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Ukraine: what we know on day six of Russia’s invasion

 

Ukraine: what we know on day six of Russia’s invasion

 

Rocket attacks on the city of Kharkiv have left several civilians dead, as the ICC launches an investigation into possible war crimes

 

Virginia Harrison

Tue 1 Mar 2022 01.43 GMT

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/01/ukraine-what-we-know-day-six-russia-invasion

 

• Russian forces have launched rocket attacks that killed “dozens” of civilians in Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv, and began a renewed assault on the capital Kyiv.
• At least nine people have been killed, including three children, and 37 wounded in one day after the shelling in the Kharkiv, the city’s mayor said.
• The international criminal court’s prosecutor has announced that he will launch an investigation into possible war crimes or crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
• Satellite images taken on Monday show a Russian military convoy north-west of Kyiv that stretches for about 40 miles (64 km), Reuters reports.
• Russia used a vacuum bomb on Monday in its invasion of Ukraine, according to Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the US.
• The United States has promised more sanctions against Russia and more weapons for Ukraine’s military, according to Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba.
• The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has reported at least 406 civilian casualties, including at least 102 dead.
• Canada will supply upgraded ammunition and anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, prime minister Justin Trudeau said.
• The Ukrainian president has called for a no-fly zone for Russian missiles, planes and helicopters following the attack on Kharkiv.
• Volodymyr Zelenskiy also signed an official request for Ukraine to join the EU. A senior EU official said leaders may discuss the possibility of Ukrainian membership at an informal summit in March.
• Ukraine has opened its border to foreigners willing to fight. Ukraine’s president has issued a decree temporarily lifting requirements for entry visas.
• Fifa and Uefa have suspended Russia’s national and club teams from all international competitions until further notice.
• The US will expel 12 members of Russia’s UN mission, accusing them of having “abused their privileges” by engaging in espionage that is harmful to national security.
• High-level talks between Ukraine and Russia that took place on the border with Belarus on Monday morning ended without a breakthrough. Both sides agreed to keep the negotiations going and a second round of talks could take place in the coming days.

Watch live: A special programme on the Ukraine invasion

Russian tank column outside Kyiv 'is 40 miles long'

 

Satellite overviews around Ivankiv, north-west of Kyiv. Photograph: Maxar Technologies Handout/EPA

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/feb/28/russia-ukraine-war-latest-news-update-conflict-belarus-putin-nuclear-deterrence-order-kyiv-russian-invasion-live-updates

 

Russian tank column outside Kyiv 'is 40 miles long' – report

Satellite images taken on Monday show a Russian military convoy north of Kyiv that stretches for about 40 miles (64 km) in an area north-west of Kyiv. It is substantially longer than the 17 miles (27 km) reported earlier in the day, according to the US company Maxar, Reuters reports.

Maxar, which filed a series of satellite images on the Russian military buildup on the Ukraine border, also said additional ground forces deployments and ground attack helicopter units were seen in southern Belarus, less than 20 miles (32 km) north of the Ukraine border.

Press Preview: Tuesday’s front pages

Ukraine comes under heavy attack from Russia

Vladimir Putin – the man who just united Europe

 

OPINION

Vladimir Putin – the man who just united Europe

 

Europe appears to have decided to actually defend freedom and no longer tolerate Putin's oligarchs. - that leaves Britain and its capital city, now known as Londongrad, in a delicate position

 

By DENIS MACSHANE

LONDON, TODAY, 16:40

https://euobserver.com/opinion/154453?fbclid=IwAR1zqRLzS_353fbAPeKhw5oMp85NNDkyFldab1wHMA2nVbnDC2C--_BuYao

 

War is famous throughout history as the midwife of revolution. But no-one could have imagined just a short week ago when Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of a European democracy, Ukraine, that in just a few days there would be a revolutionary change not seen in Europe, since — well — the days of the Bolshevik upheavals of 1917.

 

In short, Putin has united Europe as never before.

 

We are witnessing the emergence of the EU as a military power. We are seeing Finland and Sweden consider joining Nato thus reversing decades of non-Nato policy.

 

We are seeing Germany increasing its defence spend by €100bn - and with the backing of the Greens and Free Democrats.

 

We have seen Hungary, long Putin's puppet state in the EU, breaking with its master and voting with the other European democracies.

 

From Ireland to Poland, Europe is opening its arms to refugee immigrants from Ukraine after years in which Europe shut or tried to shut its doors to foreigners.

 

It is hard to know where to stop as this Copernican revolution in what Europe is and what it can and must do takes root.

 

When the crisis is over, Brussels should erect a statue to Vladimir Putin as the man who woke Europe from a long sleep as its leaders decided to accept responsibilities they had long shunned.

 

 

By far the most important decision is that Europe has decided to become a military power. The European Commission will purchase and send arms to Ukraine. And everyone agrees — mainstream right, left, green and liberal parties.

 

The main outliers are the far-rightists like Eric Zemmour, or France's Jeremy Corbyn, the ageing leftist demagogue, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

 

Europe has decided to use its financial system to press the Russian elites to tell Putin to stop. Like Eisenhower in 1956 during the Suez adventurism (who froze the essential flow of dollars to a United Kingdom which invaded Egypt contrary to international law), the EU has blocked key Russian banks from accessing international funds via the global banking transfer system, Swift.

 

The British elite in 1956 reacted by removing prime minister Anthony Eden after being asked by Eisenhower over Suez, "Are you mad?" - much as veteran Putin-watchers wonder if the ranting Russian leader is fully stable.

 

The hope is that the Russian oligarchs and siloviki, the network of former KGB agents who installed Putin in 1999 to ensure they would control Russian wealth, will now turn on him as the EU and US cuts the flow of funds.

 

The German parliament in a short session decided to increase defence spending to two per cent of GDP. Two percent of German GDP is £66bn — and German defence spending will by 26 percent more than that of the UK.

 

Germany will build a new generation of warplanes and tanks with France. This is music to the ears of French president Emmanuel Macron's concept of European "strategic autonomy".

 

The rise of an integrated European defence industry building common planes, helicopters, warships, tanks, missiles and even rifles will marginalise the UK defence industry - which will either have to join in, as Britain did when it joined the Airbus consortium, or just roll over and became wholly dependent on the US.

 

The Macron-Scholz tandem

Olaf Scholz with one short but decisive speech moves into the front rank of European and democratic world leaders. Assuming (as is likely) Emmanuel Macron wins a second five-year term in April the Macron-Scholz tandem will be the dominant leadership of a European Union that has not enjoyed effective leadership this century.

 

Josep Borrell, the Spanish-Catalan EU foreign policy chief, initially seen as gaffe-prone when he took over from Federica Mogherini in 2019, has been effective on TV in several languages explaining how Europe was taking on Putin.

 

Even neutral Switzerland with its long tradition of being a home to oligarch money from all over the world has lined up with the EU to disrupt Putin's finances used to pay for his invasion and war of aggression against Ukraine.

 

The Polish president has called for Ukraine to be fast-tracked for EU membership. This would be a much bigger challenge to Putin – having a democracy on his borders based around European values – than Ukraine joining Nato.

 

It will require dramatic reform to support president Zelensky's call for the "de-oligarchisation" of Ukraine.

 

Europe has shut its airspace to Russian planes which will ground the private jets that ferry the Putin oligarch around especially to their luxury mansions in Hampshire and £250m apartments in Knightsbridge.

 

Each move is not only an effective non-military attack on Putin but also a remarkable expression of a united European polity.

 

Brexit Britain

Meanwhile, "Global Britain", as Boris Johnson has tried to recast Brexit Britain, has been full of bellicose rhetoric against Putin, whose oligarchs have made Londongrad their home-from-home. However, prime minister Johnson has so far refused to join the move from Ireland to Poland to open borders (and European hearts) to Ukrainian refugees.

 

The very essence of Brexit was that the English should deny access to Britain to fellow Europeans. The UK has a sizeable Ukrainian population but London's response so far has been cruel and mean-minded.

 

More important is how Brexit Britain handles this new energy, determination, and willingness to increase military spend by Europe. If Germany's Scholz and France's Macron forge an alliance to build up EU defence capability, long a demand of Washington, where does Britain fit in?

 

Of course, as days unfold, much of the old nation-first EU — of which Britain was a charter member — may resurface and this Putin-spawned European unity is seen to evaporate.

 

But history suggests that once "Europe" decides to do something, that becomes the norm.

 

Europe appears to have decided to do defence of freedom and to no longer tolerate Putin oligarchs. That leaves Britain and its capital city now known as Londongrad in a delicate position.

 

AUTHOR BIO

Denis MacShane is a British former Minister of Europe who supported the Orange Revolution is 2004/5 and was in Odessa as an observer at the 2019 parliamentary election in Ukraine. He writes on European politics and policy.

‘The damage is done’: Russians face economic point of no return

 

‘The damage is done’: Russians face economic point of no return

 

Shoppers and business people express despair and disillusion as sanctions cause run on rouble

 

Andrew Roth and Pjotr Sauer in Moscow

Mon 28 Feb 2022 18.17 GMT

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/28/the-damage-is-done-russians-face-economic-point-of-no-return

 

As markets opened in a panic on Monday, many Russians rushed to local cashpoints in Moscow to retrieve their savings before the damage got any worse.

 

“It said they had dollars so I came here immediately,” said Alexei Presnyakov, 32, pointing to an app for Russia’s Tinkoff Bank, indicating he could withdraw hard currency. About 20 people were queued in line. “Yesterday [the rate] was 80 [to the dollar]. Today it’s 100. Or 150.”

 

“I just made a spontaneous decision today that I would ask [out of work] and go around until I took out all my money,” he said. “Before it was worth zero.”

 

Within minutes, however, the word traveled down the queue: the dollars were gone.

 

Nearly half the queue walked off. “Who needs roubles?” one woman said sarcastically as she walked away.

 

From shopping malls to corporate boardrooms, Russians were trying to find their footing on Monday in what the Kremlin described as the “altered economic reality” that the country was now facing following sanctions on Russia’s Central Bank and other key financial institutions. There were signs that something extraordinary was taking place: the Moscow Exchange, Russia’s largest stock market, has halted trading until 5 March.

 

With its reserves frozen, the Central Bank announced it would more than double its main interest rates to 20%, the highest this century, and force major exporting companies, including large energy producers like Gazprom and Rosneft, to sell 80% of their foreign currency revenues, effectively buying roubles to prop up the currency rate.

 

But that did little to calm the frayed nerves at the Metropolis Mall in Moscow, where there were signs that Russians were rushing to turn their cash into consumer goods before prices leapt up. At an M.Video, a popular electronics store, one employee said that rouble prices for iPhones were “the same for now” but that “they could change any minute.” “I’d buy now,” he said.

 

If there was shock on the streets, then the mood among the business community was even more dour. Several owners of mid-sized companies said that the invasion and subsequent isolation of Russia had made their businesses unprofitable overnight.

 

One, the owner of an advertising services company with 100 employees, said that he was about to announce to his employees this afternoon that he is leaving the country for Armenia with his wife and two sons.

 

“I’m going to tell them that we are going into a crisis that we have never experienced before,” he said. “It’s like flying on a plane with no engines or the engines are on fire.”

 

His company, which handles contracts for international brands like Pepsi and automakers like Volkswagen, was booming as recently as January 2022, a record month for them. Now many of those brands were pulling out of the Russian market and his business was shrinking “immensely”.

 

Another business owner with hundreds of employees in the food and beverage and tourism industries felt that he was completely in the dark about the future under Vladimir Putin.

 

“We have no fucking clue what he will do next,” he said. “No one in the business community has a clue any more. Everyone is so depressed. I have experienced so many economic crises here, the pandemic being the latest.

 

“But there was always a reason to keep on fighting for your business,” he said. “Now, I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel any more. Even if peace is achieved, the damage is done. How do we reverse it?”

 

There was a sense on Monday that this crisis was passing the point of no return, as Russian bombers began flying over Ukraine and rocket artillery began firing on populated districts of Kharkiv, a Russian city of more than one million people.

 

Even top Russian business people, including the powerful oligarchs, appeared to be unsettled by the instability ushered in by the invasion, as well as the extraordinary measures being taken to prop up the rouble.

 

Oleg Deripaska, the billionaire businessman, had called for peace “as fast as possible” in a Telegram post on Sunday. On Monday, he went after the Central Bank decision to hike rates, taking aim at longtime rival Elvira Nabiullina, the head of the Central Bank.

 

“A hiked rate, the mandatory sale of foreign currency … this is the first test of who actually will be responsible for this banquet,” Deripaska wrote. “I really want clarifications and intelligible comments on the economic policy of the next three months.”

 

By the evening, the answer was even more draconian measures, including strict limits on transfers of money abroad. Those were announced after a funereal meeting between economic officials and Vladimir Putin, who declared that the sanctions had been imposed by the western “empire of lies”.

 

For many Russians, who felt themselves to be European by the food they ate and the way they lived, it’s clear that Monday marked a moment when the war came home.

 

“I think people are going to feel scared to spend money,” said the entrepreneur who owns restaurants and tourism companies. “We have left communism 30 years ago, we got accustomed to having a lot of comforts that are also seen in the West. All of that progress can be gone. We are no longer a member of the international community.”

Kiev exige un "cessez-le-feu" immédiat

Macron/Poutine : 1h30 d'échange téléphonique

Watch live: A special programme on the Ukraine invasion

War in Ukraine: Putin 'willing to consider' halting attacks on civilians...

Europe unprepared for climate impacts, world’s top scientists warn

 

Europe unprepared for climate impacts, world’s top scientists warn

 

A major UN report finds global warming will deepen inequalities on the Continent.

 

BY ZIA WEISE

February 28, 2022 12:06 pm

https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-unprepared-for-climate-impacts-worlds-top-scientists-warn/

 

Europe is not prepared to cope with the effects of climate change, the world’s leading climate scientists said in a landmark report published on Monday.

 

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that the Continent’s failure to plan is likely to result in higher death tolls from heat waves, wider swaths of land lost to sea-level rise and greater damage to ecosystems and economies.

 

While countries, cities and communities in Europe are taking some action to adapt to climate change, “it is not implemented at the scale, depth and speed needed to avoid the risks,” the scientists write.

 

Their assessment of the impact on Europe is part of a larger report looking at the consequences of global warming and the world’s options to adapt.

 

Years in the making, with input from thousands of scientists from across the globe, the report underscores that action to sharply reduce emissions must go hand-in-hand with adaptation measures if humanity is to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

 

The authors highlight that global warming will widen the divide between rich and poor countries — with significant implications for climate politics — but found that in Europe, too, impacts are hitting some harder than others.

 

Already, “inequalities have deepened” among regions and societal groups, they write. Alongside negative effects, Northern Europe may experience some “short-term benefits,” like higher crop yields, even if those gains can’t offset the expected climate-related losses in overall agricultural production across the Continent.

 

But in Southern Europe, “largely negative impacts are projected.”

 

Unequal impact

That split is already complicating policymaking on climate in Brussels. The EU’s Green Deal is so far largely focused on slashing emissions, even if the Commission last year presented an adaptation strategy for the bloc.

 

EU countries most vulnerable to climate change — like Spain — say current climate legislation proposals don’t take into account how different countries will be affected.

 

“Climate change, for us and for the rest of Europe, is a potential source of inequalities between European countries, between European regions and also between local areas,” said Valvanera Ulargui, director of the climate change office of Spain’s ecological transition ministry.

 

“When you look at the Fit for 55 package” — the sweeping set of legislative proposals presented by the Commission last summer — "we miss this analysis, we miss this assessment,” she added. Spain has raised concerns over the carbon sequestration targets proposed by the Commission, saying they do not take into account increasingly arid conditions in the country.

 

Worsening climate impacts may also prompt calls for EU aid. Most EU climate spending is going toward measures to reduce emissions and not adaptation, the IPCC report notes, and with rising temperatures, “financing needs are likely to increase.”

 

Earlier this month, Portugal and Spain urged the Commission to consider supporting their agricultural sector with direct payments as well as exemptions from green farming rules.

 

The Iberian Peninsula is currently experiencing an extreme winter drought; in Portugal, February rainfall levels were just 7 percent of the 30-year average, and more than 90 percent of the country is suffering from severely arid conditions.

 

Scientists have said this drought should be seen in the context of climate change, with rising temperatures increasing the severity and frequency of dry spells.

 

Not enough

The IPCC report warns that once global average temperatures hit 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, more than a third of Southern Europeans will be exposed to water scarcity. Current pledges to tackle climate change this decade have the world on track for 2.4 degrees of warming.

 

From 3 degrees, the scientists say, Europe’s ability to adapt to water scarcity risks “becomes increasingly difficult” and “hard limits are likely first reached in parts of Southern Europe.”

 

At that stage, people and health systems in Southern and Eastern Europe will also face adaptation limits related to heat stress.

 

Beyond water shortages and heat waves affecting the health of humans and ecosystems, the report identifies agricultural losses and the impact of floods on people, economies and infrastructure as key risks to Europe.

 

In theory, there’s plenty Europe can do to prepare, from updating sewer systems to cope with flooding to fitting buildings with cooling systems to deal with extreme heat.

 

But across the Continent, the authors warn, “observed adaptation actions are largely incremental,” with systemic measures — such as the floodproofing of Hamburg’s old port quarter — few and far between.

 

Although policymakers have started taking adaptation seriously, massive gaps remain between plans for action and implementation, they add. For example, 14 countries have strategies for climate-proofing their energy sectors and another 15 are working on plans, but just five countries have put measures into practice.

 

And even in rich Europe, the poorest may struggle to cope. Heat-related health risks, for example, have a greater effect on marginalized groups, with low-income households less likely to afford air-conditioning and social housing often located in what scientists call “urban heat islands.”

 

On social equity issues, “European climate change adaptation strategies and national policies are generally weak,” the authors write.

 

As for the EU, Brussels needs to ensure intra-European “climate cohesion” much like it works to reduce economic and social disparities under its regional policy, Spain’s Ulargui said.

 

The bloc has yet to start discussing “how the different regions are impacted,” she said. “The capacities to cope with the impact will be very different. And we need to translate that into an informed debate.”

 

Karl Mathiesen contributed reporting.

Putin sticks to his demands, kills 11 in attack on Kharkiv

 

Putin sticks to his demands, kills 11 in attack on Kharkiv

 

Putin not only demands that Ukraine disarm and stay out of NATO, but also insists on formal recognition of Crimea as Russian.

 

BY ZOYA SHEFTALOVICH

February 28, 2022 12:19 pm

https://www.politico.eu/article/peace-talks-set-to-begin-as-russian-war-on-ukraine-heads-into-5th-day/

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to give an inch in his demands from the West on Monday and instead responded to Ukrainian resistance and Western sanctions with a vicious bombardment of civilians in the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

 

The attack on Ukraine’s second-biggest city appeared to mark an alarming escalation in the willingness of Russian troops to fire missiles into residential areas. The assault killed 11 people and wounded dozens, local authorities said. “What is happening now in Kharkiv is a war crime,” Oleg Sinegubov, a senior regional official, wrote on his Facebook page.

 

Independently verified footage showed rockets smashing into a residential area at around noon local time. Subsequent video posts carried by Ukrainian media showed one dead man in a car and several bodies strewn on a street.

 

The attack on Kharkiv came on a day when there had been early hopes — albeit fragile — that some kind of diplomatic breakthrough could secure a cease-fire. Talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations at the Belarus border seemed to make only slender progress, however. According to Ukrainian television, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the parties would meet again in a second round but first needed to return to their capitals with potential grounds for compromise.

 

Putin himself gave no hints of any impending peace deal. After a long call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian media reported Putin had not only repeated his long-standing security demands over Ukraine — that the country should disarm and stay neutral outside NATO — but also insisted upon the formal recognition of Crimea as Russian, an ultimatum he had not previously stated so bluntly to Western allies.

 

A more upbeat read-out from the Élysée reported some willingness from Putin’s side to commit to a cease-fire on civilian facilities. Problematically, however, Putin denies in the version of events given to Russian media that there are any attacks on civilians to stop, blaming such strikes on Ukrainian nationalists — a baseless assertion.

 

The danger of an expansion of the conflict also grew on Monday with the prospect that Belarusian forces could cross the border. U.S. intelligence expects Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko to throw in his 48,000-strong army in the next few hours or days to reinforce Russia in its faltering invasion of Ukraine.

 

Russian ground forces have taken control of the town of Berdyansk on the Black Sea coast between the Crimean peninsula and the Russian-backed breakaway regions within Donbas, defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed Monday morning. Video posted by Ukrainian media later showed a crowd of locals chanting at Russian soldiers to “go home.”

 

Russian-backed forces in the eastern breakaway regions have also advanced. But Ukraine’s armed forces on Monday said they continued to hold Kyiv, along with other major cities.

 

In a new video posted on Telegram on Monday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 16 Ukrainian children had been killed and 45 wounded as a result of Russia’s offensive.

 

“When I ran for the presidency, I said each of us is the president,” Zelenskyy said. “And now, each of us is a warrior.”

 

Zelenskyy also announced he would release prisoners with combat experience if they wished to fight for Ukraine, to “compensate their guilt.”

 

Separately, the Ukrainian president called for the EU to immediately allow his country to join. “We ask the European Union for Ukraine’s immediate accession under a new special procedure,” he said.

 

On Sunday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc wants the country to join, noting in an interview that: “They are one of us and we want them in.” However, the decision to add new countries to the EU lies with existing member countries, which don’t always agree with the Commission’s views. Ukraine is still not an official candidate for EU accession talks.

 

Zelenskyy also had a message for the Russian invaders.

 

“Why did you all come here?” he asked the Russian forces in Ukrainian, before appealing directly to them in Russian: “Drop your weapons and leave. Don’t trust your commanders. Don’t trust your propagandists. Just save your lives. Leave.”

 

Russia, meanwhile, is feeling the pinch from retaliatory sanctions imposed by the West.

 

The Russian central bank was forced to ban sales of local securities by foreigners on Monday, and more than double its key interest rate to 20 percent from 9.5 percent following what it called a “cardinal change in external conditions.” The Russian finance ministry also announced it would require exporters to sell 80 percent of hard currency proceeds for rubles, in a bid to stave off a collapse of the Russian currency.

 

Additionally, Russia is facing significant losses on the battlefield.

 

As of Monday morning, Ukraine’s armed forces estimated Russia had lost 29 planes, 29 helicopters, 191 tanks, 816 armored personnel carriers, 74 artillery pieces, 60 tanks and two ships, among other equipment. Ukraine also said it estimated Russia had suffered about 5,300 casualties, with Zelenskyy saying in his Monday video that “four and a half thousand” Russians had been killed.

 

Russia has not issued estimates of its losses in the war, but on Monday claimed to have struck 1,114 objects of Ukrainian military infrastructure since launching its offensive. In addition, the defense ministry’s Konashenkov claimed Russia had destroyed 314 Ukrainian tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 57 multiple rocket launchers, 121 field artillery and mortars and 274 special military vehicles.

 

Meanwhile, European defense ministers met on Monday to flesh out a plan announced over the weekend to increase the EU’s defensive capabilities and send lethal weapons to Kyiv.

 

European Council President Charles Michel said Monday that, “this weekend, the Europe of defense has become a very tangible reality.” He added: “At the moment, there are about 20 European states which, in addition to the means decided within the EU, on a bilateral level, are going to dedicate military means, rockets, ammunition, anti-tank weapons, anti-missile weapons, air defense, in order to support the Ukrainians who are a sort of bulwark, a bulwark that we must support and protect.”

 

Reznikov, the Ukrainian defense minister, welcomed Europe’s help. In a Facebook post in the early hours of Monday morning, he said: “Half of Europe is already collecting, packing, and carrying weapons and armor” for Ukraine. “The circle of states that provide real help has increased significantly. The scale has increased.”

 

And while EU interior ministers met on Sunday to discuss the worsening humanitarian situation on the bloc’s border, Reznikov noted that “Europe has already provided a temporary shelter to tens of thousands of those we want to save the most — our little ones and their mothers. Without any formalities.” He added: “We really don’t have a border in the west now.”

 

Those stuck in the hardest-hit cities in Ukraine reported terrifying scenes on the ground.

 

In Kharkiv, three doctors sheltering at the clinic where they work said they “live in hell.” In an email, Professor Marina Petrushko, Dr. Vladimir Pinyaev and Dr. Taisiya Yurchuk said: “Our lives have narrowed to the limits of basements.” Their clinic, “where life was born, has become a shelter … Thank God — the house has thick walls and a solid basement.”

 

They added: “The Russians are destroying everything: residential neighborhoods, kindergartens, hospitals, even a blood transfusion station. Without the support of the whole world, we will not be able to cope with the Russian invasion. Please, help.”

 

Douglas Busvine and Camille Gijs contributed reporting.

Russian currency crashes as economic impact of Ukrainian invasion takes effect - BBC News

Economy in crisis: Russia hit hard by international sanctions | DW News

Putin's threat: Is Russia ready to use the nuclear option? | To the point

EU defence, energy ministers meet in Brussels • FRANCE 24 English

BREAKING: Explosion and air raids heard in Kyiv

Russia central bank more than doubles key interest rate to 20% to boost sinking ruble

 

CENTRAL BANKS

Russia central bank more than doubles key interest rate to 20% to boost sinking ruble

PUBLISHED MON, FEB 28 20222:11 AM ESTUPDATED 3 HOURS AGO

Natasha Turak

@NATASHATURAK

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/28/russia-central-bank-hikes-interest-rates-to-20percent-from-9point5percent-to-bolster-ruble.html?utm_content=Intl&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR3SCeHdHXFd5V1UAn1AXb2irBRoFXzKCK_xltqm-zyI6tZU-I_FNe_gjCo#Echobox=1646032833-1

 

KEY POINTS

The bank also said it would be freeing 733 billion rubles ($8.78 billion) in local bank reserves to boost liquidity.

Russia’s stock and derivatives markets will stay shut on Monday, the central bank said.

The dramatic developments underline fears of a run on Russia’s banks.

 

Russia’s central bank on Monday more than doubled the country’s key interest rate from 9.5% to 20% as its currency, the ruble, hit a record low against the dollar on the back of a slew of new sanctions and penalties imposed on Russia by Europe and the U.S. for its invasion of Ukraine.

 

The rate hike, the central bank said, “is designed to offset increased risk of ruble depreciation and inflation.”

 

This follows the central bank’s order to halt foreigners’ bids to sell Russian securities in an effort to contain the market fallout. The ruble fell as far as 119.50 per dollar, down a whopping 30% from Friday’s close. It later pared some of its losses, trading at 93.04 per dollar by 3:30 p.m. in Moscow, still down roughly 20% against the dollar in the last year.

 

Russia’s stock and derivatives markets will stay shut on Monday, the central bank said.

 

The bank also said it would be freeing 733 billion rubles ($8.78 billion) in local bank reserves to boost liquidity. Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina will hold a briefing at 1 p.m. London time Monday.

 

The dramatic developments underline fears of a run on Russia’s banks. Already, long lines to withdraw cash have been seen at ATMs in Russian cities. Sberbank Europe, which is owned by Russia’s state-run Sberbank, says it has experienced “significant outflows of deposits in a very short time.”

 

In a statement Monday, the Russian finance ministry and the central bank announced plans to order domestic exporters to sell their foreign exchange revenues starting on Feb. 28. The move will order exporters to sell 80% of all their forex revenues received under export contracts.

 

Over the weekend, the U.S., European allies and Canada agreed to cut off key Russian banks from the interbank messaging system, SWIFT, which connects more than 11,000 banks and financial institutions in over 200 countries and territories. The EU also announced Sunday it was shutting its airspace to Russian aircraft.

 

The volatility in Russian markets “does show that the freezing of the Russian central banks assets, which was decided over the weekend by the EU as well as the other western countries led by the U.S. — it shows what a significant move that is,” David Marsh, chairman of economic policy think tank OMFIF, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Monday.

 

“That is actually much more significant than the SWIFT action, which was breaking a taboo by Germany when it joined in on that over the weekend,” he said, referring to sanctions that cut several Russian banks out of the global SWIFT payments system.

 

“It does mean that there is going to be this enormous scramble for dollars in Russia — we’ve seen the queues outside the banks and so on.”

 

Russia over the past several years has amassed a war chest of some $630 billion in foreign reserves, its highest level ever, which analysts say will help it withstand sanctions and losses in export revenue. But if some of those assets are frozen, that changes the calculus for Russia.

 

“We will paralyze the assets of Russia’s central bank,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement Sunday. “This will freeze its transactions. And it will make it impossible for the Central Bank to liquidate its assets.”

 

“The fact that the Russians cannot deploy a good part of this $600 billion worth of foreign currency reserves that the Russian central bank has been carefully building up does mean that we are onto an emergency war economy,” Marsh said. “And the idea of isolating Russia, which just a few days ago would have been thought of as unthinkable, it now is a reality.”

 

The ramp-up in punitive measures against Russia — the strongest that the EU has ever deployed against it — come as Russian forces deployed by President Vladimir Putin carry out offensives all over Ukraine. It follows several days of heavy shelling and missile strikes in major urban centers including Ukraine’s two largest cities, its capital Kyiv and Kharkiv, which together have a population of nearly 5 million people.

 

Ukrainian forces have so far managed to hold back the Russian advances and remain in control of the two cities, Ukraine’s defense ministry said on Sunday.

 

Correction: This story has been updated to show that Russia’s rate rise was a more than doubling of its original rate.

Bank of Russia Raises Key Rate to 20%

Casas vazias, nómadas digitais, arrendamento, venda: o AL à espera do regresso dos turistas

 

LISBOA

Casas vazias, nómadas digitais, arrendamento, venda: o AL à espera do regresso dos turistas

 

Durante os dois anos de pandemia, em Lisboa e Porto, o Alojamento Local parece ter estagnado ou até diminuído. Com quebras superiores a 55%, o sector procurou alternativas nos nómadas digitais que escolhem as duas cidades para passar alguns meses. Enquanto no litoral se espera a recuperação já este ano, foi no interior que os novos registos mais cresceram nos últimos dois anos.

 

André Borges Vieira e Cristiana Faria Moreira

13 de Fevereiro de 2022, 21:37

https://www.publico.pt/2022/02/13/local/noticia/casas-vazias-nomadas-digitais-arrendamento-venda-al-espera-regresso-turistas-1995202?fbclid=IwAR3BySKUewj6uLek9GVJxLQeRnuTKeMccHqEaKUoOzm1ApRqYbarrfOml1M

 

Cristina Azevedo põe-se à porta do restaurante na Rua dos Remédios, no bairro histórico de Alfama, em Lisboa, a cumprimentar os turistas que passam, acenando-lhes com a carta e convidando-os a entrar para experimentar alguma iguaria. Ela anima-se com algum movimento, depois dos meses duros de pandemia. “Há sempre alguém”, diz Cristina, que perdeu o trabalho de recepcionista numa pensão da Rua São João da Praça, que “não aguentou o impacto” da pandemia. Mas, a meras ruas de distância, o cenário é mais desanimador. Na sua loja de artesanato, Mafalda Costa lamenta a falta da correria de outros tempos num bairro hoje “completamente parado”. O restaurante da frente fechou, assim como outros estabelecimentos, levando dali o movimento habitual. “É outro mundo. O bairro perdeu vida”, diz a lojista que ali tem o negócio há oito anos.

 

Fecharam alguns alojamentos locais. Muitos estarão para venda, nota Mafalda. Outros estão fechados ou arrendados por alguns meses à espera do regresso dos turistas. Por esta altura, são os forasteiros mais jovens que se passeiam pelo bairro, mas “não são grandes compradores”, repara a lojista.

 

A pandemia provocou um travão a fundo num sector que crescia há vários anos e que mudou — com benefícios e prejuízos — a face de Lisboa e Porto, que hoje representam 28% da oferta de alojamento local (AL) no país. Se tomarmos 2019 como referência, o sector sofreu quebras de facturação na ordem dos 70 a 75%, em 2020, e de 55 a 60% em 2021, tendo sido os dois centros urbanos as zonas mais afectadas.

 

Na capital, o crescimento “foi quase nulo”, enquanto no Porto se verificou mesmo uma diminuição no número de estabelecimentos disponíveis, uma situação única no país, refere um balanço da Associação de Alojamento Local em Portugal (ALEP).

 

Nos últimos dois anos, o número de alojamentos disponíveis chegou a valores mais próximos de 2018 (7288) do que de 2019 (8589). Dependendo da fonte, o número de registos varia, mas será seguro concluir que, no final de 2021, o Porto tinha menos de oito mil apartamentos disponíveis para turismo, ainda que o Registo Nacional de Alojamento Local (RNAL) contabilizasse mais.

 

De acordo com a ALEP, estes dados oficiais “não reflectem” a realidade do AL, tanto no Porto como em Lisboa, uma vez que a redução registada nas plataformas de reserva é “muito superior” à oficial.

 

Isso mesmo revelam, por exemplo, os dados da Plataforma da Taxa Municipal Turística, cedidos pela Câmara do Porto. A 31 de Dezembro de 2021, o município somava 7781 apartamentos nesta plataforma, embora no RNAL estivessem contabilizados 8522.

 

Esta diferença pode ainda ser justificada por não ter existido comunicação por parte dos proprietários dos negócios ao RNAL, embora o tenham feito à plataforma da taxa turística, ou até que outros alojamentos tenham cessado a actividade noutros anos, não tendo os dados sido actualizados no registo nacional.

 

A autarquia detalha ainda que nos últimos dois anos se verificaram 1552 cancelamentos de actividade (908 em 2020 e 644 em 2021). Os números avançados pela ALEP são ligeiramente superiores: 1779. Os abandonos da actividade foram, por isso, superiores às comunicações de novas aberturas, que, segundo o RNAL, foram 1615 (695 em 2020 e 920 em 2021).

 

Crescimento “quase nulo” na capital

Este mesmo contexto pode ser aplicado na capital. A associação nota que em 2020 e 2021 houve um número similar de cancelamentos (1022) e novas aberturas (1066), o que levou “a um crescimento quase nulo e uma renovação saudável, já que foram substituídos registos nas zonas históricas com maior concentração por novos registos em zonas fora das áreas turísticas”. O RNAL mostra que, entre Janeiro de 2020 e o mesmo mês de 2022, a freguesia da Estrela foi aquela onde mais novos registos se fizeram (192), seguida por Arroios (107) e Penha de França (91).

 

Em 2020, o AL seguia a tendência de decrescimento a que se assistia no Porto (passou de 19.478 alojamentos, em 2019, para 19.356, em 2020) quando, nesse ano, foram cancelados 601 registos e surgiram 489 novos. Em 2021, porém, esse caminho havia de ser alterado, quando a suspensão de novas aberturas de AL na capital entrou em discussão em plena campanha eleitoral das autárquicas. Nesse ano, verificaram-se mais 571 aberturas e 421 cancelamentos. O anúncio de que no final do ano os novos registos poderiam vir a ser suspensos provocou um “pico”, como de resto acontece sempre que a discussão sobre a definição de mais áreas de contenção ganha novo fôlego.

 

Actualmente, os números oficiais dizem que a capital tem mais de 19.700 alojamentos. No entanto, mais de 3500 (cerca de 18%) não estarão activos, nota a ALEP. Isto porque cerca de “2000 propriedades anunciadas nas plataformas” desapareceram, embora o seu registo não tenha sido cancelado. E haverá ainda “1500 registos-fantasmas criados pela forma como os anúncios das suspensões foram feitos nos últimos anos”.

 

Na capital, continua a discutir-se a suspensão de novas aberturas nas freguesias da cidade. A proposta é que, onde por cada 100 casas de alojamento tradicional haja duas e meia dedicadas ao AL, estas sejam suspensas até o regulamento municipal ser revisto. No Porto, chegaram a ser definidas, e aprovadas pela câmara, zonas de contenção, mas acabaram suspensas, nunca tendo entrado em vigor.

 

Negócios reinventados

Não é claro o que aconteceu a estes imóveis que desapareceram das plataformas. Podem estar fechados à espera de melhores dias, terem sido vendidos, colocados no mercado de arrendamento tradicional ou no de média duração, para “estudantes, profissionais deslocados, nómadas digitais e trabalhadores remotos”, para “para pessoas em tratamento hospitalar e familiares” ou pessoas em “situações de divórcio e obras”, como relatam vários proprietários e gestores de AL.

 

Ana Cunha, que há uma década tem negócios no sector, foi obrigada a “reinventar-se”. Aproveitou para vender uma das suas casas no Príncipe Real, como já era intenção mesmo antes da pandemia, e foi arrendando outras ao mês para os “nómadas”. “Começaram a aparecer muitos estrangeiros em Lisboa a trabalhar remotamente​. Numa das casas está um senhor que era para estar só um mês e acabou por ficar. À partida, sai em Maio e a casa volta ao alojamento local”, conta.

 

Ana tem uma casa sua em Lisboa e gere outras seis — três em Sesimbra e três nos bairros da Graça e Mouraria — de outros proprietários. Em 2020, já em pandemia, uma das casas de Sesimbra, normalmente arrendada só no Verão, esteve três meses com uma família que procurava mar e mais espaço, depois de alguns tratamentos médicos.

 

Os negócios foram sendo adaptados a novas necessidades para tentar também colmatar perdas. Na Homing, empresa que gere hoje cerca de 300 apartamentos em Lisboa, Porto e Algarve, a pandemia provocou uma perda de cerca de 40 propriedades. “Saíram umas, entraram outras”, explica João Bolou Vieira, presidente executivo da empresa. Algumas foram vendidas, outras para arrendamento tradicional, o que levou a empresa a começar na área da mediação imobiliária para fazer face à grande quebra de facturação. “Passámos de mais de quatro milhões de euros em volume de negócios em 2019 para nem um milhão em 2020. Foi uma brutalidade”, diz.

 

Durante a pandemia, a Homing fez parcerias com empresas para receber trabalhadores nas suas casas no Parque das Nações, por exemplo, que acabaram por ocupá-las por um, dois meses.

 

No Norte, Rita Almeida, responsável pelos quatro apartamentos do Inside Porto Apartments, foi também recebendo hóspedes em teletrabalho, embora não ficassem “mais de uma semana”.

 

Diana Serrano, responsável pelo Oporto Lux Apartment, na Rua do Pinheiro, uma pequena artéria da Baixa portuense onde há mais AL do que prédios, conseguiu passar pelos dois últimos anos sem encerrar nenhum dos 12 apartamentos. Um dos caminhos escolhidos foi optar por “rendas temporárias de meio ano”. Por esta altura, no ano passado, tinha “apartamentos T0 já com despesas” arrendados por 500 euros, quando a taxa de ocupação estava a 30%, mesmo com os preços “a metade” de valores pré-pandemia. Agora, a ocupação ronda os 60%, mas os preços continuam muito abaixo dos que eram antes praticados.

 

Na mesma rua, a fazer esquina com a Mártires da Liberdade, está o Indulge Porto Flats com seis apartamentos em AL. A gerente do negócio, Cristina Pereira, preferiu manter o negócio sem adaptações a outros usos. Mas para isso teve de enfrentar períodos, sobretudo em 2020, sem qualquer cliente. Ainda equacionou entrar no arrendamento a longo prazo, mas o receio venceu. “Os equipamentos ficam em más condições. Aumenta o desgaste”, afirma.

 

Em Lisboa e no Porto, os municípios criaram programas para aliciar privados a arrendarem os seus imóveis às autarquias, que, por sua vez, os disponibilizariam aos cidadãos que se candidatassem aos seus programas de habitação acessível. No entanto, acabaram por ter fraca adesão.

 

Expansão do negócio

​Com alguns AL a encerrarem, houve quem aproveitasse para expandir o negócio. Foi o caso de Duarte Santos, que comprou dois novos apartamentos a quem desistiu do sector. Com o ano de 2019 a ser um dos melhores, adivinhava um 2020 “excepcional”, mas em Março a facturação havia de cair “a pique”. Ainda assim, aproveitou a paragem para fazer melhorias noutros apartamentos e para investir. Aguarda agora a retoma do sector.

 

Filipa Maia tem uma visão mais abrangente dos danos causados pela pandemia. À frente da Most, uma empresa de limpeza especializada em AL, viu a facturação cair para zero de um dia para o outro. Antes do primeiro confinamento, a sua equipa tinha cerca de 400 apartamentos para limpar. “Ficamos sem nenhum.” Em 2020 redefiniu estratégias e virou-se para outros sectores. Só no ano seguinte voltou com mais força ao AL, acumulando agora clientes de outras áreas. Ainda que note já uma retoma no sector, ainda não chegou aos números do passado. “Agora temos 200 apartamentos para limpar”, afirma. Parte desses serviços são em alojamentos que se tornaram escritórios de pequenas empresas.

 

À espera da recuperação

Apesar das dificuldades dos últimos dois anos, os proprietários acreditam que 2022 será de recuperação. No último Verão, Cristina Pereira teve taxas de ocupação nos valores pré-pandemia — e até mais elevados. Ainda assim, com preços inferiores aos que eram praticados.“Mesmo a trabalhar a 100% no Verão diminuímos a facturação em 30%”, afirma. <_o3a_p>​​Paulatinamente, o objectivo é repor os valores: “Já temos muitas reservas com preços mais altos.”

 

Na capital, o AL representava, em 2019, 46% das dormidas turísticas em Lisboa, segundo a ALEP. Em 2020, chegou mesmo a ultrapassar a hotelaria, passando a ter um peso de 50,4% das dormidas”, refere a associação.

 

No Porto, o AL representa mais de 60% das dormidas na cidade, nota Eduardo Miranda. Por isso, “o AL vai ser o motor de recuperação do turismo e da própria economia da cidade”, acredita.

 

Em Janeiro, Ana Cunha já começou a receber reservas para Abril e para os meses de Verão, num sinal de que a capital continuará a ser um destino desejo para muitos. “Penso que este ano vai haver recuperação. As pessoas estão ávidas de viajar.”

 

Registos cresceram no interior do país

Embora se concentrem atenções no impacto que o Alojamento Local (AL) tem gerado nos centros urbanos de Lisboa e Porto, estes concentram cerca de 28% da oferta deste tipo de negócio. Se durante a pandemia o crescimento de AL nestas duas cidades praticamente estagnou ou até diminuiu, o interior do país viu crescer o interesse nesta modalidade de alojamento.

 

De acordo com as contas da Associação de Alojamento Local em Portugal, foram os distritos de Bragança (mais 50% de registos), Guarda (mais 47%), Portalegre (36%) e Vila Real (32%) que registaram um maior crescimento de novas aberturas.

 

Ainda assim, são números com dimensões muito distintas das verificadas em Lisboa e Porto. Em todo o distrito de Bragança, por exemplo, estão inscritos no registo nacional (RNAL) 414 alojamentos. Na Guarda são 508, em Portalegre, 448, e, em Vila Real, 553. “Nos destinos mais inovadores como o interior, surf e natureza, o AL chega a representar mais de 70% das dormidas”, nota ainda a ALEP, frisando que, em todo o país, há “mais de 55 mil famílias” que “dependem directamente do AL”. A maioria, diz, actua como particular ou microempresa.