I admit it. I was iffy with the thought of Putin going all out on the entire Ukrainian country because he owns Europe with his grasp on the world’s energy supply.
But when you smell blood in the water you go for the throat. And when you know your adversaries won’t respond in an efficient way then why not.
Wusses.
Since Ukraine declared martial law, men aged 18-60 cannot leave the country:
The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reports that due to the imposition of martial law in Ukraine, the departure of a certain category of citizens from Ukraine is temporarily restricted.In particular, male citizens of Ukraine aged 18 to 60 are prohibited from leaving Ukraine.Such a rule will apply for the period of martial law.We ask citizens to take this information into account.
You can watch a live cam in Kyiv on YouTube.
3:53 PM ET:
I’ll write a separate post on the sanctions, but this is important:
U.S. President Joe Biden says the sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine will not disrupt the global oil and natural gas markets.Biden says, “Our sanctions package is specifically designed to allow energy payments to continue.”The president announced a series of sanctions at a White House speech Thursday. The sanctions include restrictions on exports to Russia and sanctions on Russian banks and state-controlled companies.
Welp.
12:33 PM ET: Honestly, it’s all the United Nations Security Council can do:
A senior U.S. official says the U.N. Security Council is expected to vote Friday on a resolution condemning Russia in the strongest terms possible for attacking Ukraine and demanding the immediate withdrawal of all its forces — knowing that Russia will veto the legally binding measure.The United States believes it is very important to put the resolution to a vote to underscore Russia’s international isolation, and emphasizes that the veto will be followed quickly by a resolution in the 193-member U.N. General Assembly where there are no vetoes, the official said Thursday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.“This is a first step in how the U.N. responds to this premeditated war of choice that Russia has chosen to take, and we will see action in the General Assembly in the coming days,” he said, adding that it is part of a much broader, coordinated response that includes steps the Biden administration and its allies are taking.
10:14 AM ET: President Zelensky said Russian troops are trying to take Chernobyl.
10 AM ET: I knew it. After all, Ukraine is not a NATO member:
NATO has no troops inside Ukraine and has no plans to send any into the country, the alliance’s Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, told a news conference on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”There are no NATO combat troops, no NATO troops at all inside Ukraine. We have made it clear that we don’t have any plans and intention of deploying NATO troops to Ukraine,” he said.”What we have made clear is that we have already increased and we are increasing the presence of NATO troops in the eastern part of the alliance on NATO territory.”
9:58 AM ET: The Japanese ambassador to Ukraine is a badass. (It looks like this was posted on February 15) But still. He did it to show his support!
At 6 AM Moscow time on February 24 (meaning like 10 PM ET February 23) Putin, likely from a pre-recorded message) said Russia will “conduct a special military operation.” The entire transcript is at The Sydney Morning Herald. Here is a snippet:
I made a decision to conduct a special military operation. Its goal is to protect people who have been abused by the genocide of the Kyiv regime for eight years. And to this end, we will strive for the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine, as well as bringing to justice those who committed numerous bloody crimes against civilians, including citizens of the Russian Federation.At the same time, our plans do not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories. We are not going to impose anything on anyone by force. At the same time, we hear more often lately from the West that documents signed by the Soviet totalitarian regime that fixed the results of the Second World War should not be implemented.
Someone tell Putin that Ukraine’s president and prime minister are Jewish.
Here are confirmed attacks on Ukraine. I *think* the majority aimed at military places, but reports indicate 40 people died.
Diplomacy because that has worked so well since Putin came to power in 2000. Sanctions and strongly worded letters:
European Union leaders will discuss new, tougher sanctions on Russia at an emergency meeting later on February 24 in reaction to its “barbaric attack” on Ukraine, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.”We will hold President [Vladimir] Putin accountable for that,” von der Leyen said.”With this package, we will target strategic sectors of the Russian economy by blocking their access to key technologies and markets,” she said in a statement to the media. “We will weaken Russia’s economic base and its capacity to modernize.”EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc will slap the harshest package of sanctions ever implemented on Russia.”The European Union will respond in the strongest possible ways…(EU leaders) will adopt a stronger package, the harshest package of sanctions we have ever implemented,” he told reporters in Brussels.
I don’t know. Maybe you should have taken the situation seriously when Putin annexed Crimea in 2014? It gave him a perfect military base in the Black Sea. Maybe you should have made Ukraine a member of NATO and the EU a long time ago?
A little too late. Now you all care so much about Ukraine.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the organization would “defend ‘every inch’ of its members’ territory.” That does not include Ukraine:
“We must respond with renewed resolve and even stronger unity,” Stoltenberg told a news conference after conducting an emergency meeting of NATO ambassadors in Brussels.”What we do is defensive,” said Stoltenberg, who confirmed that NATO will hold a virtual meeting of its 30 national leaders on February 25.Stoltenberg restated the alliance’s commitment to Article 5, which holds that an attack on one member constitutes an attack on all members.
Biden promised “severe sanctions” in response to the attacks. But obviously not tough enough to hit where it would hurt Russia.
Yup:
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY