US and Europe respond to 'beginning of a Russian invasion' with initial volley of sanctions
Posted 14h ago14 hours ago, updated 1h ago1 hours ago
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Duration: 8 minutes 38 seconds8m
What you need to know about Russia ordering troops into Ukraine.
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The crisis in Ukraine has continued to escalate, with Russia's parliament authorising President Vladimir Putin to use military force outside his country and Western leaders responding by slapping sanctions on Russian oligarchs and banks.
Key points:
- Vladimir Putin has recognised two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine as independent
- Russian troops have entered separatist regions of Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says
- Britain and the US have announced sanctions on Russian banks and individuals
Meanwhile, Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said he was calling up some of his country's military reservists but added that there was no need for a full military mobilisation.
In an overnight address to the nation, Mr Zelenskyy said his decree applied only to those assigned to the so-called "operational reserve" — which is typically activated during periods of ongoing hostilities — and would cover "a special period of time", without clarifying what that meant.
"Today, there is no need for a full mobilisation. We need to quickly add additional staff to the Ukrainian army and other military formations," he said.
Mr Zelenskyy has said he would consider breaking diplomatic ties with Russia, and has recalled Ukraine's ambassador to Moscow.
Ukraine has called on the country's reservists to defend the country against Russian aggression. (Reuters: Gleb Garanich)
Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, said earlier this year that Ukraine could call on up to 2.5 million people.
Both US President Joe Biden and Mr Putin have signalled that an even bigger confrontation could lie ahead.
Mr Putin has yet to unleash the force of the estimated 150,000 troops amassed on three sides of Ukraine and, while Mr Biden held back on the toughest sanctions that could cause economic turmoil for Russia, he said they would go ahead if there was further aggression.
The measures came as some sources say Russian forces have rolled into rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine after Mr Putin said he was recognising the independence of the separatist region in defiance of US and European demands.
Ukrainians have been preparing for a full-scale invasion by Russia. (AP: Efrem Lukatsky)
After an urgent National Security Committee meeting,
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia will join other Western nations to impose financial sanctions on Russia, as punishment for its actions in Ukraine.
Mr Morrison said targeted travel bans and financial sanctions would be imposed on eight individuals on Russia's national security council who are "aiding and abetting" the invasion, and broader sanctions will be extended to the separatist Ukrainian regions.
Speaking at the White House, Mr Biden said the Kremlin had flagrantly violated international law in what he called the "beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine".
He warned of more sanctions if Mr Putin went further.
"We are united in our support of Ukraine," Mr Biden said.
"We are united in our opposition to Russian aggression."
When it comes to Russian claims of a justification or pretext for an invasion, Mr Biden said: "None of us should be fooled. None of us will be fooled. There is no justification."
Tanks were seen in Donetsk after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the deployment of Russian "peacekeeping" troops.(Reuters: Alexander Ermochenko)
Sanctions replace diplomacy
Hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the threat of invasion — which US officials have for weeks portrayed as all-but-inevitable — appeared to evaporate.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelled plans for a Thursday meeting in Geneva with his Russian counterpart, saying it would not be productive and that Russia's actions indicated that Moscow was not serious about a peaceful path to resolving the crisis.
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Western nations sought to present a united front, with more than two dozen European Union members unanimously agreeing to levy their own initial set of sanctions against Russian officials.
Germany also said it was halting the process of certifying the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia, a lucrative deal long sought by Moscow.
The US, meanwhile, moved to cut off Russia's government from Western finance, sanctioning two of its banks and blocking it from trading in its debt on American and European markets.
Mr Biden's administration's actions hit civilian leaders in Russia's leadership hierarchy and two Russian banks considered especially close to the Kremlin and Russia's military, which affect more than $US80 billion ($110 billion) in assets.
That includes freezing all of those bank's assets under US jurisdictions.
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Duration: 27 seconds27s
Joe Biden says the US is united in support of Ukraine in response to Russia escalations.
Mr Biden, though, did hold back some of the broadest and toughest of the financial penalties contemplated by the US, including:
- sanctions that would reinforce the hold that Germany put on any startup of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline
- an export ban that would deny Russia US high-tech equipment for its industries and military
- sweeping bans that could cripple Russia's ability to do business with the rest of the world.
Mr Biden said he was moving additional US troops to the Baltics, although he described the actions as purely "defensive", asserting, "We have no intention of fighting Russia."
The US is sending about 800 infantry troops and 40 attack aircraft to the Baltics and NATO's eastern flank from other locations within Europe, according to a senior Defense official.
In addition, a contingent of F-35 strike fighters and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters will also be relocated.
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his country would also impose sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine, including prohibiting the issuance of Russian bonds in Japan and freezing the assets of certain individuals.
Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, at a meeting of her National Security Council's working group on the Ukraine crisis, said all the island's security and military units "must raise their surveillance and early warning of military developments around the Taiwan Strait", a reference to China's movements in the region.
She has expressed "empathy" for Ukraine's situation because of the military threat the island faces from China.
Putin issues demands
Earlier, members of Russia's Upper House, the Federation Council, voted unanimously to allow Mr Putin to use military force outside the country, effectively formalising a Russian military deployment to the rebel regions, where an eight-year conflict has killed nearly 15,000 people.
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Shortly afterward, Mr Putin laid out three conditions to end the crisis.
Mr Putin said the crisis could be resolved if:
- Kyiv recognises Russia's sovereignty over Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014,
- renounces its bid to join NATO
- Ukraine partially demilitarises.
The West has decried the annexation of Crimea as a violation of international law and has previously flatly rejected permanently barring Ukraine from NATO.
Asked whether he has sent any Russian troops into Ukraine and how far they could go, Mr Putin responded: "I haven't said that the troops will go there right now."
He added that it was "impossible to forecast a specific pattern of action — it will depend on a concrete situation as it takes shape on the ground".
Russia has been gathering troops and conducting drills near Ukraine's borders for months. (AP: Russian Defense Ministry Press Service )
'An invasion is an invasion'
The EU announced initial sanctions aimed at the 351 Russian lawmakers who voted for recognising separatist regions in Ukraine, as well as 27 other Russian officials and institutions from the defence and banking sectors.
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They also sought to limit Moscow's access to EU capital and financial markets.
With tensions rising and a broader conflict looking more likely, the White House began referring to the Russian deployments in the region known as the Donbas as an "invasion", after initially hesitating to use the term: a red line that Mr Biden had said would result in severe sanctions.
"We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia's latest invasion into Ukraine," US principal deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said on CNN.
"An invasion is an invasion, and that is what is underway."
Western leaders have long-warned Moscow would look for cover to invade — and just such a pretext appeared to come on Monday, when Mr Putin recognised as independent two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, where government troops have fought Russian-backed rebels.
The Kremlin then raised the stakes further by saying that Russia's recognition extends even to the large parts of Donbas now held by Ukrainian forces.
Mr Putin said Russia had recognised the rebel regions' independence in the borders that existed when they made their declaration in 2014, that incorporates broad territories that extend far beyond the areas now under separatist control and that include the major Azov Sea port of Mariupol.
He added, however, that the rebels should eventually negotiate with Ukraine.
A man carries bags and a bunch of tulips on a bicycle in Stanytsia Luhanska, the only open crossing point in the Luhansk region.(AP: Vadim Ghirda)
Condemnation from around the world
In Washington, lawmakers from both parties in Congress backed an independent Ukraine and vowed continued US support, even as some pushed for swifter and even more-severe sanctions on Russia.
Senators had been considering a sanctions package against Putin's regime but held off as the White House pursued its strategy.
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said any Russian troops deployed to eastern Ukraine would not be "peacekeepers" because Moscow had backed — and the UN had rejected — President Vladimir Putin's claim that a genocide of ethnic Russians was being committed there.
Mr Guterres said he was "concerned about the perversion of the concept of peacekeeping".
"I do not think it is the case," Mr Guterres said when asked about Mr Putin's assertion last week that the treatment of ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine was genocide.
If Mr Putin pushes further into Ukraine, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg insisted the West would move in lock step.
"If Russia decides once again to use force against Ukraine, there will be even stronger sanctions, even a higher price to pay," Mr Stoltenberg said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK would slap sanctions on five Russian banks and three wealthy individuals. He warned a full-scale offensive would bring "further powerful sanctions".
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Duration: 4 minutes 13 seconds4m 13s
The Ukraine Gambit: Putin's Power Play.
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Posted 14h ago14 hours ago, updated 1h ago
