Talking points

• The United Nations Security Council will meet to discuss the crisis triggered by Vladimir Putin.  
• Rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine ask Russia for military assistance: Kremlin.
• President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that a Russian invasion would cost tens of thousands of lives.  
• US to sanction company building Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, says President Joe Biden. 
• Shelling intensified at the line of contact in eastern Ukraine, near the two Moscow-backed rebel regions.

The United Nations Security Council will meet on Wednesday night (Thursday afternoon AEDT) to discuss Ukraine, diplomats said, after separatists in eastern Ukraine asked for Russia for help to repel “aggression”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the rebel chiefs wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin to tell him that shelling by the Ukrainian military has caused civilian deaths and forced many people to flee.

We want peace but will fight: President Volodymyr Zelensky.

There have been no independent reports of Ukraine forces shelling Russian targets. There has been one unconfirmed report of rockets hitting near Mariupol.

The appeal raises the prospect of Russia’s direct military involvement in eastern Ukraine amid Western fears that Moscow is poised to launch an all-out invasion of its neighbour.

Putin has recognised the independence of Russia-backed rebel regions in eastern Ukraine and signed friendship treaties with them. On Tuesday, lawmakers gave Putin permission to use military forces outside the country.

Hours after the separatists wrote to the Kremlin, the Ukrainian president rejected Moscow’s claims that his country poses a threat to Russia and warned that a Russian invasion would cost tens of thousands of lives.

“The people of Ukraine and the government of Ukraine want peace,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an emotional overnight address to his nation in Russian.

The State Duma, The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation.Credit:AP

“But if we come under attack, if we face an attempt to take away our country, our freedom, our lives and lives of our children, we will defend ourselves. When you attack us, you will see our faces, not our backs.”

Zelensky said he asked to arrange a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin late Wednesday, but the Kremlin didn’t respond.

In an apparent reference to Putin’s move to sanction the deployment of the Russian military to “maintain peace” in eastern Ukraine, Zelensky warned that “this step could mark the start of a big war on the European continent”.

“Any provocation, any spark could trigger a blaze that will destroy everything,” he said.

He challenged the Russian propaganda claims, saying that “you are told that this blaze will bring freedom to the people of Ukraine, but the Ukrainian people are free”.

Before the night was over

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NBC News on Wednesday that he expected Russia to invade Ukraine before the night was over but still sees a chance to “avert a major aggression”.

“Everything seems to be in place for Russia to engage in a major aggression against Ukraine,” Blinken told NBC in an interview, adding he could not be precise about time or place.

Earlier, US President Joe Biden said his administration will impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, the company in charge of building Russia’s controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany.

The announcement on Thursday AEDT marks an escalation of US measures against Russia over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The gas pipeline is seen as a key tool of influence that Russia holds over Europe. It has also been the subject of debate between the US and Germany. The US has opposed the pipeline supplying gas that Germany requires for its economy.

“Today, I have directed my administration to impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG and its corporate officers,” Biden said in a statement.

Ukraine earlier declared a state of emergency on Wednesday and told its citizens in Russia to flee, while Moscow began evacuating its Kyiv embassy in the latest ominous signs for Ukrainians who fear an all-out Russian military onslaught.

Airports at Dnipro, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine are closed to traffic until Thursday morning, according to notices to airmen issued by local authorities.

No reason was provided for the closures, which are due to end between 0500 and 0635 GMT, depending on the airport.

Shelling intensified at the line of contact in eastern Ukraine, where Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised the independence of two Moscow-backed rebel regions this week and has ordered the deployment of Russian troops as “peacekeepers”.

But there was still no clear indication of whether he plans to follow that up with a massed assault on Ukraine involving the tens of thousands of troops he has gathered near his neighbour’s borders.

The uncertainty and a mostly incremental first volley of sanctions on Russian interests by Washington and its allies have roiled financial markets.

Cyber attack

Ukrainian government and state websites, which have experienced outages in recent weeks blamed by Kriv on cyber attacks, were again offline on Wednesday. Ukraine’s parliament, cabinet and foreign ministry websites were affected.

Russian armored vehicles are loaded onto railway platforms at a railway station in region not far from Russia-Ukraine border on February 23.Credit:AP

Moscow denies planning an invasion and has described warnings as anti-Russian hysteria. But it has taken no steps to withdraw the troops deployed along Ukraine’s frontiers.

On Wednesday, it took down flags from its embassy in Kyiv, having ordered its diplomats to evacuate for safety reasons.

Sanctions

Washington has described Russia’s actions as the start of an “invasion”, but along with allies has so far unveiled mostly incremental sanctions, while making clear they were keeping tougher measures in reserve in case of a full-scale invasion.

European Union sanctions approved on Wednesday will add all members of Russia’s lower house of parliament who voted to recognise the separatist regions in Ukraine to a blacklist, freezing their assets and banning travel.

EU leaders will also hold an emergency summit on Thursday to discuss what to do next.

Britain announced new restrictions banning Russia from the issuing of new bonds in its security markets, and called for its broadcasting regulator to investigate Russia’s RT international television news channel as a propaganda outlet.

Fresh troops deployed

Ukraine’s military said one soldier had been killed and six wounded in increased shelling by pro-Russian separatists using heavy artillery, mortar bombs and Grad rocket systems in the two breakaway areas over the previous 24 hours.

Protesters show support for Ukraine outside the Russian embassy in Berlin.Credit:AP

New satellite imagery showed several fresh troop and equipment deployments in western Russia and more than 100 vehicles at a small airfield in southern Belarus, which borders Ukraine, according to US firm Maxar.

For months, Russia has presented the crisis mainly as a dispute with the West, demanding security guarantees, including a promise never to allow Ukraine to join NATO.

But the recognition of the separatist regions was accompanied by much stronger language against Ukraine, including personally from Putin.

In a TV address on Monday, Putin rambled across centuries of history to characterise the Ukrainian state as an artificial construct wrongly carved out of Russia by its enemies.

Reuters

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