Priyanka says the situation in Ukraine is 'terrifying', calls for support 2
Actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas on Friday dubbed the Russian military attack on Ukraine as ”terrifying” and said it was difficult to understand how the situation has escalated to a ”catastrophic point”.
Russian troops launched their anticipated attack on Ukraine on Thursday, as President Vladimir Putin cast aside international condemnation and sanctions and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere would lead to consequences they had ”never seen”.
Chopra Jonas, who is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, took to Instagram and shared a news clipping of the Ukraine crisis. ”The situation unfolding in Ukraine is terrifying. Innocent people living in fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones, while trying to navigate the uncertainty of the immediate future,” she wrote. The 39-year-old actor also attached a UNICEF donation link in her bio to help the children of Ukraine.
”It’s difficult to comprehend how in the modern world this could escalate to such a catastrophic point, but this is a consequential moment that will reverberate around the world. There are innocent lives living in this war zone. They are just like you and me. Here is more info at the link in my bio about how to assist the people of Ukraine,” she added.
Chopra Jonas is the latest Hindi film personality to show solidarity with Ukraine after filmmakers Onir, Rahul Dholakia, actor Tillotama Shome condemned Russia’s special military operation, which President Vladimir Putin claimed was intended to protect civilians. Big explosions were heard before dawn in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa.
Oil prices jumped on Thursday, with Brent rising above USD 105 a barrel for the first time since 2014 after Russia’s attack on Ukraine exacerbated concerns about disruptions to global energy supply.
Russia launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine by land, air and sea in the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two. The United States and Europe have promised the toughest sanctions on Russia in response.
“If sanctions affect payment transactions, Russian banks and possibly also the insurance that covers Russian oil and gas deliveries, supply outages cannot be excluded,” said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch. At least three major buyers of Russian oil were unable to open letters of credit from Western banks to cover purchases on Thursday, sources told Reuters.
Brent crude was up to USD 8.15, or 8.4%, at USD 104.99 a barrel as of 1221 GMT, having touched a high of USD 105.79. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude jumped USD 7.33, or 8%, to USD 99.43. Brent and WTI hit their highest since August and July 2014 respectively.
“Russia is the third-largest oil producer and second-largest oil exporter. Given low inventories and dwindling spare capacity, the oil market cannot afford large supply disruptions,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo. “Supply concerns may also spur oil stockpiling activity, which supports prices.”
Russia is also the largest provider of natural gas to Europe, providing about 35% of its supply. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed Britain and its allies would unleash a massive package of economic sanctions on Russia and said the West must end its reliance on Russian oil and gas.
China warned on the impact of tensions on the stability of the energy market. “All countries that are truly responsible should take responsible actions to jointly maintain global energy security,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said.
Global oil supplies remain tight as demand recovers from pandemic lows. Underscoring the tight market, premiums on crude contracts for loading in one month over contracts for loadings in six months, a metric closely watched by traders, hit a record high at USD 11.55 a barrel.
“This growing uncertainty during a time when the oil market is already tight does leave it vulnerable, and so prices are likely to remain volatile and elevated,” said Warren Patterson, head of ING’s commodity research. Analysts believe that Brent is likely to remain above USD 100 a barrel until significant alternative supplies become available from OPEC, U.S. shale or Iran, for example.
The United States and Iran have been engaged in indirect nuclear talks in Vienna that could lead to the removal of sanctions on Iranian oil sales. Iran’s top security official Ali Shamkhani said on Twitter on Thursday that it is possible to achieve a good nuclear agreement with Western powers after significant progress in negotiations.
Analysts are warning of inflationary pressure on the global economy from USD 100 oil, especially for Asia, which imports most of its energy needs. “Asia’s Achilles heel remains its vast import needs for energy, with surging oil prices bound to take a hefty bite out of income and growth over the coming year,” said HSBC economist Frederic Neumann.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "military operation" in Ukraine 6
It is very difficult for Vladimir Putin to get over the bifurcation of the USSR, and feels NATO is after Russia. So, he is risking Russia’s economy to create additional barriers for NATO and to strengthen the Black Sea Navy’s position (by annexing Crimea), and also to menace Ukraine (by massive military exercises near Ukraine’s borders), hoping Ukraine elects a pro-Russian president.
Aside from the Black Sea Navy, this is unlikely to work because there are no viable pro-Russian presidential candidates left in Ukraine, and the population reacted to the Russian seizure of Crimea with repulsion. Mainland Ukraine is now firmly pro-EU and is set to receive massive currency injections from the IMF, EU, US, Japan and Canada.
In the meantime, Russian TV and papers controlled by the government are waging a brazen propaganda war against Ukraine, with straight lies and massive exaggerations. Recently, some guy was arrested near Moscow with a few guns, so he was first described as Ukrainian. Then some newspapers explained that he was actually a Russian citizen, but the government news forgot to make that correction. Mass media in Moscow are trying to create an impression that Ukraine is now ruled by gangs and that Russian-speaking people in Ukraine need Russia to protect them.
Russia claims Crimea is an “original Russian land”, which is hardly convincing (despite significant Russian history in Crimea) because Turkey (the Ottoman Empire) had Crimea for longer than Russia, and the Greeks were in Crimea way before Russia (and even Rus) existed. For now, Crimea is isolated, and the pro-Russian locals are hoping for miracles from the Russian government. Some people compare Crimea to Kosovo, which makes little sense — there were no mass killings in Crimea. If we start such comparisons, Russia should lose Kaliningrad to Germany and Sakhalin to Japan.
Comparisons are a slippery slope. Ukraine is strategically located between Russia and Europe. Both the US and the European Union want to have their NATO power expanded till Russia’s border. For this obvious reason, they want to make Ukraine a part of NATO as well as the EU. Now, Ukraine started splitting up into two parts namely — Pro-Western & Pro-Russian. Donetsk, Sloviansk and Luhansk were the three regions that started rebelling against the Interim Government in Kyiv. They not only wanted to be an independent Republic but also to be included with Russia. Similar to Crimea Referendum, Donetsk, Sloviansk and Luhansk— all these Eastern Industrial hubs of Ukraine wanted to be signified as the Independent Republic.
Ukraine was separated from the former USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) in 1991. Since declaring independence in 1991, Ukraine has been divided, and this crisis is an extension of that. Language is the basis of division. In short, the current crisis is about Ukrainian post-Soviet elites´ economic and nation-building mistakes that met internal resistance and were used by Russian post-Soviet elites demanding less Western presence around and more obedience from neighbours. The events painfully reverberated in Ukraine´s ill-fated history of being suppressed, included in or controlled by its more powerful neighbours.
Treating Ukraine at first as almost Russia-2, as its identical twin, Russia did not seriously take Ukraine´s desire to be independent, European and modern; and Russia did not provide a better example and looked more and more irrelevant for Ukraine searching for its new identity. While Russia and its separated parts were in crisis, Putin destroyed the young democracy that was surging in Russia. He has enriched himself and a minority of others and has established himself as a “de-facto” king, at the expense of all Russians that are now “stuck” with him. But overall, there is a warlike situation where people would be at loss.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of launching a “full-scale invasion” as explosions were heard in cities around the country. “Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes,” Mr Kuleba tweeted.
Putin’s announcement came just hours ahead of a special emergency session in the UN Security Council. The meeting was scheduled after Putin recognised the independence of Ukraine’s breakaway regions. Earlier, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky had made an emotional late-night appeal to Russians not to support “a major war in Europe”. Speaking Russian, Zelensky said that the people of Russia are being lied to about Ukraine and that the possibility of war also “depends on you”.
This war would be sad news for all who have occupied the territory against the will of the people. When the time comes, they will achieve their freedom. Need of the hour says, Russia should stop aggression, also the US should be out of Ukraine. Biden held a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky soon after explosions were heard in multiple parts of the country, which is sandwiched between Russia and NATO member Poland.
Biden announced he was imposing sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany — one of energy-rich Moscow’s highest-profile energy and geopolitical projects. Germany had earlier announced it would block the pipeline from opening for deliveries. Russia already launched a military operation in Ukraine in what could be the start of the war in Europe over Russia’s demands for an end to NATO’s eastward expansion.
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"Wanted some space", says Virat Kohli on stepping down as RCB skipper 8
Virat Kohli, who had stepped down as the Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper after the 2021 IPL season, said he took that call to give himself some space and manage his workload.
Kohli had announced his decision to leave IPL captaincy after saying that T20 World Cup will be his last tournament as India skipper in the shortest format. He was later removed as ODI captain before he quit the leadership role in a five-day format.
”I’m not someone who holds onto things more than I should. Even if I know I can do a lot more, if I’m not going to enjoy the process, I’m not going to do it,” Kohli, one of the modern-day greats, said on ”The RCB Podcast” about dropping the captain’s armband.
The former RCB and India skipper asserted that it is very difficult for people to understand what a cricketer thinks while taking such decisions.
”Because it’s very difficult for people to understand your decisions unless they are in your situation. From the outside, people have their own expectations ‘Oh! How did that happen? We are so shocked’,” added Kohli, who is on the verge of playing his 100th Test.
”There’s nothing to be shocked about. I explain to people, I wanted some space and I wanted to manage my workload and the story ends there.” Right from the inaugural IPL till last season, RCB has never won the cash-rich tournament.
Rubbishing all the conversations that people had about his decision, Kohli cleared the air saying, ”There was actually nothing at all. I keep my life very simple and basic, when I wanted to make a decision, I made a decision and I announced it.
”I didn’t want to think about it and contemplate it for another year. That would’ve done nothing to me, nothing to the environment I’m part of. Quality of life is something very important to me. And the quality of cricket is something very important to me. ”Over a period of time, you want to do what you’re doing day-in-and-day-out and you want to do as much as you can, but at the end of the day, you have to realize that quality is far more important than quantity,” stressed Kohli.
The elegant top-order batter also stressed that he has always been himself.
”Quantity in hard work but quality in execution. That is the key. If you go for quantity in execution, then you’re going to get burnt out. If I can’t be myself in my everyday life and I can’t be myself on the field, I will change something.
”Because that is who I am. That is the reason I am where I am. And that is the reason why people can connect to me at a certain level. My loved ones, people who are close to me, my friends they connected to me because of that factor, because I’ve always been myself,” he signed off.
France's Macron calls on Russia to end military actions in Ukraine 10
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned on Thursday Russia’s military actions in Ukraine and called on Moscow to end them immediately.
“France strongly condemns the decision of Russia to start a war with Ukraine. Russia must immediately put an end to its military operations,” wrote Macron on his Twitter account.
Russian forces fired missiles at several cities in Ukraine and landed troops on its coast on Thursday, officials and media said, after President Vladimir Putin authorised what he called a special military operation in the east.
Macron’s office added that, in reaction to the Russian move, France had decided to convene a national defence council meeting on Thursday morning. The French presidential palace also said Macron had spoken via mobile phone to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who had asked for multiple interventions in support of his country.
Zelenskiy earlier said that Putin wanted to destroy the Ukrainian state. European Union leaders will discuss new, tough sanctions on Russia at an emergency meeting later on Thursday in reaction to its “barbaric attack” on Ukraine, the EU said.
U.S. President Joe Biden, reacting to an invasion the United States had been predicting for weeks, said his prayers were with the people of Ukraine “as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack”, while promising tough sanctions in response.
“I will be meeting with the leaders of the G7, and the United States and our allies and partners will be imposing severe sanctions on Russia,” Biden said in a statement.
Markets were awash in red and the Indian currency slumped against the dollar on Thursday amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine pushing investors to seek refuge in safe-haven assets.
Gold, as well as crude oil prices, surged, with the latter even crossing the USD 102 per barrel mark.
The domestic stock market opened deep in the negative territory, tumbling over 1,700 points and eroding investors’ wealth by more than Rs 8 lakh crore in less than an hour of the start of trade on Thursday.
At 1245 hours, the 30-share Sensex was trading 1833 points or 3.20 per cent lower at 55,399.06 while the broader NSE Nifty fell 561.70 points, or 3.29 per cent, to 16,501.55.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 75.02 against the US dollar, then slipped further to 75.33. At 1245 hours, it was trading at 75.26 against the dollar, registering a decline of 65 paise from the last close of 74.61.
Gold prices rallied on safe-haven buying along with the US dollar on deepening geopolitical risks and fears of severe sanctions on Russia and possible disruption of supplies of commodities.
Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude futures jumped 5.61 per cent to USD 102.27 per barrel.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.38 per cent to 96.55.
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, said the increase in hostilities by Russia has expectedly spooked the global markets.
While a fall on Thursday is a reaction to this development, markets anyway have been factoring in such a development. In that sense, a short-term bottom may happen over Thursday or Friday, he said.
”However, the repercussions of these actions in terms of impact on commodity prices, including crude, supply disruptions and the sanctions that can be levied by the western nations remains uncertain and could result in the next leg down after a brief recovery,” Jasani said.
Asian bourses were also in the red amid investors turning risk-averse in the wake of rising uncertainties and possible fallout of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Tapan Patel, Senior Analyst (Commodities) at HDFC Securities, said gold prices rallied with MCX Gold April futures surging by 2.25 per cent to Rs 51,500 per 10 grams on Thursday.
”Spot Gold prices at COMEX are trading near USD 1,940 per ounce breaching near-term resistance of USD 1,920 per ounce while the next target seems at USD 1,970 per ounce on geopolitical risk. MCX Gold April prices are expected to touch Rs 52,500 in the near term above which can find resistance near Rs. 53,800 per 10 grams,” he said.
Narendra Solanki, Head- Equity Research (Fundamental) at Anand Rathi Shares & Stock Brokers said investors should continue to hold growth stocks and let volatility pass.
“Markets would be keen to know how the Ukraine crisis evolves and what kind of counter-measures are announced by the West. Post that one could expect markets to stabilise. Investors could add stocks in a staggered manner once the market stabilizes and as a strategy should focus on domestic-oriented businesses for now,” he noted.
European Union to hit Russia with new sanctions over 'barbaric' attack on Ukraine 14
European Union leaders will impose new sanctions on Russia, freezing its assets, halting access of its banks to the European financial market and targeting “Kremlin interests” over its “barbaric attack” on Ukraine, senior officials said on Thursday.
Russian forces fired missiles at several cities in Ukraine and landed troops on its coast on Thursday, officials and media said, after President Vladimir Putin authorised what he called a special military operation in the east.
“President Putin is responsible for bringing war back to Europe,” European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said, adding that the EU would hold him accountable. “With this package, we will target strategic sectors of the Russian economy by blocking their access to key technologies and markets,” she said in an emergency statement. “We will weaken Russia’s economic base and its capacity to modernise.
“In addition, we will freeze Russian assets in the EU and stop the access of Russian banks to the European financial market.” The EU approved a first round of sanctions on Wednesday, including blacklisting Russian politicians and curbing trade between the EU and two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine whose independence Putin has recognised.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen:
– Putin responsible for bringing war back to Europe – We'll target strategic sectors of Russian economy – We'll freeze Russian assets in EU pic.twitter.com/t944LDsAMm
The new measures, to be discussed at an evening summit of national EU leaders starting at 1900 GMT, will be “the harshest package of sanctions we have ever implemented”, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said. “This is among the darkest hours for Europe since the end of World War Two … Russia’s leadership will face unprecedented isolation.”
The EU will also prepare a new aid package for Ukraine, he added. “We will also be active in supporting evacuation operations, including our own staff in zones affected by this Russian attack,” he said. Shortly after Putin spoke in a televised address on Russian state TV, explosions could be heard in the pre-dawn quiet of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Gunfire rattled near the capital’s main airport, the Interfax news agency said, and sirens were heard over the city.
The special military operation aimed at ‘demilitarisation and denazification' of Ukraine: Russian Prez Putin 16
Unfazed by tough Western sanctions, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he decided to launch a ”special military operation” aimed at the ”demilitarisation and denazification” of Ukraine and also bring to justice those who committed numerous crimes against peaceful people, including Russian nationals.
”People’s republics of Donbass approached Russia with a request for help. In connection therewith, I made the decision to hold a special military operation,” Putin said in a special television address.
He said the goal of the military operation is to “protect the people that are subjected to abuse, genocide from the Kiev regime for eight years, and to this end we will seek to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine and put to justice those that committed numerous bloody crimes against peaceful people, including Russian nationals.” Justice and truth are on Russia’s side, Putin was quoted as saying by state-run TASS news agency.
”Forces are always needed but they can be of different quality,” he said. ”And we know the real strength is in justice and truth that are on our side.” Putin said all the Ukrainian servicemen that will refuse to perform unlawful orders of Kiev and disarm will be able to freely leave the zone of military activities.
”Do not perform their unlawful orders! I urge you to immediately disarm and go home. To make it clear: all servicemen of the Ukrainian army that will fulfill this demand will be able to freely leave the zone of combat action and return to their families,” Putin said. ”All the responsibility for possible bloodshed will be entirely on the conscience of the regime ruling in the territory of Ukraine,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defence has said that it used precision weapons to neutralise Ukrainian air forces and air defences, as well as military infrastructure.
”Ukrainian military infrastructure, air defence facilities, military airfields, and air forces are being neutralised by high-precision weapons”, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry stressed that the Russian military is not attacking Ukrainian cities, so there are no threats to the civilian population.
President Putin on Monday signed decrees to recognise Ukraine’s regions of “Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics” as “independent”, escalating the tension in the region. He also ordered Russian troops into eastern Ukraine in what the Kremlin called a ”peacekeeping” mission in the Moscow-backed regions.
On Thursday, Putin announced the launch of a military operation in eastern Ukraine just as the UN Security Council was holding an emergency meeting on the crisis.
The US-led West, which has already imposed punitive sanctions on Russia, has warned Moscow that it would face severe consequences for its actions in Ukraine.
India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has said that new skipper Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid are taking the Men in Blue in a fabulous direction. Karthik also hailed Team India’s victory over West Indies in the recently-concluded T20I series. India will now lock horns against Sri Lanka in the shortest format.
“What I enjoyed most was Rohit’s captaincy. I thought he led the team beautifully. Tactically very, very sound, and I thoroughly enjoyed the way the team played in the last couple of series against West Indies,” Karthik said on ‘The ICC Review‘. “The new captain and there’s a new coach, I think they are taking the team in a fabulous direction. They’ve plugged small holes, which were probably there previously, and that has been the beautiful part about it. And along the way, in the journey, they’ve managed to become No.1,” he added.
After beating West Indies 3-0, Team India also managed to become the No.1 ranked side in the shortest format of the game. “Who doesn’t want to be world No.1 even if it is for some period of time? Because other teams will play matches and then India plays more matches post the IPL so that could change. But for the moment, knowing that Team India is the No.1 T20 team in the world is I think a very, very good feeling,” said Karthik. “I think it is the quality of players. When you talk about good teams over a period of time, they always talk about the fact that bench strength needs to be very important, and India has great bench strength,” he added.
Talking about Suryakumar Yadav and Venkatesh Iyer, Karthik said: “The guys coming in new have really grabbed on to their places. Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer. It’s just good to watch Harshal Patel – he has been an absolute revelation. So I think, the guys coming in are grabbing their opportunities with both hands and that’s always a good sign.”
EU says it will hold the Kremlin accountable for attack on Ukraine 19
The European Union will hold Moscow accountable for the “unjustified” attack on Ukraine, the chief of the bloc’s Executive Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Thursday.
“In these dark hours, our thoughts are with Ukraine and the innocent women, men and children as they face this unprovoked attack and fear for their lives,” she said on Twitter. “We will hold the Kremlin accountable,” von der Leyen added.
We strongly condemn Russia´s unjustified attack on Ukraine.
In these dark hours, our thoughts are with Ukraine and the innocent women, men and children as they face this unprovoked attack and fear for their lives.
