As it happened: US, UK ban Russian oil imports as Putin’s war on Ukraine continues; NSW records first Japanese encephalitis virus death

If you’re just joining us, here’s what you might have missed from Ukraine (where it is now nearly 8am).

• Late on Tuesday night (Ukraine time), Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the leaders of the US and Britain for signalling they would ban Russian oil imports (Britain will phase out Russian oil imports by the end of the year).

“This is a powerful signal to the whole world,” Mr Zelensky said, according to an English translation of his remarks.

“Either Russia will respect international law and not wage wars, or it will have no money.”

An elderly woman is carried in a shopping cart after being evacuated from Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday.Credit: Vadim Ghirda/AP

• The Pentagon rejected Poland’s offer to give the United States its MiG-29 fighter jets for use by Ukraine, in a rare public display of disharmony by NATO allies seeking to boost Ukrainian fighters while avoiding getting caught up in a wider war with Russia.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Poland’s proposal to deliver the jets to the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany raised the concerning prospect of jets departing from a US and NATO base to fly into airspace contested with Russia in the Ukraine war.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby says Russian troops are running out of food and supplies.Credit: AP

“We will continue to consult with Poland and our other NATO allies about this issue and the difficult logistical challenges it presents, but we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one,” he said in a statement.

Any decision to provide the MiGs would be a morale booster for Ukraine as Russian attacks on its cities deepen the humanitarian catastrophe. But it also would raise the risks of a wider war.

• Starbucks became the latest mega-brand to join the corporate exodus from Ukraine in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and General Electric – all ubiquitous global brands and symbols of US corporate might – have joined more than 200 companies suspending their businesses in Russia in recent days.

• Britain banned all Russian aircraft from entering its airspace, following similar moves by US authorities and the European Union in recent weeks.

British transport minister Grant Shapps said in a tweet on Tuesday (GMT) that it would now be a “criminal offence” for any Russian aircraft to enter UK airspace.

“I have made it a criminal offence for ANY Russian aircraft to enter UK airspace and now HMG [Her Majesty’s Government] can detain these jets,” Shapps said.

Britain had previously barred Russia’s largest airline Aeroflot and other Russian carriers from entering its airspace. Russia quickly retaliated, banning virtually every country in Europe from its own airspace.

with AP, Reuters

That’s where we’ll leave tonight’s live blog.

We’ll continue our live coverage of Ukraine, COVID-19, the South Korean election, and other events of national importance on Thursday morning.

Thank you for reading.

The International Atomic Energy Agency says it has lost contact with monitoring systems that transmit data on nuclear material from the closed Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

The UN nuclear watchdog’s director general “indicated that remote data transmission from safeguards monitoring systems installed at the Chernobyl NPP had been lost,” the IAEA said in a statement Tuesday, using Ukraine’s spelling for the plant.

Russian armoured vehicles at the captured Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Pripyat, Ukraine.Credit: AFP

“The Agency is looking into the status of safeguards monitoring systems in other locations in Ukraine and will provide further information soon,” it added.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak also tweeted on Wednesday that the IAEA had “unexpectedly lost connection” with the monitoring systems, calling it an “extremely dangerous situation”.

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant, then under the Soviet Union’s control, was the scene of a 1986 disaster when a series of explosions and fires sent a huge radioactive cloud over parts of Europe and left contaminated soil and other fallout, which remains dangerous.

The catastrophe ranks as the world’s worst nuclear power plant accident.

Last month, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that its forces had taken control of the area near the power plant site as part of Russia’s wider invasion of Ukraine, sparking global alarm.

Washington Post

Ukraine will repatriate troops and equipment, including helicopters, involved in U.N. peacekeeping missions in Africa and Europe to bolster defences at home in the face of Russia’s invasion, a UN official said.

Russian troops invaded Ukraine nearly two weeks ago, shelling, bombing and besieging its cities and towns and forcing more than 2 million people, mostly women and children, to flee.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on Tuesday recalling all peacekeeping forces in order to assist in the war effort at home, Ukrainian media reported.

Ukraine contributes about 300 troops, police officers and staff to six U.N. missions, a number unlikely to drastically alter peacekeeping operations globally.

Its biggest contribution by far, to the mission in Democratic Republic of Congo known as MONUSCO, comprises eight Ukrainian helicopters and a 250-member aviation unit, a MONUSCO spokesman said.

Reuters

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved $1.4 billion in emergency support for Ukraine to finance expenditures and shore up the balance of payments, Central Bank Governor Kyrylo Shevchenko said in a statement on Wednesday.

Ukraine has turned to financing from allies and international institutions to support its economy after the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24.

“We are immensely grateful to the IMF for its prompt response to our request. We look forward to completing all required procedures as soon as possible,” Shevchenko said. “It is vital for Ukraine now that it has been going through such a horrible time.”

The European Union has agreed a new round of sanctions targeting senior Russian officials and oligarchs in retaliation for Moscow’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, France said on Wednesday.

European governments are moving against Russian oligarchs to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to back down on his war in Ukraine, seizing superyachts and other luxury properties from billionaires on sanctions lists. Credit: AP

The new sanctions will also include restrictions on the maritime sector and exclude three Belarussian banks from the SWIFT banking system, France, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Council, said in a series of tweets.

The additional sanctions will be formally approved by leaders of the bloc’s 27 member states at a summit in Versailles, France, on Thursday and Friday.

More than two million people have fled Ukraine and hundreds of thousands have been left trapped without access to medicine or fresh water since President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion nearly two weeks ago.
Moscow calls its action a “special military operation” to disarm its neighbour and dislodge leaders it calls “neo-Nazis.”

Kyiv and its Western allies dismiss that as a baseless pretext for an unprovoked war against a democratic country of 44 million people.

The new sanctions were agreed upon at a so-called COREPER II meeting, which convenes each member state’s permanent representatives to the bloc, ahead of the summit.

Reuters

Britain unveiled new aviation sanctions on Wednesday, UK time, which give its authorities the power to detain any Russian aircraft in its airspace, and banned exports of aviation or space-related goods to Russia.

Britain says it has already impounded one plane. The measures to strengthen action against Russian aircraft mean it is a criminal offence for any to fly or land in the United Kingdom.

An Aeroflot Airbus A330, Russia’s national carrier. Credit: AP

The ban includes any aircraft owned, operated or chartered by anyone connected with Russia or designated individuals or entities, and will include the power to detain any aircraft owned by persons connected with Russia, the Foreign Office said in a statement.“Banning Russian flagged planes from the UK and making it a criminal offence to fly them will inflict more economic pain on Russia and those close to the Kremlin,” foreign minister Liz Truss said.

The foreign office said it would introduce new legislation on Wednesday to implement the measures, which also include a power to remove from the British aircraft register any aircraft belonging to sanctioned Russian individuals and entities.

Transport minister Grant Shapps said one aircraft had already been impounded while further investigations were carried out. The Telegraph newspaper reported that the private jet was linked to a friend of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

“We know that it isn’t a Russian company that holds the aircraft, it’s rather a Luxembourg registered aircraft. We are carrying out further checks before releasing it,” Shapps told LBC radio.

The new sanctions will also prevent aviation and space related exports including insurance and re-insurance. This will mean cover is withdrawn on existing policies and British-based insurers and reinsurers will be unable to pay claims on existing policies in these sectors, the statement said.

Reuters

There are reports Ukraine and Russia have agreed to establish day-long “corridors” that would allow civilians to escape the escalating war.

Associated Press reported the two countries agreed on the establishment of “day-long evacuation corridors” on Wednesday morning, Ukraine time.

Ukraine will on Wednesday try to evacuate civilians through six “humanitarian corridors”, including from the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

She said in a video statement that Ukrainian armed forces had agreed to stop firing in those areas from 9am until 9pm (6pm-6am AEDT) and urged Russian forces to fulfil their commitment to local ceasefires.

She said the corridors that would open would go from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia; Enerhodar to Zaporizhzhia; Sumy to Poltava; Izyum to Lozova; Volnovakha to Pokrovsk; and from several towns around Kyiv which she identified as Vorzel, Borodyanka, Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel to the capital.

“I appeal to the Russian Federation: You have undertaken official public commitments to cease fire from 9am to 9pm. We have had negative experiences when the commitments that were undertaken did not work,” Vereshchuk said.

She was referring to several failed attempts to open safe corridors for trapped civilians in the past few days. Each side blamed the other for their failure.

About 5000 people did however manage to flee the northeastern city of Sumy through a humanitarian corridor on Tuesday, the regional governor said.

Reuters

South Koreans will soon have a new leader in one of the most contested presidential elections in the country’s history. The election has been dominated by key policy issues including North Korea, house prices, job security, and gender inequity.

The country’s constitution dictates current President Moon Jae-in is ineligible for re-election. South Korea has strict rules about Presidents serving one term of five years.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in addresses the media during a state visit to Australia.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Out of the 14 candidates two are tied in the polls, liberal Lee Jae-myung and conservative Yoon Suk-yeol.

Although around 90 per cent of the electorate supports one or the other, neither are particularly popular, it’s even been dubbed “the election of the unfavourables”.

Polling opened at 8am (AEDT) and will close at 9pm (AEDT). Around one million COVID-19 positive voters will then be allowed to cast their votes for the next 90 minutes.

The election is likely to be determined by young swing voters concerned by housing prices in Seoul (they’ve increased by more than 90 per cent since 2017), domestic inequality and unemployment.

Russia warned western countries on Wednesday that it was working on a broad response to sanctions that would be swift and felt in the west’s most sensitive areas.

Russia’s economy is facing the gravest crisis since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union after the west imposed crippling sanctions on almost entire Russian financial and corporate system following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Russia’s reaction will be swift, thoughtful and sensitive for those it addresses,” Dmitry Birichevsky, the director of the foreign ministry’s department for economic cooperation, was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency.

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday imposed an immediate ban on Russian oil and other energy imports in retaliation for the invasion.

Oil and gas revenues contributed almost $100 billion to Russia’s federal budget last year.Credit: Bloomberg

Russia warned earlier this week that oil prices could rise to more than $300 per barrel if the United States and European Union banned imports of crude from Russia.

Russia says Europe consumes about 500 million tonnes of oil a year. Russia supplies around 30 per cent of that, or 150 million tonnes, as well as 80 million tonnes of petrochemicals.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the “special military operation” is essential to ensure Russian security after the United States enlarged the NATO military alliance to Russia’s borders and supported pro-Western leaders in Kyiv.

Ukraine says it is fighting for its existence and the United States and its European and Asian allies have condemned the Russian invasion.

China, the world’s second largest economy, has called for restraint but President Xi Jinping has cautioned that sanctions will slow down the world economy.

Reuters

The mayor of the southeastern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar said on Wednesday a temporary ceasefire was in force, allowing the evacuation of civilians to start through a “humanitarian corridor”.

Mayor Dmytro Orlov said humanitarian supplies would be allowed into the city, which has been under fire from Russian forces, and added: “On the way back, buses will pick up civilians who want to leave.”

He said civilians would be able to go to the nearby city of Zaporizhzhia.

Russia said it would provide humanitarian corridors on Wednesday for people fleeing Kyiv and four other Ukrainian cities, as the number of refugees created by the biggest assault on a European country since World War II surpassed 2 million.

Russian forces would “observe a regime of silence” from 10am Moscow time (6pm AEDT) to ensure safe passage for civilians wishing to leave Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol, the head of Russia’s National Defence Control Centre, Mikhail Mizintsev, was quoted as saying by the Tass news agency.

It was unclear if the proposed routes would pass through Russia or Belarus, conditions previously opposed by the Ukrainian government.

Reuters

Democrats and Republicans in Congress struck a deal on a long-delayed $1.5 trillion spending bill that would fund the U.S. government through the rest of the fiscal year and provide $13.6 billion to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Politicians released the text of the 2741-page measure early Wednesday, Washington time, with the House planning to pass it later in the day.

The House also is set to vote on another stopgap spending bill - continuing government funding at current levels through March 15 to give the Senate time to deal with the full-year legislation.

Congress has added to the $10 billion the Biden administration initially requested to handle the Russia-Ukraine war. In a last minute compromise, funding for pandemic-related measures was cut from the from the $22.5 billion the administration wanted, to $15.6 billion.Credit: Bloomberg

The legislation would provide $730 billion for non-defence discretionary spending, a 6.7 per cent increase and a win for Democrats, while Republicans were able to negotiate a 5.6 per cent increase for defence spending over the 2021 fiscal year, bringing it to $782 billion.

Congress added to the $10 billion the Biden administration initially requested to handle the Russia-Ukraine war. In a last minute compromise, funding for pandemic-related measures was cut from the from the $22.5 billion the administration wanted, to $15.6 billion.

The $13.6 billion in emergency Ukraine-related spending would provide $6.5 billion for the Pentagon, including $3 billion to bolster U.S. troops in Europe and $3.5 billion to replace weapons given to Ukraine.

The State department would receive $4 billion including for refugee assistance, economic assistance to the region and foreign military financing.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) would get $2.8 billion mostly for immediate humanitarian disaster assistance. Other funding is provided to enforce sanctions and increase media broadcasts into Ukraine.

Bloomberg