Russian airstrikes hit western Ukraine; Biden calls for removal of normal trade relations with Russia: Live updates
called for a removal of normal trade relations with Russia, allowing for new tariffs on Russian imports in yet another effort to ratchet up sanctions over Moscow’s intensifying invasion of Ukraine.
Biden said the move will be another “crushing blow” to Russia’s economy.
“The free world is coming together to confront (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” he said. “We’re going to continue to squeeze Putin.”
Biden’s proposal, which would require congressional approval, would put Moscow’s trade relationship with the U.S. in the same category as North Korea and Cuba.
European Union and G7 allies are also expected to act as the horrific toll on Ukrainians continues to mount, including attacks on health care works and facilities such as an airstrike on a maternity hospital that killed at least three people, including a child.
Wednesday, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee said the nation must go beyond banning imports of Russian energy products, which Biden announced on Tuesday.
“When Congress returns to Washington next week, we will act decisively, in a bipartisan manner, to suspend permanent normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus,” said Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass.
The change has support from both Democrats and Republicans. But the White House asked lawmakers earlier this week to wait until Biden could coordinate with allies.
Russia was the 20th largest supplier of imports to the U.S. in 2019, according to the U.S. Trade Representative’s office. The top imports were oil and gas, platinum, iron and steel, fertilizers and inorganic chemicals.
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Latest developments:
►The World Health Organization said Friday it verified 29 attacks on health care facilities, workers and ambulances in Ukraine, which have killed 12 people and injured 34. The U.N. human rights office confirmed 564 civilian fatalities and 982 civilian injuries in the conflict, which is likely an undercount, the office said.
►The U.K. on Friday expanded its economic sanctions against Russia, targeting the 386 Russian lawmakers who recognized two regions of eastern Ukraine as independent.
►Russia’s media regulator said Friday it was restricting access to Instagram. The regulator last week banned access to Facebook, which is owned by the same parent company, Meta.
►Congress passed $13.6 billion in humanitarian aid money for Ukraine and allies as part of a larger spending package that received bipartisan support in the Senate on Thursday.
►The U.N. refugee agency says more than 2.5 million Ukrainians have fled the country, over 1.4 million of them through Poland. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Thursday that about 100,000 people have fled over the last two days through evacuation corridors.
►The Ukrainian nuclear regulator said Friday the electricity supply at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has yet to be restored, Reuters reported. The news comes after the International Atomic Energy Agency said Thursday Ukrainian nuclear regulators informed the agency they had lost all contact with the Chernobyl plant. A Russian shelling also targeted a nuclear research facility in Kharkiv.
►Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday and informed Putin that Ukrainian President President Volodymyr Zelensky, with whom Niinistö also spoke Friday, was ready for direct talks with Putin.
rise in inflation and gas prices are a “price to pay for democracy,” as recent energy sanctions on Russia are causing prices to rise globally.fears things will soon worsen if Russian missiles target the city or enemy troops close on the heart of Ukraine’s capital.
“The biggest problem we need to think about is a mass casualty situation,” said Krylyuk, who serves at the Ukrainian Scientific and Practical Center of Emergency and Disaster Medicine, a division of Ukraine’s Ministry of Health. “We’ve never had a mass casualty situation. We know this theoretically, not practically.”
Emergency planners have sought to address gaps that would emerge if the number of people with life-threatening wounds outstripped the hospital’s capacity to care for them. They sought to figure out which hospital entrance to direct ambulances to quickly get patients to hospital beds. Government planners have drafted documents on how to prioritize patients, ensure patients can breathe, secure blood transfusions or notify family members if a loved one is killed or wounded.
— Ken Alltucker
40-mile Russian military convoy that had been stalled outside Kyiv amid reports of food and fuel shortages moved into the forest and towns, new satellite images showed.
The line of vehicles, tanks and artillery was outside the Ukrainian capital but had been stalled for days before the new movement. The images from Maxar Technologies showed armored units near the Antonov Airport and vehicles in forests with towed howitzers in position to open fire, Maxar reported.
Jack Watling, a research fellow at a British defense think-tank, the Royal United Services Institute, said it appeared the convoy was moving west around the city toward the south as Russian forces likely aim for a “siege rather than assault” in Kyiv. The British defense ministry said Russian troops were likely trying to “reset and re-posture” with new operations in Kyiv probable.
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— Gabriela Miranda
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— Jenna Ortiz, Dana Scott, and Emily Horos, Arizona Republic
Contributing: The Associated Press