Russian forces bombard Ukrainian cities as invasion enters third week

Russia battered Ukrainian cities on Wednesday as an invasion that has left Moscow more and more indifferent from the worldwide financial system and spurned by multinational corporations entered its third week.

After an evening when sirens rang out over Kyiv, Ukraine stated it might try and evacuate civilians from some city areas hardest hit by the battle, with a restricted ceasefire referred to as for 9am native time.

Russia’s struggle in Ukraine is raging with little finish in sight, destroying cities, unsettling the world financial system and driving greater than 2mn civilians overseas looking for refuge.

Western officers stated Russia was regrouping round Kyiv, probably in preparation for a renewed offensive on the capital within the coming days. Ukraine’s armed forces reported heavy preventing across the metropolis up to now few hours.

Oil and commodity costs rose as markets reacted to the west’s newest efforts to squeeze Russia’s financial system and starve President Vladimir Putin’s authorities of income.

The US banned imports of Russian oil and fuel on Tuesday, whereas the UK introduced a phaseout of its oil and the EU unveiled a plan to chop fuel imports from the nation by two-thirds inside a yr. Joe Biden, US president, referred to as the ban a “highly effective blow to Putin’s struggle machine”.

Moscow responded by declaring it might limit the export of some unspecified commodities from the west. Score company Fitch downgraded Russia by six notches on Tuesday, arguing each home measures and overseas sanctions made a bond default “imminent”.

Brent crude, the worldwide benchmark, rose as a lot as 2 per cent to $130.48 a barrel in early buying and selling on Wednesday. European pure fuel contracts have risen by greater than 200 per cent this yr, whereas disruptions to wheat exports from Ukraine and Russia have despatched wheat futures virtually two-thirds larger.

A company boycott of Putin’s financial system has additionally intensified. Excessive-profile shopper manufacturers together with Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Starbucks, Unilever and McDonald’s have halted or in the reduction of operations in Russia, whereas Shell stated it might cease shopping for Russian oil and fuel.

Ukraine’s armed forces stated they have been “firmly holding” positions round Kyiv within the face of enemy offensives alongside the three fronts from which Russian forces have been approaching the capital.

Ukraine’s solely efficient humanitarian hall will proceed to function on Wednesday, with civilians within the beleaguered japanese metropolis of Sumy in a position to go away, native officers stated. The hall, which additionally functioned on Tuesday, will run south to the town of Poltava, regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy stated.

Makes an attempt to evacuate civilians out of Ukraine’s most closely bombed cities, reminiscent of Mariupol within the south, have repeatedly failed with each side accusing one another of ceasefire violations. Mariupol is encircled by Russian troops and 1000’s of its inhabitants are confined to freezing shelters, with out entry to warmth, electrical energy and water.

The Sumy-Poltava hall was the one one which functioned on Tuesday. Russia had stated it might additionally permit civilians to depart Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol and Chernihiv however each side accused one another of failing to implement the offers.

The struggle seems prone to drag on as Putin reveals no signal he’ll retreat. Invoice Burns, the CIA director, informed a congressional panel on Tuesday that Putin was pissed off and would in all probability “double down” in Ukraine, including that this might imply “an unsightly subsequent few weeks” because the preventing intensified.

Poland has supplied to switch its fleet of MiG-29 fighter jets to the US as a part of a posh plan to have them dispatched to Ukraine. However the Pentagon rapidly dismissed the concept, declaring it untenable due to Ukraine’s contested airspace.

Ukraine’s vitality minister German Galushchenko stated Russian forces accountable for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant had pressured its administration to “report an tackle that they plan to make use of for propaganda functions”.

He stated on Fb that there have been now about 500 Russian troopers inside the facility station and its workers have been “bodily and psychologically exhausted”.