Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

Heres what you need to know about the Ukraine crisis right now:

Deviating from his prepared remarks, Biden said of Putin: “He has no idea whats coming.”

* Russia‘s defence ministry urged Kyiv residents to flee and said it would strike unspecified areas used by Ukraine’s security services and communications. Russia describes its assault on Ukraine as a special operation, not an invasion seeking territory.

* A U.S. official said a miles-long armoured column bearing down on the capital Kyiv had not made any advances in the past 24 hours, frozen in place by logistics problems, short on fuel and food, and perhaps pausing to reassess tactics.

* Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have fled the fighting. West of Kyiv, in the city of Zhytomyr, four people, including a child, were killed on Tuesday by a Russian cruise missile, a Ukrainian official said.

* Rocket strikes on the centre of Kharkiv killed at least 10 people and wounded 35, Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said. Similar strikes that killed and wounded dozens in the city the previous day involved cluster bombs, experts said.

* Kyiv‘s mayor published a video showing the moment when a tall TV antennae in the city was engulfed in flames, apparently hit by a rocket. Earlier, Russia’s defence ministry said it was planning to strike communications and intelligence sites in the capital that it said were being used for “information attacks,” media outlet TASS said.

* The United States closed its airspace to Russian planes as the Russian military attempted to encircle and subdue Ukrainian cities with intensifying bombardments on Wednesday, almost a week into an invasion that has sparked massive international sanctions.

* France declared an “all-out economic and financial war” against Russia, saying it would collapse the Russian economy as punishment for the invasion of Ukraine.

* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Reuters that Russia must stop bombing Ukrainian cities before meaningful talks on a ceasefire could start, as a first round of negotiations this week had yielded scant progress.

* Russias ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Gennady Gatilov, said his government sees “no desire on the part of Ukraine” to try to find a legitimate and balanced solution to the problems between the two countries.

MARKETS, SANCTIONS AND OTHER REACTIONS

* The United States and other member states of the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil reserves to compensate for supply disruptions following Russias invasion of Ukraine.

* The International Monetary Fund and World Bank said they were racing to provide billions of dollars of additional funding to Ukraine in coming weeks and months, adding the war there is creating “significant spillovers” to other countries.

* The Group of Seven major economies will convene a task force to focus on freezing and seizing assets of key Russian elites, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday in a statement after a virtual G7 meeting of finance chiefs.

* Some of Americas best-known companies including Apple, Google, Ford, Harley-Davidson and Exxon Mobil rebuked and rejected Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, under steady pressure from investors and consumers decrying the violence.

* Russia said it was placing temporary restrictions on foreigners seeking to exit Russia assets, as it tried to stem an investor retreat driven by crippling Western sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine. Russian assets went into freefall on Tuesday with London-listed ishares MSCI Russia ETF plunging 33% to hit a fresh record low and Russias biggest lender, Sberbank falling to 21 cents on the dollar from just under $9 before the invasion.

* European Union countries are considering a ban on Russian ships entering their ports, after similar moves by Canada and the United Kingdom. The worlds biggest shipping lines MSC and Maersk suspended container shipping to and from Russia.

QUOTES

* “Throughout our history weve learned this lesson – when dictators do not pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos. They keep moving. And, the costs and threats to America and the world keep rising,” Biden said in his State of the Union address.

“Putin‘s war was premeditated and unprovoked. He rejected efforts at diplomacy. He thought the West and NATO wouldn’t respond. And, he thought he could divide us here at home,” Biden said. “Putin was wrong. We were ready.”

* “Watch what you‘re saying, gentlemen! And don’t forget that in human history, economic wars often turned into real ones.” Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev reacting to French comments about economic war.