Kiev is still resisting targeted assaults by Russian forces but the“noose is tightening” around the capital. Russian troops entered Kharkiv, the country’s second city, on Sunday morning. The day before, the West announced financial sanctions intended to make Moscow a “pariah” of global finance.
“Kiev did not fall on Saturday” most “the noose is tightening” around the capital, “which finds itself almost completely surrounded, with its main axes cut off by the Russian forces, except for the southern exits of the city, which remain free”, notice The weather.
“While this part of the Russian strategy appears to be successful, attempted incursions into the Kyiv metropolitan area have been repelled, causing casualties to the aggressors”adds the special envoy of the Swiss daily. “Commando operations to occupy the center of Kiev have fizzled”.
But however optimistic they may be, the Ukrainian forces “prepare for an intensification of the Russian assault”while the anti-aircraft sirens continue to sound in the sky of the capital, bring it back German wave.
“A small number of Russian soldiers are inside the city, but according to the Americans and the British, the bulk of the Russian forces were still about thirty kilometers from the city center on Saturday afternoon”continues the German radio.
Curfew
A new curfew has been introduced in the city, starting at 5 p.m., which will remain in effect until Monday morning. “Kiev is completely at a standstill”, reports the special envoy ofEuronews. “Restaurants, bars, etc. Everything is closed, except for a few shops which remain open so that people can stock up on basic necessities”. The metro stopped working, in order to serve as a refuge for the inhabitants.
The Russian army, described by Westerners as “frustrated” by its meager progress, three days after the launch of the invasion, “received the order on Saturday to expand its offensive on Ukraine, ‘in all directions’”, writing The evening. “Russian forces have penetrated deeply from the north, east and south, but are meeting resistance from the Ukrainian army and have so far not taken full control of any Ukrainian city, according to several western sources”adds the Brussels daily.
This Sunday morning, we learned that Russian troops entered Kharkiv, the country’s second city, in the east.
Sanctions
Faced with the threat of an escalating Russian assault, the United States, Canada announced the toughest financial sanctions yet against Moscow, affirms the Washington Post.
“The allies have said they will block the Russian central bank’s access to hundreds of billions of dollars in Western reserves, a move that could cause panic in the country, which is trying to finance its new war”specifies the American daily.
Germany turnaround
Westerners will also “exclude Russian banks from the Swift interbank platform, a network connecting banks around the world, considered the backbone of international finance”.
So many measures that should make Russia “a pariah of finance and the global economy”welcomed a US government official, cited by the Financial Times.
Germany was staunchly opposed to sanctions involving Swift – it needs it to buy its energy from Russia – but had no choice but to toe the line, in the face of unanimous criticism it made the object in the last 24 hours.
Another reversal of the government of Olaf Scholz, Saturday: its decision to provide Kiev with a thousand anti-tank rocket launchers and 500 air-to-ground missiles, thus breaking with its traditional refusal to export lethal weapons in conflict zones. The United States and several European countries – including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic – have also pledged further military aid to Ukraine.
Announcements hailed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, “already branded a hero by his supporters three days after the start of the Russian invasion”, observe Fox News. Mr. Zelensky reiterated on Saturday “his commitment to stay in Kiev and defend his country”refusing the evacuation offer offered by the United States. “The fight takes place here. I need ammunition, not a plane ticket”he launched in a video posted on Twitter.