Russian State TV Says Ukraine Wants To Hold Negotiations With Russia At The City Of Gomel In Belarus

TASS: Ukraine suggested Gomel as venue for talks with Russia, Kremlin says 

Russia will not suspend the military operation in Ukraine during the talks with the Ukrainian side, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said 

MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. The Ukrainian side has picked Gomel, a city in Belarus, as a venue for talks with Russia, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Sunday. 

"The city of Gomel was suggested by the Ukrainian side itself as a venue for talks. As we said, the Russian delegation is ready for these talks," Peskov said. 

Russia will not suspend the military operation in Ukraine during the talks with the Ukrainian side, Peskov said. 

"For our part we have warned the Ukrainian side that this time the actions suggested by the military operation will not be suspended - as was done yesterday," he said.  

Read more .... 

WNU Editor: I will be surprised if these talks take place. Ukraine has already rejected the Kremlin's demands for ending the war (i.e. unconditional surrender).

Update: As soon as I put up this post, Ukraine President Zelensky has confirmed that there will be talks .... Peace talks over Ukraine: President Zelensky says delegation from Kyiv and Russia will meet on the Belarus border after Putin put his nuclear deterrent forces on 'high alert' furious at being ejected from Swift banking community (Daily Mail).

Russian President Putin Puts Nuclear Forces On Highest Alert

Sputnik: Putin Puts Russian Nuclear Deterrence Forces on High Alert Over Aggressive Statements by NATO 

The Western alliance promised to "hold Russia" and Belarus "accountable" for the "brutal and wholly unprovoked and unjustified" "invasion" of Ukraine on Friday, warning that Moscow would be made to pay "a severe price" for its actions. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the military to put the nation's nuclear deterrence forces on high alert Sunday following "aggressive statements" from NATO.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: This is a developing news story. 

Russian President Putin Puts Nuclear Forces On Highest Alert  

Putin puts Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces on alert -- AP 

Russia: Vladimir Putin orders military command to put nuclear deterrence forces on high alert -- SKY News  

Ukraine invasion: Putin orders Russian nuclear deterrent forces on alert as troops enter Kharkiv -- Irish Times

Putin puts Russia's nuclear forces on alert, cites sanctions -- Washington Post

Editor's Note

 On the phones tonight with family and friends in Ukraine and Russia. Blogging will return tomorrow.

Ukrainians And Russians Are Packing ATM Lines

Ukrainians stood in long lines outside of banks and ATMs hoping to take out their funds, even defying curfew to do so.DANIEL LEAL/AFP  

Business Insider: Ukrainians and Russians are packing ATM lines, prompting fears of what happened in the US during the Great Depression 

* After Russia invaded Ukraine Thursday, people in both countries started withdrawing cash from banks. 

* It's led to fears of bank runs, which triggered turmoil in the US during the Great Depression. 

* Bank runs can lead to bankruptcy, unemployment, lending shortages, and closed businesses. 

Many of the Ukrainians who haven't already fled the country as Russia's threat turned into invasion stood in long lines outside of banks and ATMs hoping to take out their funds, Reuters reported on Thursday. 

Meanwhile in Russia, people are also queuing outside of ATMs trying to get US dollars as its citizens worry their own currency's value will continue to tank, according to the Wall Street Journal. Banks in the capital city of Moscow are running out of money, according to MSNBC. 

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: I am also hearing reports that there is a run on ATMs in Poland.

A lot of people are afraid right now.

The Russia - Ukraine Propaganda War Heats Up!

Dramatic video footage, circulated on Saturday, appeared to show Ukrainian forces (left) battling Russians in Ivankiv, near Kyiv, as a fire was seen raging (right)

Ukrainian border guards protecting tiny island in the Black Sea from Russia were thought to have been killed after telling Russian navy to 'go f**k yourself' but Russia has since released almost a dozen pictured  

WNU Editor: The Russian media is playing this up .... Did they survive? Ukrainian troops reported by President Zelenskyy to have been killed after telling Russian navy to 'Go f**k yourselves' now seen to be ALIVE after pictures released by Russia show them being held as prisoners of war (Daily Mail). 

Ukraine media is playing this up .... 'Die animals, die!' Dramatic moment Ukrainian soldiers armed with rocket launchers taunt invading Russians during fierce gun battle near Kyiv (Daily Mail).

Ignoring Warnings From Russia, U.S. And NATO Preparing To Intervene In The War By Shipping Massive Amount Of Arms Into Ukraine

The Dutch government will supply 50 Panzerfaust-3 anti-tank weapons and 400 rockets [File: Marcin Bielecki/EPA-EFE]  

Daily Mail: Pentagon answers Ukraine's plea for more anti-tank Javelins: Department of Defense says it is sending $350 million of hardware from its inventory to help Ukrainians battle Russia, but won't say if it includes Stinger anti-aircraft missiles 

* President Joe Biden approved $350 million in military assistance for Ukraine on Friday evening 

* The Pentagon said it included anti-armor weapons, small arms and various munitions as well as body armor 

* An official added that Javelin anti-tank missiles were in the package but did say if Stingers were included 

* Ukraine appealed for both as it tries to repel Russian troops who entered the capital on Saturday morning 

* A Pentagon official said Russia had launched more than 250 - mostly short-range -missiles in past 24 hours 

* The president and first lady Jill Biden left Washington DC for Delaware on Friday evening 

* Their weekend away comes as Europe experiences its biggest conflict since World War Two 

* Biden is planning to impose sanctions directly on Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov 

A Pentagon official said Saturday that Javelin anti-tank missiles were part of a new $350 million package of military hardware being sent to help Ukrainian troops hold off invading Russian forces. 

The military assistance was authorized by President Joe Biden a day earlier, bringing the total amount of help to $1 billion over the past year. 

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said it would come from U.S. inventories 'including anti-armor, small arms and various munitions, body armor, and related equipment in support of Ukraine’s front-line defenders facing down Russia’s unprovoked attack.'  

Read more .... 

WNU Editor: Western leaders made the decision in 1956 to not ship weapons to the Hungarians in their revolution against the Soviet Union because they knew that it would escalate into a nuclear war. Ditto in 1968 when Soviet forces invaded Czechoslovakia and stopped their Prague Spring. 

Sacrificing two European countries to tyranny in order to avoid a greater war must have been an incredibly hard decision for these leaders to make, but they made it to avoid a greater calamity. 

So what is different now? 

Are Western leaders aware of what they are doing? 

Do they know the consequences of their action? 

I know this. Russia is going to go apoplectic seeing Germany supplying weapons to Ukraine. In the Second World War many in Ukraine aligned themselves with the Germans. In my father's home town of Bila Tserkva the Nazi German Einsatzgruppe with the aid of Ukrainian militias exterminated the Jewish population (link here). The U.S. and the West may not be aware of this history, but Russia is, and it feeds into their obsession on the need to always be secured and protected.

The Kremlin will see this military support to the Ukraine military as a direct intervention in a conflict that Moscow sees as necessary from a vital national security perspective. The Kremlin will respond, and I shudder on what they will do because I know what they are capable of doing. 

I told a regular reader of this blog tonight that if the momentum shifts away from Russia in this war, there is a very real possibility that Russia will use a tactical nuclear weapon (or two) that will force the Ukraine government to capitulate immediately, and to also warn Europe and the U.S. to stay out. No one is talking about it, but I sense that it is on the table.

Bottom line. And I hope that I am wrong. This commitment from the US and the EU to now intervene in the Russian - Ukraine war by supplying weapons makes this escalation into a nuclear conflict one step closer. 

Ignoring Warnings From Russia, U.S. And NATO Preparing To Intervene In The War By Shipping Massive Amount Of Arms Into Ukraine  

EU aims to coordinate arms shipments to Ukraine -- Politico  

In a major shift, Germany will send weapons to Ukraine -- AP  

NATO bolsters arms supply to Ukraine with anti-tank weapons -- Al Jazeera  

Britain to send more arms to Ukrainian military as fighting reaches Kyiv -- The Independent  

Too little too late? West finally coughs up arms for Ukraine -- France 24  

NATO rushing to resupply Ukraine by land; no-fly zone all but ruled out -- Politico

U.S. And The EU Remove Some Russia Banks From The SWIFT Banking Network

 

Daily Mail: Biden and EU use 'financial nuclear option' and REMOVES Russian banks from SWIFT network: Task force will target oligarchs and their 'yachts, luxury apartments and ability to send their kids to fancy colleges in the West' 

* The West pledged to isolate Russia from world markets by removing banks from the SWIFT network 

* The US, European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and Canada made the move on Saturday 

* 'We will hold Russia to account and collectively ensure that this war is a strategic failure for Putin,' they said 

* They will also set up a transatlantic taskforce to hunt down assets of sanctioned companies and oligarchs 

* A senior administration official said it would go after 'their yachts, luxury apartments, their money and their ability to send their kids to fancy colleges in the West' 

* Ukraine has been demanding the move for days as it battles about 75,000 invading Russian troops 

 * Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said it would stop Putin using his 'war chest.' 

* Earlier a Pentagon official said the US was sending more Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine 

The US and its Western allies announced on Saturday a new raft of crippling sanctions on Moscow, as they promised to ban key Russian banks from the international SWIFT banking network and impose restrictions on the Russian Central Bank. 

They will also set up a transatlantic taskforce to go after sanctioned oligarchs, 'their yachts, luxury apartments, their money and their ability to send their kids to fancy colleges in the West,' said a senior Biden administration official.  

Read more ....  

Update #1: West unleashes SWIFT bans, more crushing penalties on Russia (AP)  

Update #2: White House and EU nations announce expulsion of 'selected Russian banks' from SWIFT (CNN)  

WNU Editor: The Russian Central Bank will still be permitted to use SWIFT (for now). But if the Russian Central Bank is expelled it would be unprecedented, especially for an economy the size of Russia. 

As I had mentioned in a previous post, Russia's complete expulsion from SWIFT would have an enormous impact on the US being able to maintain its currency as a reserve currency. We will probably end up with is a basket of currencies that would replace the US dollar, as we saw only two weeks ago when Russia and China signed an $80 billion dollar natural gas contract that will be paid in Euros. 

One more point. 

Russian President Putin did say a few years ago that if Russia is expelled from SWIFT, it would be seen as a declaration of war by the Kremlin. Am I the only one who is nervous now?  

Update: This post is from last year .... Kremlin Says Threats To Unplug Russia From SWIFT Represents A National Security Issue (December 17, 2021).

Eight Seconds That Will Live In Infamy

Full version… pic.twitter.com/Q4MV4Ocst6

— DA (@DanielAndrewMe) February 25, 2022

WNU editor: It is always about the money.

Update: Saskatchewan's Premier does have a point (see below), but Canada stopped importing Russian oil 2 - 3 years ago.

Just to be clear, both Canada and the US will continue to import oil from Russia. Because our national governments consider the construction of oil pipelines from western Canada a greater threat than Russia, apparently. pic.twitter.com/dx5XGIjMBd

— Scott Moe (@PremierScottMoe) February 25, 2022

What Did The Americans Expect!!!!

"Americans presented Chinese officials with intelligence on Russia’s troop buildup in hopes that President Xi Jinping would step in, but Chinese officials rebuffed the U.S. and shared the information with Moscow."

I would have called this a double-cross, but that's just me.

— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) February 25, 2022

WNU Editor: I guess there are still some in Washington who see the Chinese government as partner to trust in doing the U.S. bidding. 

OMG!!!! What are they thinking in Washington?

Ukraine President Zelensky Is Saying Turkey Has Banned Russian Warships From Using The Bosporus And The Dardanelles Straits To Enter The Black Sea?

Russian Navy's Project 22160 Patrol Vessel Dmitriy Rogachev 375 sails through the Bosphorus Strait on the way to the Black Sea past Istanbul's Suleymaniye mosque in the backround on 16 February 2022 (AFP) 

 Ukrinform: Turkey bans passage of Russian warships to Black Sea - Zelensky 

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi broke the news on Instagram, Ukrinform reports. 

The president thanked his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish people for their strong support of Ukraine.

Read more ....  

Update: Turkey agrees to ban passage of Russian ships to Black Sea - Zelensky (TASS)  

WNU Editor: Turkey is saying there is no ban .... Turkey has not closed Black Sea to Russian warships: Official (Daily Sabah). More here .... Russia-Ukraine war: Turkey denies closing Black Sea to Russian warships (Middle East Eye). 

Here is an interesting read and why Turkey is in a legal bind .... What does the Montreux accord say about closing Black Sea access to Russia? (TRT World).