Category Archives: Europe

Kyiv furious as EU wavers on banning Russia from Swift payment system

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Ukraine foreign minister voices anger as EU leaders likely to decide against blocking Russia from international payments system

The EU faced furious remonstrations from Kyiv as Europe’s leaders looked set to hold back from imposing the potentially most damaging sanction on Russia, even as the Kremlin lay siege to Ukraine via land, air and sea.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, voiced his anger as EU heads of state and government appeared likely to decide against blocking Russia from an international payments system through which it receives foreign currency.

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French rightwing candidate mocked after dog joins her party

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Valérie Pécresse hounded over allegations that dog named Douglas signed up for Les Républicains presidential primary

French politicians have long embraced domestic animals – from Emmanuel Macron’s rescue dog, Nemo, who once peed on a fireplace during an Elysée meeting, to the far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s hobby of breeding Bengal cats.

But a dog called Douglas from the south of France is causing ridicule for the rightwing presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse.

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What can the west do about Russia invading Ukraine?

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Analysis: Immediate options seem limited and fraught with risk, but if Putin wants less Nato, he may ultimately end up with more

In the wake of what the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, described as Russia’s “fully fledged invasion of Ukraine”, the west has to decide how to respond to what France’s Emmanuel Macron has called a turning point in European history.

Yet can the west now offer Ukraine more than a mixture of prayers, sanctions and diplomatic demarches? Throughout this conflict western intelligence has shown it has been able to predict Putin’s next step, but less capable of stopping it. Boris Johnson told the Ukrainian people “we are with you”, but what this western solidarity means in practice is now up for debate.

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Russia-Ukraine latest news: explosions heard inside Kyiv as Zelenskiy vows to stay in capital – live updates

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Latest updates: US secretary of state says Russia plans to encircle and threaten Kyiv; Ukrainian spokesman condemns ‘totally pointless attack’

We’re beginning to get a picture of what the Russian invasion may be aiming to achieve although with the huge caveat that everything is incredibly chaotic.

CNN has pictures of what appears to be a column of tanks crossing in the area of the Senkivka border crossing with Belarus.

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‘Putin chose this war,’ Biden says as he announces new sanctions – US politics as it happened

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Some congressional Republicans have attempted to blame Joe Biden’s foreign policy for enabling Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“These developments were not inevitable,” congressman Andy Barr said. “The Biden Administration’s weak and feckless foreign policy not only failed to deter this aggression, it invited this outcome.”

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‘We don’t want this’: Russians react to the Ukraine invasion

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People on the streets of Moscow express anger and a sense of hopelessness after Putin’s move

A dark, sombre mood filled the Moscow air on Thursday morning as Russians were coming to terms with the fact that their president had launched a broad military offensive targeting Ukraine.

“I am embarrassed for my country. To be honest with you, I am speechless. War is always scary. We don’t want this,” said Nikita Golubev, a 30-year old teacher.

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‘Peace on our continent has been shattered’: Nato chief on the Russian invasion of Ukraine – video

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Nato has increased its troop presence on its eastern boundary in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, secretary general Jens Stoltenberg has said.

'This is a deliberate, cold-blooded and long-planned invasion,’ Stoltenberg said. 'Russia's unjustified, unprovoked attack on Ukraine is putting countless innocent lives at risk with air and missile attacks.'

He said Nato had activated its defence plans, allowing freer movement of troops, but would respond in a defensive rather than combative manner

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Russian central bank buys up roubles to avert stock market collapse

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Bank scrambles to prevent invasion of Ukraine sending Russia’s financial system into meltdown as currency hits all-time low

The Russian central bank has purchased millions of roubles to prevent the collapse of the Moscow stock exchange and prop up the currency after it plunged to an all-time low of 89.60 against the dollar.

In a scramble to prevent the invasion of Ukraine pushing Russia’s financial system into meltdown, officials in Moscow closed the stock exchange while the Bank of Russia mounted a rescue operation to put a floor under the skidding rouble.

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Volodymyr Zelenskiy calls on citizens to take up arms for ‘future of Ukraine’ – video

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Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on Ukrainians who were able to defend the country from Russian forces to come forward, and said Kyiv would issue weapons to anyone who wanted to use them to defend the country's sovereignty. 

Russian forces unleashed an attack on Ukraine on the orders of Vladimir Putin, who announced a 'special military operation' at dawn, amid warnings from world leaders that it could spark the biggest war in Europe since 1945.

Zelenskiy announced after the attack that Ukraine would rupture ties with Moscow

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Britons living in EU can’t keep pre-Brexit rights, European court advised

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Blow to UK nationals as advocate general finds against Alice Bouilliez, who objected to losing voting rights

The European court of justice has been advised that British nationals living on the continent do not keep the advantages of EU citizenship now the UK has left the bloc, in a blow to campaigners fighting to keep more of their rights after Brexit.

Anthony Collins, an Irish advocate general at the court, said in an opinion published on Thursday that British nationals “who enjoyed the benefits of union citizenship do not retain those advantages following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU”.

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Energy prices surge as Russian invasion of Ukraine stokes fears of global shortages

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European stock markets tumble as crisis fuels near-40% rise in gas price and pushes oil to $105 per barrel

Global markets were thrown into turmoil on Thursday as the arrival of war on European soil sent prices of commodities such as oil, gas and wheat surging, while stock market plunged.

The ramifications of a potentially prolonged conflict involving Europe’s primary supplier of gas sent a chill through markets, affecting prices across a phalanx of asset classes and investments.

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Boris Johnson promises massive sanctions to ‘hobble’ Russian economy

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PM says ‘we will not just look away’ and Putin’s ‘barbaric adventure’ in Ukraine must end in failure

Boris Johnson has said that “a vast invasion is under way, by land, by sea and by air” in Ukraine, as he promised to impose “massive” sanctions that would “hobble” the Russian economy.

Speaking as world leaders scrambled to respond to the attacks that began in the early hours of Thursday morning, the UK prime minister said Russia had “attacked a friendly country without any provocation and without any credible excuse”.

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Explosions hit Ukraine’s major airports as Russia begins invasion – video

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Footage shows explosions at Ukrainian airports near major cities including Kharkiv and Mariupol in the early hours of Thursday morning. Blasts from artillery rockets were filmed around 5am near Mariupol. Footage also showed smoke rising near Kharkiv military airport and a video posted on social media captured an explosion near the Ivano-Frankivsk airport in western Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a 'special military operation' at dawn. World leaders have warned the move could provoke the biggest war in Europe since the second world war

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Stay or flee? Kyiv comes to terms with disaster of Russian invasion

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Moments of normality puncture mood of shock, fear and quiet disgust in Ukraine’s capital

It began in darkness soon after 4.30am local time. There were distant explosions in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and the whine of car alarms. A nation shook itself awake. What had been foretold by western governments, by experts, and – late in the day – by the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was actually happening. Russia was attacking and invading.

Vladimir Putin’s apparent goal: the subjugation of a nation, a culture, a people. It was unthinkable in the twenty-first century. And yet, with imperial swagger, Russian troops, tanks and planes were on the move.

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Russia invades Ukraine as Putin launches war to ‘demilitarise’ neighbour

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Russia appears to be targeting military infrastructure in early strikes with explosions reported at airfields, military headquarters and military warehouses

Russian forces have unleashed an attack of Ukraine on the orders of Vladimir Putin, who announced a “special military operation” at dawn, amid warnings from world leaders that it could spark the biggest war in Europe since 1945.

Within minutes of Putin’s short televised address, at about 5am Ukrainian time, explosions were heard near major Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv.

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CCTV shows Russian tanks entering Ukraine from Belarus and Crimea – video

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Russian forces can be seen crossing into Ukraine across the Senkivka-Veselivka border checkpoint with Belarus in border guard CCTV and a separate video shows tanks crossing the border from occupied Crimea. 

The attack on Ukraine was on the orders of Vladimir Putin, who announced a 'special military operation' at dawn. World leaders have warned the move could provoke the biggest war in Europe since 1945

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Moment that Putin thundered to war, drowning out last entreaties for peace

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As members of UN security council poured out calls for restraint, Russian president was already launching attack on Ukraine

It will go down as one of the most surreal sessions the United Nations chamber has ever witnessed, as the very war it was supposed to prevent broke out while it was sitting.

Vladimir Putin, with brutal timing, delivered a speech announcing that Russia would start a “special military operation” in Ukraine – while an emergency session of the UN security council was under way.

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The west stood back and watched in Syria – it must not do the same in Ukraine | Hamish de Bretton-Gordon

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It’s time for the US and its allies to show their steel in the face of Putin’s aggression. We have learned that nothing else will work

The Syria crisis continues unnoticed. It holds key lessons for the west about Putin yet it has gone virtually unnoticed by the rest of the world. War crimes and crimes against humanity continue in the Russian-sponsored dictatorship, even as some misguided leaders want to usher Bashar al-Assad, the architect of these crimes, back into acceptable society.

We can rest assured that the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, unlike Assad, is not welcoming Putin with open arms. But in responding to the Ukraine emergency, there are lessons the west can and should learn from the situation in Syria.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon is a chemical weapons expert, fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge and an adviser to the Union of Syrian Medical Charities

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‘Their golden hour’: Donetsk and Luhansk leaders revel in rising profile

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Ukraine crisis has thrust Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik into centre of events, amid claim they are puppets of Putin

For many Russians, it was an unfamiliar sight to see the faces of the two leaders of the pro-Kremlin proxy states in eastern Ukraine pop up on their television screens last Friday, announcing the mass evacuation of Donbas citizens to Russia.

Since then, however, Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, heads of the self-proclaimed republics in Luhansk and Donetsk, have seen their political profiles rocket, culminating on Monday with the two leaders asking the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to recognise their “republics”.

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