Biden Says ‘Dictator’ Putin Will Pay High Price: Ukraine Update
Track the latest developments emerging from the Russian attacks on Ukraine.
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Joe Biden used his first State of the Union address to label Vladimir Putin a “dictator,” and said the Russian president would pay a high price for his invasion of Ukraine.
Russia said it would press forward with its military advances, as the war enters a more brutal stage. In the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, the mayor said residential areas were being bombed, while China’s foreign minister warned Beijing is “extremely concerned” about the harm to civilians.
Biden spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy about the escalation of attacks. Putin responded to sanctions by banning Russian residents from transferring hard currency abroad. The U.K. announced new penalties on Russia and its ally Belarus, while several major companies either halted operations in Russia or said they would soon.
Key News
- China Holds Talks With Ukraine, Further Edging Away From Russia
- Putin’s Army Expected a Welcome in This City. It Got ‘Go Home!’
- Fog of Cyberwar Grips Ukraine and Russia With Only Bad Outcomes
- Stocks Drop as Oil at $110 Sows Fears for Growth: Markets Wrap
- Ruble Indicated Lower for a Third Day as Ukraine War Intensifies
- Sanctions Imposed on Russia From U.S., EU, U.K. and Others
All times CET:
War Leaves Middle East Wheat Buyers Vulnerable (7:18 a.m.)
Egypt is under pressure to raise the price of subsidized loaves for the first time in four decades as Russia’s attack on Ukraine chokes off wheat supplies. The violence, fast-moving sanctions announcements and surging freight and insurance costs have propelled the grain to its highest price in more than a decade.
That carries extra resonance in Egypt, where rising food costs contributed to the Arab Spring protests that spread across the region a decade ago.
Turkey Won’t Join Sanctions on Russia (6:35 a.m.)
Turkey is not inclined to join sanctions on Russia and has not been asked to do so, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in interview with Haberturk TV. “We have, generally, not participated in these kinds of sanctions as principle,” he said.
Ankara is in a tricky position over Russia’s invasion. Turkish-made drones are being used by Ukraine to attack the Russian army. This is straining ties between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Putin, a relationship that has consequences for Turkey’s economy, defense ties and regional flashpoints including Syria’s war.
Exxon to Leave Russia (4:49 a.m.)
Exxon Mobil Corp. flagged it would join key rivals in exiting Russia as pressure grows on global energy giants to respond decisively to the invasion of Ukraine.
The company, which holds a 30% stake in the Sakhalin-1 offshore oil asset in Russia’s Far East, will begin steps to discontinue operations and leave the venture, Exxon said in a statement. No timeframe was given, and the fact Exxon serves as operator of the facility sets up a complicated, and potentially lengthy process to quit its only remaining oil-producing asset in the nation.
Exxon also signaled a wider severing of long-standing ties with a country that had once been viewed as a long-term growth engine.
Biden Says Putin ‘Badly Miscalculated’ (3:25 a.m.)
Putin “badly miscalculated” with his invasion of Ukraine, Biden said in his State of the Union address. In a show of solidarity with Ukraine, Biden asked the audience for his speech to stand. Many lawmakers and guests held Ukrainian flags.
“He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead he met a wall of strength he never imagined. He met the Ukrainian people,” Biden said.
Biden Says Ready to Act on Oil Prices (3:21 a.m.)
Biden said the government stands “ready to do more if necessary” to address soaring oil prices amid the war, as he touted previous action to unleash oil from the nation’s emergency reserve.
Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. and other major economies agreed to a coordinated release of their oil stockpiles after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed crude above $100 a barrel.
U.S. to Ban Russian Flights (3:21 a.m.)
Biden said in the State of the Union the U.S. would join its allies in closing off American air space to all Russian flights, a move he said would further isolate Russia and add a squeeze on its economy.
Boeing Halts Moscow Operations (3:15 a.m.)
Boeing Co. is suspending major operations in Moscow and temporarily restricting employees and partners in Russia from accessing sensitive technical data until it can secure export licenses from the U.S. government.
Oil Surge Rattles Stocks (2:58 a.m)
Most Asian stocks fell Wednesday as the war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia stoke the cost of commodities including oil, hurting the economic outlook and bolstering demand for sovereign bonds.
Shares retreated in Japan, China and Hong Kong, where a four-day lockdown looms amid a Covid testing blitz. U.S. contracts steadied after Wall Street shares retreated on the prospect of slowing growth alongside high inflation.
United Says It Will Avoid Russian Skies (12:50 a.m.)
United Airlines Holdings Inc. will stop flying over Russia for its daily flights to India, becoming the last major U.S. passenger airline to withdraw from the airspace. The airline expects short-term disruptions as it reroutes flights to Mumbai and New Delhi from its hubs in Chicago, Newark and San Francisco, spokeswoman Leslie Scott said.
Apple Halts Product Sales in Russia (11:37 p.m.)
Apple Inc. halted product sales in Russia, saying the company stands “with all of the people who are suffering as a result of the violence.”
The iPhone maker said it stopped exporting products into the country’s sales channel last week, ahead of pausing sales. It’s also removing the RT News and Sputnik News applications from App Stores outside of Russia and has disabled traffic and live-incident features in Ukraine as a “safety and precautionary measure” for citizens there.
The action followed a plea by Ukraine for Apple to stop selling products in Russia, with Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov saying the move could help turn Russian youth against the invasion.
U.K. Hits Russia With New Sanctions (10:45 p.m.)
The U.K. announced fresh sanctions on Russia and Belarus, including curbs on Russia’s Central Bank and its biggest commercial bank, Sberbank, and formalizing a ban on Russian ships entering U.K. ports.
Britain also imposed sanctions on the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, and its chief executive, Kirill Dmitriev. Their assets were frozen and a travel ban placed on Dmitriev.
The moves follow an announcement earlier by the U.K. to sanction four Belarusian deputy ministers and two of the country’s military enterprises.
Ukraine Seeks Humanitarian Corridors (9:42 p.m.)
Ukraine’s government appealed to the Red Cross, the United Nations and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to organize humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians from town and cities, especially in the eastern part of the country, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a briefing at the presidential office.
EU Blocks Seven Russian Banks From SWIFT (7:05 p.m.)
European Union ambassadors agreed to exclude seven Russian banks from the SWIFT financial-messaging system but spared the nation’s biggest lender Sberbank PJSC and a bank part-owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom PJSC. VTB Bank PJSC and Bank Rossiya are among the banks that would face a ban from the messaging system that enables trillions of dollars worth of transactions around the world, according to officials familiar with the decision.
The other institutions on the list are Bank Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank PJSC, Sovcombank PJSC and VEB.RF. Some countries, including Poland, had pushed for more banks to be included in the measure, two of the people said.
U.S. Funding Could Reach $10 Billion (6:42 p.m.)
Bipartisan support is growing in Congress for quick passage of a package of funding to address Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the price tag is likely to exceed the $6.4 billion requested by the White House on Friday. In an interview on Bloomberg Radio’s Balance of Power Tuesday, House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro says Ukraine money could be closer to $10 billion, echoing a figure put forward by Senator Chris Coons of Delaware last week.
EU Takes Step on Ukraine Membership (6:28 p.m.)
EU ambassadors agreed on Tuesday to call for an initial assessment of Ukraine’s chances of joining the bloc. The envoys will ask for an assessment from the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, according to officials who were granted anonymity to speak about a confidential issue.
EU leaders are expected to discuss Ukraine’s prospects at a summit in Paris on March 10-11, the officials said. Once their demand is received, it will be up to the commission to determine if Ukraine is ready to start the accession process, at which point its opinion will be presented to the EU’s 27 member states.
Pentagon Is Sending Stingers (6:14 p.m.)
The Pentagon confirmed the U.S. has been tapping its stockpile to send more Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and other weapons to Ukraine. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy Mara Karlin said equipment provided since September has included a wide range’ of weapons including Stingers, Javelin anti-armor missiles,anti-tank rocket systems, grenade launchers, more than 2,000 tons of ammunition,” including mortar and artillery rounds, small arms and machine guns.
Ex-U.S. Defense Chief Predicts ‘Terrible Assault’ (6:05 p.m.)
William Cohen, a former U.S. secretary of defense, said he thinks Putin has made a decision to incorporate Ukraine into Russia and will do whatever to subjugate the country. “I’m expecting a terrible assault on the people in order to make that government crumble,” Cohen, who also served in the U.S. Senate, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s Balance of Power.”
Biden and Zelenskiy Spoke Over Phone (5:35 p.m.)
President Joe Biden held a call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The two men spoke for just over 30 minutes, according to a White House official.
Later today Biden gives his first State of the Union and it could not come at a more delicate time for his presidency. Not since 2003, when George W. Bush laid out his case for war against Iraq in his State of the Union address, or 2010, when Barack Obama was confronting the financial crisis, has a U.S. leader delivered his annual address to Congress in such a fraught moment.
U.S. Official Cites Morale, Supply Issues for Russia (6:06 p.m.)
Russia is encountering problems with supplying food and gas to its forces in Ukraine, according to a senior U.S. defense official, who said that morale is also flagging among Russian troops, many of them young conscripts.
While Russia has yet to establish air superiority over all of Ukraine, the official said, it has conducted 400 airstrikes so far and has substantial additional power available. There continues to be no communications between U.S. and Russian military commanders, the official added.
WATCH: Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said earlier that the armed forces will continue their military “operation” in Ukraine until they meet their goals, Interfax reported. It cited him as saying that Russia was attacking Ukrainian military infrastructure with high-precision weapons.
German Minister Vows to Slash Russia Energy Dependence (6 p.m.)
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck vowed to significantly reduce his country’s dependence on Russian gas within the next two or three years.
“As soon as I’m back in Germany, I’ll once more speed up the process there,” Habeck said after a meeting with U.S. government officials in Washington Tuesday. “We must deliver now.”
Kyiv TV Tower Hit by Missile, Minister Says (5:46 p.m.)
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a Twitter post that a Russian missile struck the TV tower in the capital, Kyiv.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said earlier that it planned to target communications infrastructure inside Kyiv to hit the source of “information attacks.”
NATO Foreign Ministers To Meet Friday (5:42 p.m.)
Foreign ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will meet in Brussels on Friday, the military alliance said in a statement.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has repeatedly stressed that NATO is purely a defensive alliance and that it wouldn’t intervene militarily in the war with Russia. Several alliance members have supported Ukraine’s war effort on a national basis, and the organization is considering how to strengthen its eastern flank.
Ukraine Says Tanks Massed on Belarus Border (5:30 p.m.)
Ukraine’s military intelligence service said in a Twitter post that some 300 Belarusian tanks are amassed at the border, and that Belarus may be close to entering the war.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who is an ally of President Vladimir Putin, said earlier Tuesday that his country had no plans to join the war in Ukraine.
Oil Stockpile Release Is Agreed (4:31 p.m.)
The U.S. and other major economies have reached a deal on a coordinated release of oil stockpiles, according to people familiar with the decision, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed crude above $100 a barrel.
The International Energy Agency, which represents key industrialized consumers including Japan and Germany, will deploy 60 million barrels from stockpiles around the world, according to two people familiar with the matter. That will mark the second release from American crude reserves within a few months as soaring fuel costs become a growing political problem for President Joe Biden.
Centrica to Exit Gas Deals With Russia (4:30 p.m.)
Centrica plans to exit its gas supply agreements with Russian companies, principally Gazprom, “as a matter of urgency,” Chief Executive Officer Chris O’Shea said. “We are shocked by the events unfolding in Ukraine and the needless loss of lives,” O’Shea said in an emailed statement.
The company supplies energy to more than 9 million customers mainly in the U.K., Ireland and North America. It said it’s working through the details of how best to do sever ties and will make sure it’s compliant with all relevant sanctions.
Ukraine Raises $277M in War Bonds (4:25 p.m.)
Ukraine raised about $277 million from a sale of war bonds, its latest effort to generate funds for its fight against Russia’s invasion. The bond auction is one of a number of crowdfunding measures by Ukraine to raise money for both its armed forces and civilians.
At the same time, index providers are assessing what part debt from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus might have in their gauges going forward. JPMorgan Chase & Co., which oversees a major emerging market bond index, said there was no change to existing bond compositions in its so-called EMBI index as of end-February, but new debt from sanctioned entities would not be eligible for inclusion going forward.
NATO’s Nuclear Forces Not on Higher Alert (4 p.m.)
NATO hasn’t increased the readiness of its nuclear forces in response to President Vladimir Putin’s decision to put Russia’s nuclear command on high alert, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with NBC News.
In earlier comments, Stoltenberg said that the alliance has a responsibility to make sure the situation doesn’t get out of control. He has repeatedly stressed that NATO is purely a defensive alliance and it won’t intervene militarily in Ukraine. NATO says the purpose of its nuclear forces are to deter aggression and that the circumstances under which they may be used are extremely remote.
Blinken Questions Keeping Russia on UN Rights Panel (3:55 p.m.)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken questioned whether Russia should be removed from the United Nations Human Rights Council.
“Reports of Russia’s human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law are mounting by the hour,” Blinken said in videotaped remarks to the council in Geneva.
“Russian strikes are hitting schools, hospitals, and residential buildings. They are destroying critical infrastructure, which provides millions of people across Ukraine with drinking water, gas to keep them from freezing to death, and electricity. Civilian buses, cars, and even ambulances have been shelled. Russia is doing this every day – across Ukraine.”
China Refers to ‘War’ in Ukraine, Urges Solution (3:15 p.m.)
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi deplored the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, calling it a “war” and saying that he is “extremely concerned” about the harm to civilians, his office said in a statement following a call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba.
“In view of the current crisis, China calls on Ukraine and Russia to find a solution to the issue through negotiations,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in the statement, adding that China supports all constructive international effort conducive to a “political settlement.”
Putin Talks to UAE Leader Ahead of OPEC+ (3:04 p.m.)
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to the United Arab Emirates’ de facto leader about Ukraine and the need for continued coordination over OPEC+, as oil prices surge.
Putin and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed talked about “supporting stability in the global energy market,” according to a Kremlin statement. The 23-nation OPEC+ alliance meets Wednesday. Sheikh Mohammed “stated Russia’s right to defend its national security,” the Kremlin said. The UAE has not published its own statement about the call.
Russia Warns It Will Strike Military Targets in Kyiv: IFX (2:10 p.m.)
Russia plans to strike some communication objects belonging to Ukraine security service inside Kyiv, Russian Defense Ministry says, according to Interfax.
Russian forces plan to strike the source of “information attacks,” the ministry said. While Russia says it is only targeting military facilities, Ukrainian officials and eyewitnesses have reported scores of civilian casualties from air and missile strikes and shared videos of munitions hitting civil and residential buildings.
Zelenskiy Urges European Union to Let Ukraine Join (1:32 p.m.)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the EU to grant Ukraine entry, as eight presidents from the bloc’s eastern members called for the country to be immediately given a path to accession.
Zelenskiy’s request has been met with enthusiasm from some member states, but EU officials, who were granted anonymity to speak about a confidential issue, cautioned that the procedure is usually long and complex. “The EU will be definitely stronger with us,” Zelenskiy told the European Parliament via video link.
In an open letter to the EU, the presidents of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia called for a path toward membership to be opened for Ukraine. Hungary’s government also said it backs the membership bid.
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