sanctions announced Tuesday target three men from Ashurkov’s list of 35: top intelligence official Aleksandr Bortnikov, whom Ashurkov described as the man “responsible inter alia for the attempted poisoning of Alexei Navalny”;  Bortnikov’s son Denis, who is the deputy president and chairman of the Russian state-owned VTB Bank; and Sergei Kiriyenko, a top official in Putin’s office. Ashurkov accuses Denis Bortnikov of “acting as a wallet for his father’s ill-gotten gains.”

The administration also leveled sanctions at Petr Fradkov, chairman of Promsvyazbank, one of the two banks that the administration has sanctioned.

Wiggle room

Jennifer Erickson, an associate professor of political science and international studies at Boston College, said the administration’s decision to impose limited measures at this time could leave it room to seek a diplomatic solution.

“There’s a lot more that the United States could do if they wanted to take really firm, strong action,” she told VOA. “So it’s leaving room to maneuver. And I think there’s a dilemma there for the U.S. You know, do you go really strong now, and hope to make the cost really high to stop further action from Russia? Or do you wait and leave room to sort of escalate your sanctions as Russia might escalate its actions, give it room to back down?”

Administration officials indicated that they were trying to leave space for diplomacy.

“No one should think that it’s our goal to max out on sanctions,” said Daleep Singh, deputy White House national security adviser for international economics. “Sanctions are not an end to themselves.  They serve a higher purpose. And that purpose is to deter and prevent.”

But in Washington, where Biden faces political pressure, that moderation has drawn out his critics.

Republican Senator Ben Sasse described the package as “too little, too late,” arguing that the sanctions should have been issued before Putin ordered troops into the Ukrainian border regions of Luhansk and Donetsk regions — a move that Biden characterized as “the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

“We shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that today’s incremental sanctions will deter Putin from trying to install a puppet government in Kyiv,” Sasse said.

But perhaps the biggest, loudest criticism came from the nation in Putin’s crosshairs.

“First decisive steps were taken yesterday, and we are grateful for them,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted. “Now the pressure needs to step up to stop Putin. Hit his economy and cronies. Hit more. Hit hard. Hit now.” 
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