There are fears Vladimir Putin will switch the attack to obliterate Ukrainian cities; Volodymyr Zelensky asks the West to join the air war over Ukraine; Putin’s $830 billion war chest is locked up by sanctions. Follow updates here.
The US government and its European allies on Monday imposed sweeping new penalties aimed at crippling Russia’s economy, as the West escalated its financial war against the Kremlin over the invasion of Ukraine.
The banking restrictions are arguably the most serious form of economic retaliation yet approved by Western powers in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine. They are aimed at preventing Putin from using his sizable financial reserves – totalling more than $US600 billion – to stabilise the Russian economy in the face of other sanctions and economic measures imposed by the West.
The EU has also announced it will shut down airspace to Russian planes and support Ukraine’s purchase of weapons. The US Treasury Department also announced sanctions Monday morning on entities tied to Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, including its management company and one of the sovereign wealth fund’s subsidiaries. It also put sanctions on the leader of that management company.
The punishments reflect the extraordinary outpouring of support for Ukraine in the West, but they also carry the risk of further escalating hostilities with Moscow. Putin has responded to Western statements in recent days by putting the country’s nuclear forces on alert. Ukrainian and Russian officials on Monday held their first diplomatic talks since the invasion began, and they plan to continue discussions in the coming days.
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