U.S., Allies To Hammer Russia’s Economy After Putin Launches Attack On Ukraine

February 24, 2022

Russia’s attack on Ukraine is underway.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an early Thursday morning address in Moscow, announced that Russia would launch military action in Ukraine. Soon thereafter, NBC News reported that explosions were heard in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.

U.S. President Joe Biden condemned the attack. “The world will hold Russia accountable,” he said in a statement before he held a late-night call with Ukraine President Volodimyr Zelenskyy.

Stock futures in American markets plummeted as the news broke. The United Nations Security Council had just convened an emergency meeting Wednesday night.

Earlier, European and U.S. officials scrambled to penalize Russia on Wednesday, responding to its deployments of troops to eastern Ukraine with a cascade of economic sanctions.

As concerns grew that Russian aggression would escalate, Ukraine warned its citizens to avoid traveling to Russia and to leave the country immediately if they are already there. The move came after Putin said Wednesday that Moscow is “always open” to diplomacy, days after ordering troops into eastern Ukraine and recognizing the independence of two self-declared republics in the region.

The European Union was set to hold an emergency meeting on Thursday, and was reportedly considering another round of sanctions on Russian individuals. Officials from the United Kingdom and United States also announced or threatened more retaliatory measures after they unveiled initial tranches this week.

President Joe Biden held a late-night secure call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russian forces were launching a shocking multi-front assault on the country. Biden and Zelenskyy have spoken often, and the United States had condemned Russia’s attack in the strongest terms.

Biden later said he had briefed Zelenskyy “on the steps we are taking to rally international condemnation,” and said the besieged president, “asked me to call on the leaders of the world to speak out clearly against President Putin’s flagrant aggression, and to stand with the people of Ukraine.”

U.S. officials have also reportedly spoken to Zelenskyy’s team about potentially moving the president out of the capital if there is a Russian invasion of Kyiv. Zelenskyy has so far said he plans to remain in his country.

But intelligence reports suggest that one of Russia’s chief goals is to replace Zelenskyy’s democratically elected government with a puppet regime beholden to Moscow, which potentially makes Zelenskyy and his cabinet especially valuable targets for arrest or attack.

Biden also held a secure call Wednesday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, and national security advisor Jake Sullivan about the attack on Ukraine.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister says it is an aggression
"Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.

"This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now."

Russia's Position
Russia has demanded an end to NATO's eastward expansion and Putin repeated his position that Ukrainian membership of the U.S.-led Atlantic military alliance was unacceptable. He said he had authorised military action after Russia had been left with no choice but to defend itself against what he said were threats emanating from modern Ukraine, a democratic state of 44 million people.

"Russia cannot feel safe, develop, and exist with a constant threat emanating from the territory of modern Ukraine," Putin said. "All responsibility for bloodshed will be on the conscience of the ruling regime in Ukraine."

SOURCE: CNBC
IMAGE SOURCE: PIXABAY
Contributions from Reuters