Sanctions Against Russia Seek To Economically Cripple The Nation.

The British government has imposed further sanctions against Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson described as the “most serious” that Russia has ever seen.

Explosions have been reported across Ukraine, notably in the capital Kyiv, as well as in other towns such as Kharkiv, Mariupol, and Odessa, following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proclamation of a “special military operation” in Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday.

Johnson claimed Putin will “stand condemned in the eyes of the world and of history” and will “never be able to wipe the blood of Ukraine from his hands” in a speech to the House of Commons on Thursday.

“Now we see him for what he is—a bloodthirsty aggressor who believes in imperial conquest,” he stated, adding that “Vladimir Putin’s horrible and inhumane attempt must fail.”

The UK is introducing “the broadest and most punishing package of economic penalties Russia has ever seen,” according to Johnson.

Johnson expanded the scope of the sanctions to include five more oligarchs, including Putin’s former son-in-law Kirill Shamalov, as well as over 100 businesses and persons.

He said the government will sanction “all the major manufacturers that support Putin’s war machine,” will imminently ban Russia’s national airline Aeroflot from touching down planes in the UK, and will freeze the assets of all major Russian banks, including immediately against state-owned VTB, Russia’s second-biggest bank.

In a statement to Parliament, Johnson said the G7 leaders and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg pledged to work together to “maximize the economic price that Putin will pay for his aggression.”

“Ending Europe’s collective dependence on Russian oil and gas, which has served to elevate Putin for far too long,” he said.

“Countries that combined account for roughly half of the world economy are currently engaged in maximising economic pressure on one that accounts for about 2%,” he added.

The UK will work with the US and the EU to implement “additional trade restrictions and tough export controls,” according to the prime minister.

“For years to come, these trade sanctions will limit Russia’s military, industrial, and technological capacities,” he warned.

“We’ll keep squeezing Russia out of the global economy piece by piece, day by day, and week by week,” he added.

Belarus, which has backed Russia’s military intervention against Ukraine, will also face sanctions.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier in the day, President Joe Biden stated that US military will not be sent to battle in Ukraine.

“Our military are not and will not join in the crisis in Ukraine,” Biden said in a White House address, adding that more troops will be sent to eastern Europe to “protect our NATO partners.” Although Ukraine is not a member of NATO, the US has provided Kyiv with hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid in recent years.

Biden stated that all 30 NATO members will meet on Friday to “plan out the next steps we will take to reinforce” the alliance, while announcing further sanctions against Russian assets.

Thousands of additional US troops have been deployed to Poland and Germany in recent weeks. The Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, which share a border with Russia, received NATO personnel and military equipment this week, according to the Department of Defense.

Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia began talks under NATO’s founding treaty’s Article 4 on Thursday. In a united statement, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania urged the alliance should help Ukraine with military equipment, weapons, and ammunition.

On Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would defend “every inch” of its members’ land, adding, “Peace on our continent has been destroyed.”

“We now have a conflict in Europe on a scale and of a nature we believed had passed us by,” Stoltenberg remarked.

It happened as Ukrainian officials announced that their forces were fighting Russian forces on many fronts and that they had lost control of the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which was the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

“Russia is on a path of evil,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Twitter. “But Ukraine is defending itself and will not give up its freedom.” “Ukraine did not choose the route of conflict; however, Ukraine has offered to return to the path of peace,” he stated.

Russian and Ukrainian officials both claimed responsibility for the damage they caused. Russia’s Defense Ministry announced the destruction of dozens of Ukrainian air bases, military buildings, and drones, as well as the loss of a Su-25 attack fighter, which it blamed on “pilot mistake.” It asserted that “there is no threat to the civilian population” and that it was not targeting cities but rather deploying precise weapons.