Kyiv, Europe Brief News – Ukrainian Officials have confirmed that the Russian military has attacked oil and gas facilities in Ukraine causing severe damage to the Country’s infrastructure.
Western Allies are determined to impose tougher sanctions on Russia including expelling prominent Russian banks from the main global payment system.
Despite all the Western warnings and weeks of pounding tension, the Russian President started what he called a Special Military Operation against Ukraine to defend the people in breakaway regions.
According to the Russian president, the Western Allies were not paying any attention to Russia’s demand regarding the security concerns from small neighboring countries so he decided to invade Ukraine for the sake of his country’s security.
The Kremlin claimed that they offered to hold the peace talks in Belarus but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the offer by saying it is complicit in the invasion.
The Town’s Mayor said that Russian missiles found their mark overnight, including a strike that set an oil terminal ablaze in Vasylkiv, southwest of Kyiv.
There was a heavy fight going on for Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv in the northeast where Russian forces blew up natural gas pipelines.
Russian-backed separatist state Luhansk confirmed that Ukrainian missiles had blown up an oil terminal in the town of Rovensky.
US defense officials said, “ Ukraine’s forces were putting up very determined resistance to Russia’s air, land and sea advance, which has sent hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing westwards, clogging major highway and railway lines”.
Bad for Business
The United States and Western Allies have imposed a number of tough sanctions on Russia in response to an assault that can jeopardize the peace of the whole of Europe.
On Saturday, the Allies decided to restrict Russian Banks’ access to the SWIFT international payment system. This move can largely hit Russia economically immediately and in the long term.
They said, “We are resolved to continue imposing costs on Russia that will further isolate Russia from the international financial system and our economies”.
The allies were initially reluctant in their approach to taking the decision to cut Russia from SWIFT due to some concerns. But in the recent statement, they said that they are now more than determined to restrict 70% of Russian banks to access the SWIFT system.
SWIFT is a secure messaging network that facilitates rapid cross-border payments and is highly useful for any country.
