(I do not remember where I found this)
As I write this the first light of dawn is beginning to break over Ukraine and the fourth day of the war caused by Russia’s reinvasion of Ukraine begins. By the time I hit post day four of the war for Ukraine will be fully underway.
As dawn comes to Kyiv and the other Ukrainian cities, the defense and the defenders are holding!
⚡️After 3 days of Russia's war, the fighting is where it began, the Russian army has not been able to advance, but is attacking Kyiv.
“We totally control everything that happens in the regions of Ukraine,” Advisor the the Chief of Staff of the President Mykhailo Podoliak said.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) February 27, 2022
It has not been without costs. The Russians significantly ramped up air attacks overnight, including blowing up a fuel depot, a gas line, and, apparently, attempting to blow up a nuclear waste containment facility.
The fire can be seen from 20 miles north in Kyiv. https://t.co/QoirSKTyaP
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) February 27, 2022
The footage shows a gas pipeline on fire in Kharkiv after a Russian attack.
Video: State Special Communications Service of Ukraine pic.twitter.com/owuSoKqoFA
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) February 27, 2022
⚡️Ukraine's State Emergency Service has clarified that the shelling on a radioactive waste disposal site in Kyiv did not lead to depressurization of the storage of radioactive substances.
The hit was on the fence and the building itself and the tanks remain intact.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) February 27, 2022
And the United Nations is reporting 240 Ukrainian civilian casualties, which is most certainly an undercount.
United Nations: At least 240 civilian casualties in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began on Thursday.
The U.N. believes “real figures are considerably higher” because many reports of casualties remain to be confirmed.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) February 27, 2022
And while the defenses and defenders have held, the attacks are not over.
⚡️Six people, including a seven-year-old girl, killed in Russian shelling of Okhtyrka, in Sumy Oblast the Governor Dmitry Zhivitsky said.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) February 27, 2022
⚡️Air raid alert in Rivne region & Lutsk.
People should go to the nearest shelter.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) February 27, 2022
The good news is that the US and our EU partners have decided to severely ratchet up the pressure. From the European Commission:
Joint Statement on further restrictive economic measures
We, the leaders of the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States condemn Putin’s war of choice and attacks on the sovereign nation and people of Ukraine. We stand with the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people in their heroic efforts to resist Russia’s invasion. Russia’s war represents an assault on fundamental international rules and norms that have prevailed since the Second World War, which we are committed to defending. We will hold Russia to account and collectively ensure that this war is a strategic failure for Putin.
This past week, alongside our diplomatic efforts and collective work to defend our own borders and to assist the Ukrainian government and people in their fight, we, as well as our other allies and partners around the world, imposed severe measures on key Russian institutions and banks, and on the architects of this war, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As Russian forces unleash their assault on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, we are resolved to continue imposing costs on Russia that will further isolate Russia from the international financial system and our economies. We will implement these measures within the coming days.
Specifically, we commit to undertake the following measures:
First, we commit to ensuring that selected Russian banks are removed from the SWIFT messaging system. This will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and harm their ability to operate globally.
Second, we commit to imposing restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions.
Third, we commit to acting against the people and entities who facilitate the war in Ukraine and the harmful activities of the Russian government. Specifically, we commit to taking measures to limit the sale of citizenship—so called golden passports—that let wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems.
Fourth, we commit to launching this coming week a transatlantic task force that will ensure the effective implementation of our financial sanctions by identifying and freezing the assets of sanctioned individuals and companies that exist within our jurisdictions. As a part of this effort we are committed to employing sanctions and other financial and enforcement measures on additional Russian officials and elites close to the Russian government, as well as their families, and their enablers to identify and freeze the assets they hold in our jurisdictions. We will also engage other governments and work to detect and disrupt the movement of ill-gotten gains, and to deny these individuals the ability to hide their assets in jurisdictions across the world.
Finally, we will step up our coordination against disinformation and other forms of hybrid warfare.
We stand with the Ukrainian people in this dark hour. Even beyond the measures we are announcing today, we are prepared to take further measures to hold Russia to account for its attack on Ukraine.
The White House posted and then tweeted the exact same announcement after allowing the EU to post it first.
More after the jump including analysis.