Ukraine's security council approves plan to declare state of national emergency

Agencies | Kyiv

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he believes Russia will engage in aggression against Ukraine within hours after separatists asked for Russian help to push back "aggression" from the Ukrainian government.

"Everything seems to be in place for Russia to engage in a major aggression against Ukraine," Blinken said in an interview.

Blinken said that he still held out hope for diplomacy to pull Europe back from the brink of war.

Russia said in a notice to pilots that it has partially closed airspace in the Rostov flight information region "in order to provide safety" for civil aviation flights.

The Rostov region borders eastern Ukraine.

The notice listed specific route segments and altitudes to be avoided.

EU imposes sanctions

The European Union said in its official journal that it had imposed sanctions on a number of senior Russian officials.

The officials included Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov.

Andrey Kostin, chief executive officer of Russia's second-largest bank, Bank VTB PAO, was also hit by sanctions.

The EU also imposed sanctions on the head of Russia's state-run television channel RT and the foreign ministry's spokeswoman, the EU's official journal said.

UN security council emergency session to be held

Diplomats said that the UN security council will hold an emergency session on Ukraine on Wednesday night.

This will be the second meeting held in Ukraine in three days. Ukraine had requested the meeting earlier on Wednesday.

The emergency session will be held at 0230 GMT on Thursday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was joined in Kyiv by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and Polish President Andrzej Duda who signed a joint declaration in support of Ukraine's EU member candidate status, which is currently not on offer. 

The three leaders presented a united front with all three nations previously under Moscow's thumb during the Cold War. They vowed to never recognize Ukrainian territories claimed by Russia or its proxies. 

Zelenskyy reiterated that "the future of European security is being decided right now."

Duda said he hopes that current tensions will not lead to the outbreak of war, adding Poland takes Russia's actions "seriously" as "they pose a threat not only to Ukraine but to the entire region."

Ukraine's national security council calls for a state of emergency

Ukraine's national security council on Wednesday called for the declaration of a state of emergency across the entire country except for the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk controlled by Russian-backed separatists, where a state of emergency has been in place since 2014.

A state of emergency would initially last 30 days and increase document and vehicle checks, among other measures. The council's recommendation requires parliamentary approval before going into effect.

Ukraine also recommended that its nationals leave Russia.

Kyiv pushes for more sanctions on Russia

Earlier Wednesday, Kyiv urged Western nations to impose more sanctions on Russia following a sweeping round of restrictions from the US and other Western nations targeting the economy and Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote in a tweet that more sanctions were necessary "to stop Putin from further aggression." Kuleba added: "Now the pressure needs to step up to stop Putin. Hit his economy and cronies." 

The European Union foreign ministers agreed on a package of sanctions targeting individuals and entities that "undermine Ukrainian integrity," the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Tuesday.

Those sanctions moved one step closer to being finalized Wednesday as EU ambassadors agreed to the package. The full sanctions package is expected to be announced later Wednesday after final approval from foreign ministers.

In a preview of what form those sanctions may take, The Wall Street Journal reports EU sanctions will target Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Internet Research Agency, a troll farm. Bloomberg adds the EU is also set to ban the purchase of Russian government bonds as well.

On Wednesday, US deputy treasury secretary Wally Adeyemo said the US is prepared to cut Putin's Russia off "from Western technology that's critical to advancing the military, cut him off from Western financial resources that will be critical for feeding his economy and also to enriching himself."

Western nations are using sanctions in part in response to a speech given by Putin on Monday that declared Russia had the right to seize Ukraine as part of the nation's "spiritual continuum" while also violating international law by declaring the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk "independent."

DW's Russia affairs analyst Konstantin Eggert said, "Eventually Putin will say that the newly recognized states need to have their full territory under control and then that means we will have a real confrontation, a real battle between Russian and Ukrainian forces is very much possible."

Zelenskyy calls up reservists

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree Wednesday calling up reservists between the ages of 18 and 60, Ukraine's armed forces said in a statement. 

The border guard in Ukraine also issued new restrictions prohibiting foreigners from accessing the border area at any time as well as restrictions on video and photo recordings of border guard installations amid fears an invasion could be imminent.

With nearly 200,000 Russian troops massed on Ukraine's borders, Western countries are poised to throw down further sanctions should the US, UK and NATO warnings about an imminent invasion prove accurate.

DW's Nick Connolly in Kyiv said, "Definitely things are getting more nervous here."

In a video statement released to coincide with the annual Defender of the Fatherland Day, Putin said Russia would always put its national security first.

"Russia's interests and the security of our people are unconditional," he said. "We will continue to strengthen and modernize our army and navy."

Markus Ziener, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Berlin, told DW that Putin's speech earlier this week was "very disturbing." 

Ziener said, "It looked like he is in a bubble. He is in a mindset that is not really allowing much more room to manoeuvre."