Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the Biden administration to use all its influence to ban Russia from the SWIFT banking network
Ukraine’s foreign minister used a call with his American counterpart on Friday to ask the Biden administration for urgent help in persuading European nations to back a ban on Russia using the SWIFT banking network.
Details of the call emerged amid signs of growing frustration in Kyiv that President Joe Biden is not doing more to help Ukraine fighting Russian forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the West of abandoning his country.
And then his foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba took to Twitter to say he had asked for help excluding Russian from international banking systems.
‘Another call with my American friend and counterpart @SecBlinken on the need to use all US influence on some hesitant European countries in order to ban Russia from SWIFT,’ he said.
‘We also discussed further supply of defensive weapons to Ukraine.’
A day earlier the European Union decided not to block Russia from SWIFT’s system of money transfers.
Some European nations – particularly Germany – are skeptical that banning Russia would be a smart move.
They warn it would make it impossible to support civil rights groups in Russia from abroad, or for Russian students abroad to send money to help their grandmothers.
U.S. intelligence officials are worried that the Ukrainian capital could fall within days as forces prepare to defend Kyiv
: Members of the territorial defense battalion set up a machine gun and organise a military redoubt in Kyiv, Ukraine
Protesters demand that Russia be banned from the SWIFT system during a rally for Ukraine at the White House on Thursday
Earlier President Joe Biden met virtually with fellow NATO leaders to agree to send thousands more troops, backed by air and naval support, to protect allies in eastern Europe.
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the 30-nation organization will send parts of the NATO response force to the alliance’s eastern flank – the first time it has ever been used.
And lawmakers in the US are proposing a $600 million package of ‘lethal defense weapons’ for Ukraine.
‘What we’re doing with Ukraine is making sure that we have humanitarian assistance to help the people; that we have lethal defense weapons going into Ukraine to the tune of $600 million for them to fight their own fight,’ she told reporters in San Francisco.
It comes as Russian forces continue to make headway.
U.S. intelligence officials are worried the Ukrainian capital could fall within days, CNN reported, as Russian forces are within 20 miles of its location and residents are being urged to make Molotov cocktails to help defend the city.
Amid reports the Kremlin is gunning for him, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed the United States and its allies for leaving his country to fight alone.
‘Who is ready to fight alongside us? I don’t see anyone,’ he said. ‘Who is ready to give Ukraine a guarantee of NATO membership? Everyone is afraid.’
‘We’re defending our country alone. The most powerful forces in the world are watching this from a distance,’ Zelensky said.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin offered to send a delegation to Belarus to negotiate with Ukraine but only under harsh conditions.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was ready to send a delegation to Minsk. But Peskov made it clear that Russia expected Ukraine’s ‘denazification and demilitarization’ of Ukraine, meaning Kyiv’s capitulation.
President Joe Biden will meet virtually with fellow NATO members on Friday morning to reassure eastern allies they will be protected
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed the United States and its allies for leaving his country to fight alone
Ukrainian national guard were forming up on Kyiv’s streets Friday as they prepared to defend the city from a Russian assault, shortly before heavy gunfire and explosions were heard
A brave Ukrainian citizen has been filmed apparently trying to stop a convoy of Russian Tigr-M fighting vehicles – similar to American Humvees – moving along a highway close to Crimea in scenes reminiscent of Tiananmen Square’s ‘tank man’
Russian battle plans to take Kyiv and force an early end to the war in Ukraine have been revealed by US intelligence, who say troops and armour would be used to capture airfields, before a force of 10,000 paratroopers would be flown in to capture the city, round up the government, and force them to sign a peace deal handing control of the country back to Russia
President Joe Biden (upper left) participates in the NATO meeting
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg convenes leaders for a virtual summit
A general view of a meeting room during a virtual summit called in by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine, in Brussels, Belgium
As fighting continues across the Ukraine, Biden will start his Friday in a virtual meeting with the 30 members of NATO, who are concerned about Russian aggression on their eastern flank. Some of NATO’s 30 member countries are supplying arms and support to Ukraine, but NATO as an organization isn’t.
‘Make no mistake, we will defend every ally against any attack on every inch of NATO territory,’ NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who will chair the summit, told reporters Thursday. ‘An attack on one ally will trigger a response from the whole alliance.’
During the meeting, the leaders are likely to consider whether to activate the NATO Response Force, which can number up to 40,000 troops. A quickly deployable land brigade that is part of the NRF – made up of 5,000 troops and run by France alongside Germany, Poland, Portugal and Spain – is already on heightened alert.
Some NATO nations are already taking defensive measures as Russian aggression grows.
Lithuania declared a state of emergency Thursday after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine. Lithuania borders Russia´s Kaliningrad region to the southwest. NATO members Belarus is to the east, Latvia is to the north and Poland is to the south.
‘We cannot take the luxury to be (a) discussion club,’ Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said overnight at an emergency summit of European Union leaders held to impose a ‘heavy price’ on Russia through sanctions. ‘We need to take action.’
The Baltic members have said the West should ‘urgently provide Ukrainian people with weapons, ammunition and any other kind of military support to defend itself as well as economic, financial and political assistance and support, humanitarian aid.’
NATO began beefing up its defenses in northeastern Europe after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Recently, some members have also sent troops, aircraft and warships to the Black Sea region, near allies Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.
Short-term, NATO has activated an emergency planning system to allow commanders to move forces more quickly. The Pentagon said Thursday that it is sending 7,000 troops to Europe in addition to 5,000 recently deployed personnel.
Independence Square in central Kyiv, Ukraine
Ukrainian soldiers take positions in downtown Kyiv
Servicemen of the Ukrainian National Guard take positions in central Kyiv
Additionally, pressure is building on Biden to personally sanction Putin. The U.S. has already sanctioned several members of Putin’s inner circle and many Russian oligarchs who made their money off his regime.
Biden said Thursday that sanctioning the Russian leader remained ‘on the table’ but refused to answer a question on why Putin has not yet been personally targeted.
The European Union will freeze Putin’s assets and those of the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, but will not impose a travel ban on them, the New York Times reported.
