As Russian forces intensify their offensive in Ukraine, European ambassadors met in Brussels today to discuss the European Commission’s proposal for new sanctions against Russia.
According to an EU source, there is an agreement to accept this package very quickly, but there are a lot of technical questions, which the source says is “normal because it is a very dense package”.
Meanwhile, the United States has also announced A new round of obstacles, Including targeting the adult daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin and major Russian financial institutions.
In Ukraine, civilian casualties continue to rise.
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Civilian casualtiesAt least 1,563 civilians have been killed since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
So far 3,776 civilians have been killed in Ukraine: 1,563 have been killed and 2,213 injured, according to the latest UN report released on Wednesday.
In Kiev, at least 89 people, including four children, have been killed and 167 homes damaged since the start of the Russian invasion, the Kiev city administration wrote in a statement on a verified telegram page on Wednesday. A further 398 people, including 20 children, were wounded in the war.
Since February 24, Russian troops have damaged 44 Kiev schools, 11 administrative buildings, 26 kindergartens and an orphanage.
Management urged its residents not to lose awareness and to take shelter at the first signs of wind alarms.
On the ground: The city of Severodonetsk is under heavy shelling, the head of the military administration of the Luhansk region said on Wednesday, 10 tall buildings in the city were on fire.
“The Russians opened fire on Chevroletonetsk – 10 high-rise buildings are on fire,” regional governor Sergei Haidai told the Telegram. Information on casualties is being clarified.
Although the shelling did not hit any strategic or military facilities, it did hit a factory workshop in Lyciansk and a house in Rubisne, Haidoi said.
Haidai added that Russian forces had attacked cities and villages in the Luhansk region a total of 81 times more than the previous night.
According to a senior U.S. defense official, the United States estimates that Russian forces have completely withdrawn from areas near Kiev and Chernihiv to “reunite and reorganize Belarus and Russia.”
The official said that despite the isolation of the city, Russia had not yet “protected” Mariupol.
Russia has now launched more than 1,450 missiles since the invasion of Ukraine, the official said.
NATO leader predicts that the conflict in Ukraine will continue “for a long time”.: Despite Russia now concentrating its offensive in eastern Ukraine, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that there was “no sign” that Putin’s intention to control the entire NATO country had changed.
Speaking to reporters ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Stoltenberg warned that the war in Ukraine could last for years.
“We see no sign of President Putin changing his ambition to control the whole of Ukraine and rewrite the international order, so we must be prepared for the long haul,” he said. “We have to be realistic and realize that this can last for a long time, even months or even years.”
NATO foreign ministers are set to meet on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss increasing support for Ukraine.
Obstacles: Russia and Putin The United States continues to take additional steps to increase economic pressure Horrible pictures from the Ukrainian city of PuchaAnnounces New obstacles Wednesday at Russian financial institutions and some others, including Putin’s adult daughters and the wife and daughter of his foreign minister.
“Today we are dramatically exacerbating the financial shock by imposing a complete ban on Russia’s largest financial institution, Sberbank, and its largest private bank, Alpha Bank,” a senior executive told reporters.
Sberbank holds nearly a third of Russia’s total banking sector assets, and the United States now “completely blocks more than two-thirds of the Russian banking sector,” the official said.
Second, the senior official announced, “Together with the G7 and the EU, we announce a ban on new investment in Russia.” It will be implemented with an executive order signed by US President Joe Biden.
US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said on Wednesday that the United States would not attend Russia’s G20 summits.
Speaking to the House Financial Services Committee, Yellen said he had made that position clear to other finance ministers on the board.
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