Category: Russia-Ukraine conflict

French President Emmanuel Macron held separate phone calls with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts on Monday in a bid to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine.

Macron spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “several” times and also had an hour-and-a-half-long phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he urged to “end the Russian offensive against Ukraine,” Macron’s office said.

Macron “reaffirmed the need to implement an immediate ceasefire” in his call with Putin, and called for a “halt to all strikes and attacks against civilians and places of residence” while discussions are going on between the two countries.

Read Also: Russia retaliates closure of airspace to 35 countries

Putin “confirmed his willingness” to do so, Macron’s office said, but Ukraine said its second-largest city was coming under attack from heavy Russian shelling even as negotiations between the nations were underway at the border of Belarus.

Macron also proposed that he and Putin stay in contact in the coming days “to prevent the situation from worsening,” and Putin agreed, Macron’s office said.

Macron called Putin at Zelenskyy’s request, his office said, and praised the Ukrainian president for “the sense of responsibility” in trying to move forward with negotiations “even though Ukraine is being attacked by Russia.” nbcnews.com

In response to the decision by multiple countries to close their airspace to Russian aircraft, Russian aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya, on Monday announced that it was closing Russian airspace to 35 countries.

Countries affected by the indefinite ban include all EU member states and Canada.

READ ALSO: Russian rocket strikes kill dozens as Kyiv-Moscow talks begin

The EU took the decision to ban Russian aircraft from its airspace as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Humanitarian flights were exempted from the ban, while exceptions can also be made in other cases via Russian government ministries. (dpa/NAN)

Russian rocket attacks killed dozens of people in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv as ceasefire talks between Kyiv and Moscow got underway with the Kremlin facing unprecedented international sanctions that have created “a new economic reality” for Russia.

After four days of fighting and a slower Russian advance than many expected, the Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said Kharkiv had been “massively fired on”, leaving “dozens of dead and hundreds of wounded”.

The news came hours after the Ukrainian presidency said it had begun negotiations with a Russian delegation on the border with Belarus, aimed at achieving “an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian forces”.

READ ALSO: South Korea bans export of strategic materials to Russia – Foreign Ministry

With fighting continuing around several cities and the Russian rouble in free fall, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, urged Russian troops to abandon their equipment and leave the battlefield to save their lives, claiming 4,500 were already dead.

A day after his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, faced with a barrage of western reprisals, ordered his defence chiefs to put the country’s nuclear forces on high alert, Zelenskiy said he was sceptical about the talks’ prospects for success, but added: “Let them try.”

Pre-dawn blasts were again heard in the capital, Kyiv, in Kharkiv and in the port city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, officials said, but they added that the attempts of Russian ground forces to capture major urban centres were still being repelled. Theguardian.

South Korea to join international sanctions and ban the export of strategic materials to Russia amid the situation around Ukraine, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday.

“As a form of sanctions against Russia, our government has prohibited the export of strategic materials to Russia, strengthening the export verification procedure,” the ministry said in a statement.

The statement said the relevant South Korean departments will consider possible restrictions on non-strategic materials and extension of sanctions against Russia, including 57 items that are subject to the U.S. sanctions, such as computers, sensors, aviation, space industries, and others.

Western nations have rolled out a sanctions campaign against Russia after it launched a military operation in Ukraine earlier on Thursday, following requests for help from the people’s republics in Donbas.

The Russian defense ministry said the operation was targeting the military infrastructure of Ukraine only and that the civilian population is not in danger.

Moscow says it has no plans to occupy Ukraine and that the purpose of its operation is demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine. (Sputnik/NAN)(www.nannews.ng).

READ ALSO: Facebook, Twitter cut ads, revenue to Russian media

It has taken a week to reach this point, but western governments have put down their peashooters and wheeled out the financial howitzers against Vladimir Putin.

Far-reaching new sanctions against Russia were announced on Saturday night in a joint statement from the EU, UK, U.S., and Canada.

Having promised to “hit Russia very hard” with a barrage of sanctions, the UK’s first attempt at economic retaliation, presented to parliament by Boris Johnson on Tuesday, was dismissed as the equivalent of taking a “peashooter to a gunfight”.

Successive UK measures, announced on Thursday and Friday, were a little more meaningful, but a long way from inflicting serious damage.

The steps taken by the US and the EU also lacked bite, falling well short of the kind of restrictions imposed on North Korea or Iran.

The UK has pushed for more, joining Ukraine’s leaders in calls to expel Russia from Swift, the main global payments system used by banks to make cross-border money transfers.

Panic in Russia has broken out as the ruble plunged to record lows with people concerned about their savings.

Russians waited in long queues outside ATMs on Sunday, worried that the new Western sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine will trigger cash shortages and disrupt payments.

“A bank run has already started in Russia over the weekend … and inflation will immediately spike massively, and the Russian banking system is likely to be in trouble,” said Jeffrey Halley, Asia-based senior market analyst at OANDA.

READ ALSO: Ukraine: US orders Americans to leave Russia ‘immediately’

Russians posted screenshots of their banking apps on social media, offering to buy the dollar for 120-130 rubles.

It comes as Russia’s central bank announced today it was raising its key interest rate to 20 per cent from 9.5 percent as the West pummelled the country with sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian ruble has plunged in value to historic lows after world powers imposed fresh, harsher sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. Telegraph.co.uk

Facebook and Twitter said at the weekend they were barring Russian state-linked media from running ads or making money off of their platforms in response to Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine.

Nathaniel Gleicher, the head of policy security at Meta, Facebook’s parent company, said “Russian state media” were banned from “running ads or monetizing on our platform anywhere in the world.”

Twitter said it was “temporarily pausing advertisements in Ukraine and Russia to ensure critical public safety information is elevated and ads don’t detract from it.”

Google earlier said it was blocking Russian state-owned media from making money off ads on their websites, apps and YouTube, citing “extraordinary circumstances in Ukraine.”

“We’re actively monitoring new developments and will take further steps if necessary,” spokesman Michael Aciman added in a statement, quoted by a number of media outlets. The spokesman specifically mentioned RT, which is state-funded.

Read Also: Hungary, Romania issuing access visas to Nigerians fleeing Ukraine – FG

YouTube also announced that it had “restricted access to RT and a number of other channels in Ukraine,” as well as cut the amount of recommendations to these channels.

The moves by social media platforms came in response to the Russian military operation in Ukraine launched on Thursday.

Moscow said it was defending the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics against Ukrainian forces.

President Vladimir Putin also said he sought “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine, without elaborating.

Kiev said the attack was entirely unprovoked and appealed to the international community for help.

The US, Britain, the EU member states and several other countries imposed a flurry of sanctions on Russia, hitting its banks and trade, among other things. A number of European nations closed their airspace to Russian passenger carriers. Newsnow.co.uk

The United States Embassy in Russia encouraged Americans to leave the country as soon as possible, calling on them to prepare a “contingency plan that does not rely on U.S. government assistance.”

In a security alert on Sunday, the US Embassy noted that “an increasing number of airlines are canceling flights into and out of Russia, and numerous countries have closed their airspace to Russian airlines” in response to Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.

The embassy advised that, with this in mind, US citizens “should consider departing Russia immediately via commercial options still available.” It also reiterated that the US State Department’s current travel advisory for Russia was ‘Level 4: Do Not Travel’.

The advisory tells Americans not to travel to Russia “due to ongoing tension along the border with Ukraine, the potential for harassment against U.S. citizens, the embassy’s limited ability to assist U.S. citizens in Russia, COVID-19 and related entry restrictions, terrorism, harassment by Russian government security officials, and the arbitrary enforcement of local law.”

“Review your personal security plans. Carry proper identification, including a U.S. passport with a current Russian visa,” the embassy said.

Over a dozen European nations have already banned Russian aircraft from their airspace this week, with the EU announcing it would seek to bring all European nations on board for the shutdown of its airspace for Russian carriers.

Moscow responded with its own retaliatory bans, and said it was working to evacuate stranded Russians from the continent, while Russian flagship airline Aeroflot canceled all upcoming flights to Europe on Sunday.

While the United States has not banned Russian flights so far, it has imposed sanctions on Russia, and together with the EU and several other Western nations, demanded Russian banks be disconnected from SWIFT. Newsnow.co.uk

The Governments of Hungary and Romania have approved visa-free access to all Nigerians fleeing Ukraine, the Federal Government has said.

This is contained in a statement issued by the Nigerian Mission in Hungary.

The Federal Government informed that arrangements are underway for transportation of Nigerian nationals to enable them stabilise.

The government advised affected Nigerians to approach the borders with their valid documents and cooperate with immigration officials to ease the process.

“The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Budapest, Hungary wishes to inform nationals arriving from Ukraine, that the Government of Hungary has enacted Decree 56/2022 (24.II).

“Which permits third-country nationals with valid Ukrainian resident permits to enter Hungary on a temporary basis, without a Schengen visa.

“As such, Nigerians arriving at the Hungary-Ukraine border can enter Hungary, either on transit to Nigeria, or temporarily reside in the country.

Read Also: Russia-Ukraine war poses double risks for Nigeria’s economy

“Affected Nigerians are thereby advised to send their names, phone numbers, email addresses, and copy of their passports   biodata page to the Embassy’s Consular email; secretary@nigerianembassy.hu.

“To enable the facilitation of the aforementioned arrangements. For information to on consular assistance, please contact the following persons who will be on ground to coordinate;

“Mr Stanley Okpara (Consular Officer) – +36308202903 and Mr Ayotunde Adigun +36308639203,” the Hungarian Mission Stated.

Similarly, the Romanian Mission in a statement urged affected Nigerians to contact its consular officer on +40747309174 and Head of Chancery on +40786091964 for assistance.

“The following persons are deployed to the four entry points and may be reached accordingly; Siret, Suceava County- Mr Dayo Adeoye on  +407493359685 and Mr Suleiman Ahmed on +40754859685.

“Sighetul Marmatiel, Maramures County, Mr P.O Akanmode +40752482924. At Isaccea, Tulcea County, David Abraham, +40764505900 and at Halmeu, Satu Mare County, Mohammed Liman, +40749828499.

“Affected Nigerian nationals are advised to ensure they arrive at the entry points with valid travel documents and cooperate with Romanian Immigration Officers at the borders,” the Romanian Mission stated. (NAN)