World News | New Zealand Condemns Russian Actions in Ukraine

Wellington, Feb 23 (AP) New Zealand's government summoned Russian Ambassador Georgii Zuev to meet Wednesday with top diplomatic officials who are urging Russia to return to diplomatic negotiations over Ukraine.

Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta is currently out of the country but said in a statement that the ambassador was called in "to hear New Zealand's strong opposition to the actions taken by Russia in recent days, and condemn what looks to be the beginning of a Russian invasion into Ukraine territory."

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed to The Associated Press on Wednesday afternoon that the meeting had taken place but declined to provide any further details.

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Canberra: Australia has announced additional sanctions on Russia and is warning businesses to prepare for retaliation through Russian cyberattacks.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Wednesday that targeted financial sanctions and travel bans will be a first batch of measures in response to Russian aggression toward Ukraine.

Australia and Russia have imposed sanctions on each other since 2014. The sanctions were initiated by Australia in protest of Russian involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

The National Security Committee of Morrison's Cabinet approved sanctions and travel bans that target eight members of the Russian Security Council. They also agreed to expand previous sanctions and to align with the United States and Britain by targeting two Russian banks.

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Tokyo: Japan's prime minister has announced sanctions targeting Russia and two separatist Ukrainian regions recognised as independent by Russian President Vladimir Putin, joining an international effort seeking to pressure Russia to return to diplomatic solutions.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday that his government will ban new issuance and distribution of Russian government bonds in Japan in response to the “actions Russia has been taking in Ukraine.”

He said Japan will also suspend visa issuance to the people linked to the two Ukrainian rebel regions and freeze their assets in Japan, and will ban trade with the two areas.

Kishida repeated his “strong condemnation” of Russia for violating Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as international law.

He added: “We strongly urge Russia to return to diplomatic process in resolving the development.”

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United Nations: The United Nations chief says the world is facing “the biggest global peace and security crisis in recent years” and is calling Russia's declaration of the “so-called `independence'” of separatist areas in eastern Ukraine a violation of its territorial integrity and accusing Moscow of “the perversion of the concept of peacekeeping.”

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Tuesday he is proud of the achievements of the U.N.'s far-flung peacekeepers, but when troops of one country enter the territory of another country without its consent, as Russian forces have done, “they are not impartial peacekeepers -- they are not peacekeepers at all” as Moscow has called them.

Guterres said Russia's unilateral actions also “conflict” with the UN Charter and are “a death blow to the Minsk Agreements” aimed at restoring peace to eastern Ukraine.

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Ottawa: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is sending hundreds more troops to eastern Europe and imposing new sanctions on Russia in response to the deployment of forces into Ukraine.

The prime minister says up to 460 additional Canadian Armed Forces members are being sent to Latvia and the surrounding region to bolster NATO in the face of Russian aggression.

He also says Canada is taking a number of steps alongside its allies to isolate Russia financially.

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Washington: Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he has cancelled plans to meet his Russian counterpart in Geneva later this week as Russia presses ahead with recognition of separatist regions of Ukraine.

Blinken told reporters on Tuesday that Russia's actions indicated Moscow was not serious about a diplomatic path to resolving the crisis. As a result, he said he had called off his Thursday meeting with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Echoing President Joe Biden, Blinken said Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to recognise the independence of Ukraine's Donbass region was a violation of international law. And, he said the placement of Russian troops there constituted the beginning of an invasion.

Although he held out hope for a peaceful resolution through diplomacy, he said he did not believe a meeting with Lavrov would be productive at this time.

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Kyiv: Ukraine's president has called up some of the country's military reservists as the threat of a Russian invasion grows, but says there is no need for a full military mobilisation.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address to the nation Tuesday night that he had signed a decree to that effect.

“Today there is no need for a full mobilisation. We need to quickly add additional staff to the Ukrainian army and other military formations,” Zelenskyy said.

He said the decree only applies to those assigned to the so-called operational reserve, which is typically activated during ongoing hostilities, and covers “a special period of time,” without clarifying what that means.

“Ukrainians are a peaceful nation, we want silence, but if we keep silent today, we will disappear tomorrow,” Zelenskyy said.

There are about 250,000 troops in Ukraine's armed forces.

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New York: Stocks are closing lower on Wall Street after Russia sent forces into Ukraine's eastern regions, escalating tensions.

The benchmark S&P 500 index fell 1% to 4,304.76 on Tuesday, and is now more than 10% below it's all-time high set in January.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq also lost more than 1%. Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised the independence of rebel-held regions of Ukraine, raising fears of an imminent full-scale invasion.

The U.S. and European Union responded with sanctions. Technology shares also weighed on the broader market. Bond yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.93%.

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Washington: President Joe Biden says the U.S. will be sanctioning Russian oligarchs and their families, as well as Russian sovereign debt in retaliation for the country's invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Biden said those sanctions were just the “first tranche” of what the US and its allies stand ready to put in place if Russia launches a larger invasion of Ukraine.

“He's setting up a rationale to take more territory by force,” Biden said of recent comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

Biden added that he was authorising the movement of some U.S. troops in Europe to NATO's Baltic allies as a show of support and solidarity amid the Russian threat.

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Berlin: Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has chaired a call of the G-7 nations in which ministers strongly condemned Russia's recognition of the separatist-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine and the decision to deploy Russian troops there.

Those involved included the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, along with the European Union.

The German foreign ministry said Tuesday night that the G-7 foreign ministers agreed to step up restrictive measures responding to Russia's actions and reiterated their unwavering commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.

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Berlin: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says Germany continues to rule out the delivery of arms to Ukraine despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's order to deploy troops to separatist regions of eastern Ukraine.

Scholz told German public broadcaster ARD on Tuesday night that Germany had made a decision to not export weapons to crisis regions a long time ago, “and we stick to that.”

Scholz also pointed out that “Ukraine has a lot of weapons ... and the point is that we have to protect Ukraine not by giving more weapons, but by standing together as an international community and saying that we will not simply accept such a breach of international law.” He stressed that Germany has been the biggest financial supporter of Ukraine since 2014.

The chancellor added "we must insist that the peace order in Europe is again based on the fact that borders are not moved and that the state sovereignty of countries is not questioned.”

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Berlin: Protesters have flocked to the Russian embassy in Berlin to decry Russian President Vladimir Putin's order to deploy troops to separatist regions of eastern Ukraine.

People were waving yellow-blue Ukrainian flags and chanting “We stand united with Ukraine!” as they assembled in front of the building near the German capital's landmark Brandenburg Gate on Tuesday evening.

Some held up banners saying “Ukraine will resist,” “Say no to Putin” or “Implement sanctions immediately,” while others wrapped themselves into huge Ukrainian flags.

“I'm here to protest against Russia invading our independent Ukrainian territory,” said Victoria Baron, 27, who moved from Odesa in Ukraine to Berlin last summer to work for a data science company.

“It's very important that we support our people even though we're abroad,” she said adding that she talked to her family back home almost every day and spends hours on social media following the latest developments. (AP) VM

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)