Podolyak announced Ukraine’s readiness for status-neutral talks
According to Blinken, before 2014, most Ukrainians had a positive attitude towards Russia, but now it is “exactly the opposite.” He believes that now 90% of Ukrainians “hate” Russia and President Vladimir Putin, so they will “resolutely resist any attempts to deprive them of sovereignty, deprive them of their independence, deprive them of their government.”
Read on RBC Pro
Responding to the thesis that the threat of sanctions does not affect Russia, Blinken said that the effect of restrictive measures is already there: “We see this from the point of view of the Russian currency, from the point of view of its markets. But the impact is really felt over time as, again, it spreads throughout the economy.”
Against the background of the aggravation of the situation in the Donbass, on February 21, Russia recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics and on the night of February 24 launched a special operation in Ukraine. The main goal of the operation is called “demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.” Russia is not going to occupy Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized.
Biden answered the question about the sanctions against Putin personally
On the first day of the operation, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on the decommissioning of 74 military infrastructure facilities in Ukraine. The strikes are carried out on military infrastructure, aviation, air defense facilities and military airfields, there is no threat to the civilian population, the ministry stressed.
Kiev, in response to the start of the Russian special operation, declared martial law throughout the country. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky decided to break off diplomatic relations with Moscow and announced a general mobilization.
The United States, Canada, Australia, Great Britain and the European Union reacted to the special operation in Ukraine with new sanctions against Russia.