Latest updates as of 8:40 a.m. EST on Monday:
Talks to secure an immediate ceasefire are underway in Belarus with Ukraine and Russia officials.The United States has blocked Americans from engaging in any transactions involving Russia’s central bank, National Wealth Fund and the finance ministry in further punishment of Moscow.The U.S. State Department has closed its embassy in Belarus, and is allowing non-essential staff at the U.S. Embassy in Russia to leave the country due to the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian and Russian officials began talks in Belarus on Monday to bring Moscow’s invasion of the eastern European nation to an end.
Though the talks are underway, war rages on between the two nations on the fifth day of the campaign, which began last Thursday after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale attack on Ukraine.
Talks began with the aim of an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian forces, the Ukrainian president’s office has said, after Russia’s advance has gone more slowly than expected.
Five days in, Russian forces have seized two small cities in southeastern Ukraine, and the Zaporizhzhya area, which is home to a nuclear power plant, the Interfax news agency said on Monday. Ukraine has denied the nuclear plant has fallen into Russian hands, according to the news agency.
Russian forces are closing in on Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, but have yet to take the city. Ukrainian resistance has been stiff throughout the country.
The talks are being held on the border with strong Russian ally Belarus, where a referendum on Sunday approved a new constitution ditching the country’s non-nuclear status at a time when the former Soviet republic has become a launchpad for Russian troops invading Ukraine.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov (4L), Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky (2R) and other members of the both delegations enter a hall for the talks in Belarus’ Gomel region on Feb. 28 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Sergei Kholodilin/Belta/AFP via Getty Images
A senior U.S. intelligence official told The Associated Press that Belarus is expected to send troops into Ukraine as soon as Monday to fight alongside Russian forces.
The American official has direct knowledge of current U.S. intelligence assessments and said the decision by Belarus’ leader on whether to bring Belarus further into the war depends on the talks between Russia and Ukraine. The official spoke anonymously to discuss the sensitive information.
Amid the development, the U.S. State Department closed the U.S. Embassy in Belarus and is allowing non-essential staff at the U.S. Embassy in Russia to leave the country due to the war in Ukraine.
The Western-led response to the invasion has been sweeping, with sanctions effectively cutting off Moscow’s major financial institutions from Western markets. Countries have also stepped up weapons supplies to Ukraine.
There was fighting around the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol overnight, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional administration, on Monday. He did not say whether Russian forces had gained or lost any ground in the region.
A view of Kyiv during a curfew in the early morning with steam from a heating plant on Feb. 28 in Kyiv, Ukraine. As Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine entered its fifth day, the capital was quieter overnight but Russian forces continued to mass outside the city. Ukrainian waged battle to hold other major cities.
Pierre Crom/Getty Images)
At least 102 civilians in Ukraine have been killed since Thursday, with roughly 304 wounded, but the actual figure is feared to be “considerably higher,” UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Monday.
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A senior U.S. defence official said Russia has fired more than 350 missiles at Ukrainian targets since Thursday, some hitting civilian infrastructure.
As the conflict continues, more than half a million people have fled to neighbouring countries, according to the UN Refugee Agency.
Allies with the NATO defence alliance are providing Ukraine with air-defence missiles and anti-tank weapons, chief Jens Stoltenberg said in a tweet on Monday.
The Kremlin has accused the European Union of hostile behaviour, saying weapons shipments to Ukraine are destabilizing and proved Russia was right in its efforts to demilitarize its neighbour.
It refused to say whether there was a risk of confrontation between Russia and NATO. Russia has demanded NATO never admit Ukraine to the alliance.
Elsewhere in Europe, Germany said it would increase defence spending massively, casting off decades of reluctance to match its economic power with military strength. Switzerland, a historical neutral country in Europe, announced on Monday it will adopt European Union sanctions against Russians involved in the invasion and freeze their assets.
In Moscow, the ruble dropped nearly 30 per cent against the U.S. dollar on Monday, after Western nations on Saturday introduced sweeping sanctions including blocking some Russian banks from the SWIFT international payments system.
Russia’s central bank has scrambled to manage the broadening fallout, indicating it would resume buying gold on the domestic market, launch a repurchase auction with no limits, and ease restrictions on banks’ open foreign currency positions.
A view of a wreckage after a missile hit buildings as Russian attacks continue in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Feb. 28.
Aytac Unal/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
It also ordered brokers to block attempts by foreigners to sell Russian securities. Western nations have promised more sanctions unless Russia de-escalates its war with Ukraine.
On Monday, the United States blocked Americans from engaging in any transactions involving Russia’s central bank, National Wealth Fund and the finance ministry.
The action “immobilizes” any assets Russia’s central bank holds America that will in a move that will hinder Russia’s ability to access hundreds of billions of dollars in assets, a senior U.S. official said.
In a statement, the U.S. Treasury Department said it had also slapped sanctions on a key Russian sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund.
Over the weekend, the European Union shut all Russian planes out of its airspace, as did Canada, forcing Russian airline Aeroflot to cancel all flights to European destinations until further notice. Russia responded on Monday by closing its airspace to carriers from 36 nations, including European countries and Canada.
U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to host a call with allies and partners on Monday to coordinate a further united response, the White House said.
Ukrainian troops fight to hold Kyiv, but mayor warns city is surrounded by Russian forces
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that it says is not designed to occupy territory, but to destroy its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.
— with files from Reuters and The Associated Press.
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