Ukraine has urged its citizens to leave Russia and has slapped sanctions on hundreds of Russians as war fears rise.
In an advisory note issued on Wednesday, Ukraine’s foreign ministry recommended that nationals “refrain from any trips” to the country and said those who were already there should depart “immediately”.
The warning came as Ukraine’s parliament approved imposing sanctions on 351 Russians, including lawmakers who supported President Vladimir Putin’s move to recognise eastern Ukraine’s self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics as independent and deploy troops to the breakaway regions.
Here are all the latest updates:
Blinken cancels meeting with Russia’s Lavrov
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has cancelled a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that was planned for Thursday.
Announcing the move, Blinken said he was still committed to diplomacy “if Moscow’s approach changes”. He added that he would do anything he could “to avert … an all-out assault on all of Ukraine, including its capital”.
Read more here.
Germany can do without Russian gas, minister says
Germany can meet its energy needs without Russian gas, the country’s economy minister has said.
Robert Habeck replied “yes, it can”, when asked on public radio if Europe’s largest economy could do without deliveries from Russia.
Moscow is currently the largest supplier of natural gas to Germany. On Tuesday, Berlin decided to halt the approval of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline over Russia’s actions in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian lawmakers approve sweeping sanctions on hundreds of Russians
Ukraine’s parliament has approved imposing sanctions on 351 Russians, including lawmakers who supported the recognition of the independence of separatist-controlled territories and the use of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine.
The sanctions restrict almost all possible types of activities, in particular a ban on entry into Ukraine, and prohibit access to assets, capital, property and licenses for business.
Ukraine’s security council was due to impose the sanctions after the vote.
Ukraine urges citizens to leave Russia
Ukraine’s foreign ministry has warned the country’s nationals not to visit Russia and urged its citizens already there to leave the country.
“The foreign ministry recommends that citizens of Ukraine refrain from any trips to the Russian Federation, and those who are in this country to leave its territory immediately,” the ministry said in a newly-issued travel advisory.
What sanctions have been imposed on Russia?
Several countries have moved to impose new sanctions on Russia in response to its recognition of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine and ordering of troops into the territories.
Read more on the measures here.
UK to stop Russia selling sovereign debt in London
The UK will stop Russia selling sovereign debt in London, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss says.
“We’ve been very clear that we’re going to limit Russian access to British markets,” Truss told Sky. “We’re going to stop the Russian government with raising sovereign debt in the United Kingdom.
“There will be even more tough sanctions on key oligarchs, on key organisations in Russia, limiting Russia’s access to the financial markets, if there is a full scale invasion of Ukraine.”
To limit sovereign debt sales in London, the UK would need additional legislation, according to Western officials. Clearing transactions would also be affected.
China: Sanctions never the best solution
Beijing has never thought sanctions are the best way to solve problems, China’s foreign ministry says.
China hopes relevant parties can try to resolve their issues through dialogue and remain calm and exercise restraint, ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing.
Chunying had been asked if the Asian nation would join Western countries in sanctioning Russia.
Is Putin’s latest move a prelude to a wider conflict?
Ukraine: One soldier killed, 6 wounded in separatist shelling
The Ukrainian military says one soldier has been killed and six others wounded in shelling by pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine in the past 24 hours as ceasefire violations remain at a high level.
The military said on its Facebook page it had recorded 96 incidents of shelling by separatists over the past 24 hours compared with 84 a day earlier. It said separatist forces used heavy artillery, mortars and Grad rocket systems.
Pakistan PM Imran Khan to visit Moscow
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan will embark on a two-day visit to Moscow on Wednesday for a high-level visit that will focus on regional security and a major gas pipeline deal.
Khan is due to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, Putin’s office said in a statement.
A Pakistani foreign ministry statement said that the Putin-Khan summit-level talks will cover “major regional and international issues, including Islamophobia and [the] situation in Afghanistan”.
Notably absent from official statements around the visit has been any mention of the crisis in Ukraine. In an interview with Russian television station Russia Today, Khan said that he did not believe there was a military solution to the conflict in Ukraine and said that he hoped matters would be resolved through mediation.
Putin: Russia’s interests ‘non-negotiable’
Putin says Moscow is ready to look for “diplomatic solutions” to the crisis but has stressed that Russia’s interests are “non-negotiable”.
“Our country is always open for direct and honest dialogue, for the search for diplomatic solutions to the most complex problems,” he said in a video address to mark the Defender of the Fatherland Day, a public holiday in Russia.
But he added that “the interests of Russia, the security of our citizens, are non-negotiable for us.”
Putin spoke after parliament’s upper house, the Federation Council, on Tuesday gave him unanimous approval to deploy “peacekeepers” to two breakaway Ukrainian regions now recognised by Moscow as independent, and potentially into other parts of Ukraine.
Stocks steady, investors see space for war to be averted
Asian stocks have steadied and demand for safe havens waned as investors seem to have decided Russian troop movements near Ukraine and initial Western sanctions will leave room to avoid war.
“The market sees the various sanctions … as modest and perhaps not as aggressive as feared,” said Chris Weston, head of research at brokerage Pepperstone.
The commodity markets remain more nervous about the situation. Overnight, oil struck a seven-year high.
You can read more on what’s happening in the markets here.
Japan joins sanctions push against Russia
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says Tokyo’s sanctions against Russia include measures prohibiting the issuance of Russian bonds in Japan and freezing the assets of certain Russian individuals as well as restricting their travel to the country.
“Russia’s actions very clearly damage Ukraine’s sovereignty and go against international law. We once again criticise these moves and strongly urge Russia to return to diplomatic discussions,” Kishida said.
“The situation remains quite tense and we will continue to monitor it closely.”
Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida announced the sanctions at his residence in Tokyo on Wednesday [Kyodo/via Reuters]Taiwan to step up surveillance amid Ukraine crisis
Long wary about China, Taiwan says it will increase its surveillance and alertness for military activities in the region and tackle foreign misinformation.
President Tsai Ing-wen told a security meeting about Ukraine that all security and military units “must raise their surveillance and early warning of military developments around the Taiwan Strait”.
China claims Taiwan as its own and has stepped up military activities around the self-ruled island since Tsai was first elected in 2016.
Taiwan and Ukraine are fundamentally different in terms of geostrategy, geography and international supply chains, she said, according to a readout of the meeting provided by her office.
“But in the face of foreign forces intending to manipulate the situation in Ukraine and affect the morale of Taiwanese society, all government units must strengthen the prevention of cognitive warfare launched by foreign forces and local collaborators,” it cited Tsai as saying.
The statement did not mention China by name.
Australia to impose sanctions ‘immediately’
Australia has joined the US and UK in imposing sanctions on Russia, saying: “Australians always stand up to bullies.”
Speaking after an emergency meeting of the country’s national security council, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the measures would be imposed “immediately” and target both individuals and entities.
Those targeted include eight members of Russia’s security council, as well as banks and businesses including transport, energy and telecommunications. Morrison declined to name the individuals but said they were the same as the people sanctioned by the US and the UK.
Australia has had sanctions in place since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing everyone on board.
After Guterres’ tough words, diplomats wonder what UN can do
Diplomats at the UN have welcomed Antonio Guterres’ hard-hitting statement on Russia’s moves in eastern Ukraine, but wonder what the organisation can actually do to resolve the issue, according to Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan.
Speaking from the UN’s headquarters in New York, Jordan described Guterres’ statement as “eviscerating” and noted he had been incredibly critical of Moscow, pointing out that it was not for member states to “pick and choose” which part of the UN Charter they want to follow.
The key question for many diplomats, however, is what he can do to follow up on the rhetoric and “what’s really going to be done behind the scenes to resolve this crisis without many people losing their lives in eastern Ukraine,” she said.
UK sanctions criticised as mere ‘slap on the wrist’
Some analysts and politicians say the sanctions being imposed on Russia are too weak.
Stephen Kinnock, a shadow minister in the UK’s main opposition Labour Party, says the measures impose by London, which did not include a mainstream bank or any “significant oligarchs”, were a “slap on the wrist when something more hard-hitting was needed”.
Financier and campaigner Bill Browder also called the UK measures “pretty tepid” but said the US was making a “solid start”.
Now the water is approaching the temperature to make proper tea. Putin runs a mafia, treat it like one. They hide assets with family, bodyguards, chefs. They buy politicians to protect them. Expose it all. Kick them back to the Putin police state they helped build. https://t.co/cOBVaJH0sQ
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) February 22, 2022
Canada announces sanctions on Russia, deploys troops to Latvia
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a first set of sanctions on Russia, under which Canadians will be banned from buying Russian sovereign debt and from financial dealings with Luhansk and Donetsk.
Canada will also sanction members of the Russian parliament who voted to recognise Donetsk and Luhansk as independent as well as two state-backed Russian banks.
Trudeau is also sending more Canadian troops to eastern Europe, with as many as 460 members of the Canadian Armed Forces, mostly to Latvia.
Satellite images show new military activity
US company Maxar Technologies has released a series of new satellite images that appear to show a fresh deployment of more than 100 military vehicles and dozens of troop tents in southern Belarus near the country’s border with Ukraine.
The images also included what Maxar said was a new field hospital, which has been added to a military garrison in western Russia near the border.
A satellite image shows an overview of a field hospital and a troop deployment in Belgorod in western Russia [Maxar Technologies via Reuters]‘The time for sanctions is now,’: Ukraine foreign minister
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has welcomed the US sanctions against Russian banks, calling on the world to use “all its economic might to punish Russia”.
Speaking alongside US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Kuleba accused Putin of killing the Minsk Agreement that aimed to restore peace in eastern Ukraine with his recognition of the two breakaway Ukrainian regions.
“Russia’s move is a grave breach of international law and a new act of aggression against Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Therefore, Ukraine strongly believes that the time for sanctions is now,” he said.
‘Not peacekeepers at all’: UN chief condemns Russia troop plan
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has rejected Russian claims that troops deployed to eastern Ukraine will be “peacekeepers”.
“When troops of one country enter the territory of another country without its consent, they are not impartial peacekeepers. They are not peacekeepers at all,” the UN secretary-general told reporters in New York.
Guterres also dismissed Russia’s claims of a genocide taking place against ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine, saying: “I do not think it is the case.”
Hello, and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the Ukraine-Russia crisis.
Read all the updates from Tuesday, February 22, here.