Meanwhile, the Russian economy is coming under increasing pressure from Western sanctions.
These are the most important events of the last few hours, at the beginning of the sixth day of the Russian attack on Ukraine:
Military operations continue
– A long Russian military convoy on the outskirts of Kiev that had recently been detected by satellite images is larger than initially thought, the UNIAN agency reported. According to satellite images from Maxar Technologies, which regularly reports on the military situation in Russia, the column reaches 64 kilometers and consists of armored cars, artillery and other vehicles.
– The Russian assault on the city of Kherson, in southern Ukraine, began last night, the State Service for Communications and Information Protection reported on its official Telegram account. “The assault on Kherson has begun. According to witnesses, the enemy advances from the airport to the Nikolaev highway and the ring road near the refrigeration plant », he noted.
Previously, the Regional Administration of Kherson, a city of almost 300,000 inhabitants and located in southern Ukraine, on the shores of the Black Sea and next to the Dnieper River, reported a concentration of Russian soldiers near the Shumen district.
– In Mariupol, on the shores of the Black Sea, the State Service for Communications and Information Protection stated that the city is under the control of the Ukrainian Army, but as a result of the Russian air attack it was practically without power.
– In Okhtyrka, in the Sumy region (northeast), more than 70 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians were killed in shelling by the enemy with multiple Grad launchers, the head of the Sumy Regional Military Administration, Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, wrote on Facebook.
Russia negotiates but continues to bomb
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukraine has received “some signals” from Russia during the negotiation between representatives of the two countries on Monday, but it is still not the result he would like to have.
“So far, we do not have the result that we would like to have. Russia has expressed her points, we ours to end the war. We get some signals. When the delegation returns to Kiev, we will analyze what we have heard and then decide how to proceed to the second round,” Zelensky said, commenting on the result of the meeting on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border.
Zelenski denounced that while the negotiations continued, the hostilities in Ukraine did not cease.
China evacuates first Chinese citizens from Ukraine
China evacuated the first group of Chinese citizens from Ukraine on Monday, including 200 students residing in Kiev and 400 in Odessa, and plans to remove another thousand Chinese nationals from the country on Tuesday, the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine reported, quoted today by the local newspaper Global Times.
According to the Embassy, other surrounding countries such as Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland will assist Chinese citizens entering their territory, temporarily guaranteeing them visa-free entry.
UN opens special session on Ukraine
The UN General Assembly opened a special emergency session on Ukraine on Monday, in which the West seeks to diplomatically isolate Russia by endorsing a condemnation of its invasion with the widest possible support.
The General Assembly – the body in which the 193 Member States of the United Nations sit – will vote throughout the week, probably on Wednesday, a resolution similar to the one that Moscow vetoed last Friday in the Council of Security. Unlike there, in the Assembly no country has veto power, so the text only needs to gather the support of two-thirds of the chamber to go ahead.
Putin tells Macron that the solution to the conflict involves recognizing “Russia’s legitimate interests” in security matters
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, in a telephone conversation that a solution to the conflict with Ukraine would only be possible if Russia’s “legitimate interests in security matters are taken into account, including its sovereignty over Crimea”, illegally annexed in 2014, as well as the “demilitarization and denazification” of the Ukrainian state, as well as its neutral status.
Entrepreneurs sanctioned
The owner of the Dia supermarkets, Mikhail Fridman, and the CEO of Rosneft, one of the largest crude oil producers, Igor Sechin, are on the list of twenty-six oligarchs, businessmen, soldiers and journalists sanctioned by the European Union for the attack by Russia to Ukraine.
Heading the list is Sechin, CEO of Rosneft, the Russian state oil company; followed by Nikolay Tokarev, CEO of Transneft, a major Russian oil and gas company; and by Alisher Usmanov, “one of Putin’s favorite oligarchs” and supposed “front man”, for whom “he has solved his business problems”, reads the Official Journal of the EU.
The list continues with Petr Aven, another of Putin’s “closest” oligarchs and “one of the fifty or so rich who meet regularly” with him; as well as Mikhail Fridman, “known as one of the main financiers of Russia and facilitator of the inner circle” of the Russian president.
Mastercard blocks its financial operations to comply with sanctions
The American financial services multinational Mastercard has blocked several institutions from its payment network to comply with international sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
Michael Miebach, the president of the New York-based company, said in a statement that he will continue “working with regulators in the coming days to fully comply” with the company’s obligations in relation to the international sanctions imposed.
Mastercard thus joins companies such as Visa, the oil companies BP and Shell, the parcel services company Fedex, UPS and DHL, or the shipping company Maersk in canceling or suspending its activities in Russia in response to sanctions to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his invasion of Ukraine.
The US declares twelve diplomats of the Russian mission to the UN not welcome
The United States declared twelve diplomats from the Russian mission to the United Nations persona non grata Monday, whom it accuses of “espionage” and gave them until March 7 to leave the country.
The information was advanced by the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vasili Nebenzia, who said that this is “sad news” and a sign that the US is not respecting the agreements with the United Nations on its role as host state of the organization, which is headquartered in New York.
Shortly after, the United States confirmed the decision and defended that it does not in any way fail to fulfill its responsibilities as the host country.
According to a US statement, those twelve people are “intelligence agents” who have “abused their residency privileges in the United States by engaging in espionage activities that are detrimental to our national security.”
Putin bans transferring currency abroad
Russian President Vladimir Putin today prohibited the transfer of foreign currency abroad and ordered companies with economic activities abroad in the framework of foreign trade to convert 80% of their income into rubles, according to a decree signed Monday by the president to defend Russia from Western sanctions.
“As of February 28, residents who participate in economic activities abroad must carry out the mandatory sale of foreign currency in the amount of 80 percent of the amount of foreign currency credited in their accounts under foreign trade contracts with non-residents. », indicates the decree.
The text also prohibits carrying out “exchange operations related to the provision by residents in favor of non-residents of foreign currency” and transferring foreign currency to accounts opened in banks and other financial market organizations outside Russia.
Disney will not release its films in Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine
The Walt Disney Company announced on Monday that it will not release its new films in Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine. “Given the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the tragic humanitarian crisis, we will pause the release of our films in Russia, including Pixar’s upcoming ‘Turning Red’,” the company said in a statement. The company added that it “will make future business decisions” as the situation evolves and assured that it will provide humanitarian assistance through other collaborating NGOs.
