War between Russia and Ukraine: Putin’s comment came during a telephone conversation with his French counterpart.
Moscow:
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday set the conditions for an end to Moscow’s offensive against Ukraine as Russian forces shelled the country’s second city in the face of sweeping Western sanctions.
At least 11 people have died in Russian attacks on Kharkov, Ukrainian officials said. Kiev says more than 350 civilians, including 14 children, have been killed since the invasion began on Thursday. More than half a million people have fled the country, according to the United Nations.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met Monday for the first time since Moscow launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine, demanding a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops. The talks ended when both sides agreed to continue a second round of negotiations “soon”.
In a lengthy phone call, Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron that “the demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine and Western recognition of Russian sovereignty over the Crimean peninsula were prerequisites for ending fighting in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.
“The Russian enemy is bombing residential areas of Kharkiv, where there is no critical infrastructure, where there are no armed forces positions,” said Oleg Sinegubov, the governor of the region of which Kharkiv is a part.
An AFP photographer in the city inspected the damage caused by fighting on Sunday and found a destroyed school, as well as several burnt-out Russian infantry vehicles.
Russian corpses in army clothes could also be seen on the street.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned what he called “the barbaric airstrikes that Russia is carrying out on innocent civilians, including children”.
Earlier on Monday, the Russian military urged Ukrainians to leave Kiev “free” on a highway ahead of an expected Russian offensive to take the capital.
– Financial pain –
Long lines for groceries wound the streets of Kiev on Monday after a strict 36-hour military curfew was lifted and volunteer militias learned how to make homemade explosives.
“We will greet them with Molotov cocktails and bullets in the head,” bank employee Viktor Rudnichenko told AFP. “The only flowers they can get from us are for their graves.”
The Russian ruble plunged to an all-time low as sanctions imposed by the West over the weekend had an immediate impact in Moscow, forcing the central bank to more than double its key interest rate to 20 percent.
“Ninety percent of Russians will rush to withdraw their rubles and exchange them for dollars, property or even gold,” predicted 51-year-old retired soldier Edward Sysoyev, who stood in line to withdraw money at a bank in Moscow. “It will be ordinary people who pay for this military club fight.”
As Russia becomes increasingly isolated on the global stage, it faced a crucial test of support on Monday when the 193 members of the UN General Assembly held an extraordinary debate over a resolution declaring Moscow’s “unprovoked armed aggression” in Ukraine. convicted.
At the rare emergency special session — only the 11th the General Assembly has held in the United Nations’ 77-year history — Russia defended its decision to invade as a member state after the member state pleaded for peace.
“The fighting in Ukraine must stop,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned after the session began with a minute of silence for the victims.
“Enough is enough. Soldiers must go back to their barracks. Leaders must go to peace. Civilians must be protected.”
Separately, the United States said it had banned all US transactions with the Russian central bank, while traditionally neutral Switzerland said it was taking the same steps as the EU.
The economic pain is meant to change Putin’s calculations, but the roughly 100,000 Russian troops believed to be in Ukraine continued to advance Monday from positions to the north, east and south.
“Western sanctions against Russia are harsh, but our country has the necessary potential to make good the damage,” emphasized Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Putin, who on Sunday energized his nuclear forces, banned transferring foreign currency outside Russia and ordered exporters to exchange their foreign reserves for the ruble in increments to support the currency.
There were more signs of rare dissent on Monday among the usually ultra-loyal oligarchs surrounding the Russian leader — in addition to anti-war demonstrations that saw an estimated 2,100 arrested on Sunday.
– Russian claims –
“It is necessary to change economic policies, it is necessary to end all this state capitalism,” tycoon Oleg Deripaska wrote on Telegram while criticizing “fantasists” in charge.
Western defense officials and the Kiev government say Ukrainian forces have so far kept the country’s major cities out of Russian hands, despite raids on the capital and Kharkiv over the weekend.
However, the small southern city of Berdyansk is occupied, Ukrainian officials said.
Moscow claimed it had been given “air superiority over the entire territory of Ukraine”, while accusing Ukrainian troops of using civilians as human shields.
“You can’t conquer a country in two days,” said Olivier Kempf, a security analyst at the think tank Foundation for Strategic Research, warning of Western optimism about Russia’s slower-than-expected progress so far.
“There have been difficulties, yes, that is war. They may have logistical problems, but no matter what anyone says, they are still making progress,” he told AFP.
Talks over the Belarus-Ukraine border were led by Ukraine’s defense minister and Russian presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky.
Kiev was initially reluctant to send a delegation to Belarus, given the country’s role in facilitating the Russian attack on Ukraine by housing troops and weapons used for the invasion.
“We have agreed to continue negotiations,” Medinsky said at the end of the talks.
– Financial blow –
The weekend was marked by a memorable series of announcements from Europe, with Germany unveiling a historic change in its defense policy, and the EU saying it would buy and supply arms to Ukraine, the first such move in its history.
New sanctions announced this weekend against the Russian economy aim to cut off the Russian economy from the global financial system the way Iran, Venezuela or North Korea have been blocked from international trade.
The Moscow stock exchange was closed on Monday to avoid an expected massive sell-off.
Many Russian banks have been banned from the SWIFT banking system, which is used to regulate international trade, and the Russian central bank has seen its foreign assets in western countries frozen.
The sports world’s reaction has also picked up steam as Russia was banned from the World Cup and the country’s clubs and national teams were suspended “until further notice” from all international football competitions, FIFA and UEFA said.
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