Ukraine-Russia conflict: Russia reports 498 deaths; Ukraine and Russia meet for second round of talks

The backstory:

• Russia invaded and annexed Crimea and eastern Ukraine (a former Soviet state) back in 2014, which caused it to be kicked out of the international military alliance, The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

• Over the last few months, Russia has been amassing large numbers of troops at the Russian-Ukrainian border, worrying people that Russia was looking to invade again, eight years after the first invasion.

• Russia denied any intention to invade and said that the troops were for self-defense. Meanwhile, they sent some demands to the West, including banning Ukraine from ever entering NATO.

• The United States responded by writing to Russia, saying that they wouldn’t ban Ukraine but would find ways to work with Russia where appropriate.

• On February 21, in a televised address, Russian President Putin recognized two Russian-backed separatist regions in Ukraine and then ordered the Russian army into the area to “keep the peace.”

• Putin described the country as an essential part of Russia’s history and added that he was confident that the Russian public would support his decision.
  
• Since Russia’s move, the US, the United Kingdom and the European Union have all announced increasingly intense sanctions against the country, Ukraine has gone into a state of emergency, and Russia has imposed some measures to prop up its falling currency.

• Ukraine declared a state of emergency on February 24 for 30 days. This announcement came after several government websites were experiencing a Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack.

• Russia and Ukraine officials met earlier this week at the Belarusian border to discuss the conflict. Although no ceasefire has yet been reached, Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, said, “The parties identified a number of priority topics on which certain decisions were outlined."

The development:

• Russia said its forces have occupied Kherson, a port city of about 280,000 people in southern Ukraine. The country has also told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it had taken over Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine and had controlled access to it.

• Russia also reported that 498 servicemen had been killed and 1,597 wounded in Ukraine. This is the first time Russia has admitted any casualties from the invasion and also conflicts with Ukraine’s report of over 7,000 Russian servicemen being killed since the start of Russia’s invasion.

• The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly denounced Russia’s invasion, further showing the country’s increasing international diplomatic isolation.

• A poll showed that most Germans back the government to increase spending to help Ukraine in the Russian invasion. This comes around the same time that the European Investment Bank offered Ukraine 2 billion euros (US$2.2 billion) of support. This support ranges from reconstruction and infrastructure to investment.

• According to a poll done by Rating pollster, 88% of Ukrainians believe that their country will be able to fend off the Russian invasion. Four out of five Ukrainians also said they were ready to take up arms to defend their country. In 2020, this number was three.

• Since the Russian invasion, 750,000 people have fled Ukraine to the EU. This includes 453,000 arrivals in Poland, Hungary seeing 114,565 and Slovakia seeing 67,000 since Thursday. Romania saw 113,000, limiting the count to Ukrainian citizens. The UN expects this number to go up to 4 million.

• Belarus has already been on the receiving end of some sanctions, and the EU has agreed to ramp those up for their involvement in the invasion. This includes a ban on Belarusian goods used to make tobacco products.

• Oil and gas is one of the Russian industries that have remained relatively untouched, even though Shell and BP are pulling out of the country. However, Biden has clarified that even though oil prices have ballooned, sanctioning the industry is not off the table.

• The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has said that it will create a new task force to enforce sanctions, export restrictions and seize the luxury goods of Russia’s wealthiest citizens.

• In terms of meetings, there is a second round of talks between Ukraine and Russia at the border of Poland and Belarus. And Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Eastern Europe on Thursday as a sign of support for Russia’s neighbors and NATO members.

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