Ukraine-Russia war: British PM Rishi Sunak backs ‘bolder’ action on frozen Russian assets
On the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, British leader Rishi Sunak has called on the West to go “further” with sanctions against Russia.
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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has urged the West to be “bolder” in seizing Russian assets and to send interest already accrued on frozen funds to Ukraine.
On the second anniversary of Moscow’s invasion, the UK leader said Western allies must go “further” with their sanctions to “shake” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s belief “that he can simply wait us out”.
“We must be bolder in seizing the hundreds of billions of frozen Russian assets,” Sunak said in an article in The Sunday Times newspaper.
“That starts with taking the billions in interest these assets are collecting and sending it to Ukraine instead.
“And then, with the G7, we must find lawful ways to seize the assets themselves and get those funds to Ukraine too.”
The prime minister’s comments follow G7 leaders pledging Saturday to explore “all possible avenues by which immobilised Russian sovereign assets could be made use of to support Ukraine”.
The G7 nations’ leaders noted in a statement that any actions must be “consistent with our respective legal systems and international law”.
The grouping of advanced economies confirmed Russia’s already seized sovereign assets will remain frozen “until Russia pays for the damage it caused to Ukraine”.
The Western collective also welcomed the European Union last month reaching an initial agreement on a first step towards tapping profits from those funds to help pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
“We... encourage further steps to enable their use, consistent with applicable contractual obligations and in accordance with applicable laws,” the G7 leaders said.
Ukraine needs almost half a trillion dollars to cover the reconstruction costs of Russia’s invasion, the World Bank, European Union, United Nations and the Ukrainian government said in a joint report earlier this month.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmygal has said that the confiscated Russian assets should foot most of the bill.
Kyiv wants the West to unlock around $300 billion of frozen Russian assets to fund the rebuild of its cities, roads, bridges and energy facilities destroyed or damaged by Russia’s two-year assault.
Britain has been increasingly vocal in backing its stance, with Foreign Secretary David Cameron insisting at the World Economic Forum last month that there are legal, moral and political justifications for such action.
“We should be prepared to do some innovative thinking about how we use these resources to help Ukraine,” he said in reported comments.
‘VICTORY WILL HAPPEN’: UKRAINE VOWS ON ANNIVERSARY OF WAR
Ukraine vowed to triumph over Russian “darkness” as it entered a new year of war weakened by a lack of Western aid and with Moscow emboldened by fresh gains.
To mark the second anniversary, a virtual summit of G7 leaders was due to take place at Kyiv’s Saint Sophia Cathedral on Saturday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attending.
When Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” at dawn on February 24, 2022, many expected victory within days, but Ukraine fought back, forcing Russian troops into humiliating retreats.
Since then, however, Ukraine has suffered setbacks with the failure of its 2023 counteroffensive.
The Russian army has in turn built up a position of strength thanks to booming war production, while Ukraine’s troops are short of manpower and running low on Western-supplied ammunition for artillery and air defences.
Saturday’s anniversary will see visits by Western leaders including EU commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, who praised Ukraine’s “extraordinary resistance” as she arrived in the capital.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also arrived in Kyiv to take part in the G7 summit.
But the overall picture remains bleak for Ukraine due to the US Congress blocking a vital $60 billion aid package, on top of delays in promised European deliveries.
US President Joe Biden renewed calls for Republican lawmakers to unblock the additional funding, warning that “history is waiting” and “failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will not be forgotten”.
Still, Ukrainian officials voiced defiance on the anniversary. “I am convinced that unity is our victory. And it will definitely happen. Because light always conquers darkness!” the Ukrainian army’s chief Oleksandr Syrsky said on social media.
Russia is attacking hard in the east, with the destroyed town of Maryinka near Donetsk the latest hotspot after it captured the heavily fortified town of Avdiivka on February 17.
Ukraine’s economy has also been hit by a border blockade by Polish farmers that Kyiv says threatens exports and has held up deliveries of weapons.
In Kyiv, the mood was grim but still defiant as people said they had grown accustomed to wartime conditions.
“For women of Ukraine, this is our heartache -- for our husbands, for our children, for our fathers,” said nutritionist Olga Byrko in Kyiv.
“I would really like this to end as quickly as possible.”
Yuriy Pasichnyk, a 38-year-old businessman said “have learned to live with it... now the war is our life”.
And 51-year-old Kostyantyn Gofman called for “more weapons so that we can drive this evil spirit out of our land and start rebuilding our Ukraine”.
Ukraine needs almost half a trillion dollars to rebuild towns and cities destroyed by Russia’s invasion, according to the latest estimate by the World Bank, European Union, United Nations and Ukrainian government.
Ukraine has estimated that around 50,000 civilians have been killed.
Neither side has given numbers for military deaths and injured, while both claim to have inflicted huge losses.
In August 2023, The New York Times quoted US officials as putting Ukraine’s military losses at 70,000 dead and 100,000 to 120,000 injured.
Leaked US intelligence in December indicated that 315,000 Russian troops had been killed or wounded.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Moscow’s forces in occupied Ukraine, the army said on Saturday, telling them “in terms of the ratio of forces, the advantage is on our side”.
He was also briefed on Russian troops “continuing their advance” after taking Avdiivka.
On the eastern front, morale is low as outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian troops are ceding ground to Russian forces.
“We are running out of shells and the Russians keep coming. Lots of our comrades are injured -- or worse. Everything is getting worse and worse,” said one soldier near Bakhmut, speaking on condition of anonymity.
UK, FRANCE PLEDGE UNWAVERING SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE
French President Emmanuel Macron warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin early Saturday not to “count on any fatigue from Europeans” over the war in Ukraine, pledging that France’s support for Kyiv “will not waver”.
“Battered and bruised, but still standing. Ukraine is fighting for itself, for its ideals, for our Europe. Our commitment at its side will not waver,” he wrote in a message on X marking the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion, which falls on Saturday.
A separate statement from Macron’s office touted the European Union’s support for Kyiv, including accepting refugees, offering civil and military aid, and levelling sanctions on Moscow.
“President Putin’s Russia must not count on any fatigue from Europeans,” the statement said.
“France is also committed to continuing its support on all fronts, including the supply of military equipment, co-operation between defence industries through the development of co-productions, training, intelligence and civilian aid,” it added.
“The outcome of this war will be decisive for European interests, values and security.” The French pledge of support came as other key Ukrainian allies renewed their commitment to assisting Kyiv.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak renewed his pledge of support for Ukraine on the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion, insisting in a statement Friday that “tyranny will never triumph”.
Western nations “must renew” their determination to back Kyiv against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression, he said.
“This is the moment to show that tyranny will never triumph and to say once again that we will stand with Ukraine today and tomorrow,” Sunak said in a statement.
“We are prepared to do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, until they prevail.”
He praised “Ukraine’s courage in the face of terrible suffering”, saying the country was defending “the very principles of freedom, sovereignty and the rule of law, on which we all depend”.
Last month, Sunak pledged a 10-year security co-operation agreement between the UK and Ukraine during a surprise visit to Kyiv.
He also announced £2.5 billion ($3.2 billion) in new military aid, taking Britain’s overall support for Ukraine’s war efforts to nearly £12 billion.
“When Putin launched his illegal invasion two years ago, the free world was united in its response,” Sunak said in Friday’s statement.
“We stood together behind Ukraine. And on this grim anniversary, we must renew our determination.” Saturday marks two years since Russia invaded its neighbour.
BIDEN SLAPS SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA
US President Joe Biden has announced sanctions against Russia on over 500 targets to mark the second anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine, vowing sustained pressure to stop President Vladimir Putin’s “war machine.”
The sanctions, described as the largest single tranche since the start of the war, also seek to impose a cost for the death in a Siberian prison of Mr Putin’s most vocal critic, Alexei Navalny — with measures taken against three officials.
But the sanctions stopped short of potentially game-changing moves under consideration such as funding Ukraine by seizing assets from Russia, whose economy has kept growing despite two years of pressure.
The new economic effort comes as Russia makes its first gains in months on the battlefield in Ukraine, which has been forced to ration ammunition as a political impasse in Washington blocks new US military aid.
The latest sanctions will notably target the Mir credit card system, set up by Russia to avoid reliance on US-based networks.
The Treasury Department also said it was targeting investment funds and regional banks to hit “Russia’s core financial infrastructure.”
Other notable businesses include Russian transportation logistics company JSC SUEK, said to serve the Russian defence ministry, and specialty steel producer Mechel.
Others were in 3D printing, lubricants, as well as robotics and automation. The sanctions “will ensure Putin pays an even steeper price for his aggression abroad and repression at home,” Mr Biden said in a statement.
“We are also imposing new export restrictions on nearly 100 entities for providing backdoor support for Russia’s war machine,” he said.
In announcing the latest export control list additions, the Commerce Department cited entities’ contributions to Russia’s military or industrial base, including in microelectronics and the procurement of US-origin tools.
PUTIN’S MESSAGE FOR RUSSIAN ‘HEROES’
Meanwhile, Mr Putin hailed the country’s soldiers fighting in Ukraine as “authentic heroes” on the eve of the second anniversary of the offensive.
Putin’s message came on Moscow’s “Defender of the Fatherland Day” patriotic holiday on Friday, which has always been a chance for military pomp and Kremlin-sponsored patriotism.
“In these past years, the military and industrial complexes have multiplied both weapons production and supplies to troops,” Putin added in a video message.
This year the holiday falls with Putin inspired by the symbolic capture of the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka and as Russia revels in the US Congress blocking vital military aid to Kyiv.
Ahead of an election certain to extend Putin’s long reign, a massive crackdown has all but crushed dissent and the Russian leader’s main opponent — Alexei Navalny — is dead.
Putin has spent recent days flying bomber planes, handing out medals to troops and touting a “turning point” in Ukraine.
Earlier this week he mocked what he called the “chaotic flight” of Ukrainian soldiers from Avdiivka.
“This is a special page in the history of combat operations in general and in Russia’s defence of its vital interests,” Putin said of Moscow’s capture of the city that had been under attack fr months.
KREMLIN HITS BACK AT BIDEN
The Kremlin has lashed out at Joe Biden’s use of “shameful language” after the US president called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “crazy SOB” during an event in San Francisco.
“This is a huge shame for the country itself … for the US. If a president uses that kind of language, it’s shameful,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Mr Biden’s statement was a poor attempt to act like a “Hollywood cowboy”.
A brief report on the Russian-state news agency TASS’ website quoted Peskov as saying: “Biden’s words about Putin cannot hurt the Russian president, but they are a disgrace to the United States itself.”
Mr Biden said “we have a crazy SOB like that guy Putin but the existential threat to humanity is climate”.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a staunch Putin ally, said that the true “existential threat’ in the world was “useless old geezers, like Biden himself”.
He went on to accuse the US President of being “ready to start a war with Russia”.
“The use of such language against the head of another state by the president of the United States is unlikely to infringe on our president, President Putin.
“But it debases those who use such vocabulary.”
Mr Peskov said the remark was “probably some kind of attempt to look like a Hollywood cowboy. But honestly I don’t think it’s possible”.
“Has Mr Putin ever used one crude word to address you? This has never happened. Therefore, I think that such vocabulary debases America itself,” Mr Peskov said.
He later added in comments to a state television reporter: “This is a disgrace for the country itself, I mean the United States.”
BIDEN CALLS PUTIN ‘CRAZY SOB’
Mr Biden called Mr Putin a “crazy SOB” while at a public fundraising event in California.
“We have a crazy SOB like that guy Putin, and others, and we always have to worry about nuclear conflict, but the existential threat to humanity is climate,” Mr Biden said in a brief speech at the event in San Francisco.
Mr Biden also criticised Donald Trump challenging his re-election bid, saying he didn’t know “where the hell this comes from,” referring to Trump’s comparison of himself to recently deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
“It astounds me the things that are being said,” Mr Biden said.
“I mean, if I stood here 10, 15 years ago and said any of this, you’d all think I should be committed.”
It’s not the first time Mr Biden’s has had an outburst towards the Russian president, referring to him as a “butcher” and a “war criminal.” Mr Biden has said the United States will announce a package of tough new sanctions Friday against Russia over the death
in prison of opposition leader Navalny.
In a hot mic slip in January 2022, Mr Biden called a Fox News journalist a “son of a bitch”.
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Originally published as Ukraine-Russia war: British PM Rishi Sunak backs ‘bolder’ action on frozen Russian assets
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