Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, one of the main US coordinators on the Russian sanctions strategy, said in an interview with The Associated Press that the goal is to make Russia less able to project power in the future.
On the same day that inflation notched its steepest increase in decades, Adeyemo said reducing supply chain backlogs and managing the pandemic are key to bringing down soaring prices that he related to the ongoing land war in Ukraine, which has contributed to rising energy costs.
Adeyemo discussed the next steps the U.S. and its allies will take to inflict financial pain on Russia – and the complications the war has on rising costs to Americans back home.
Adeyemo said the U.S. and its allies will next target the supply chains that contribute to the construction of Russia’s war machine, which includes everything from looking at ways to go after the military devices that have been built to use not only in Ukraine, but to project power elsewhere.
Amidst main developments in the Russia -Ukraine war , Ukraine probes poisonous substance dropped in Mariupol , Russian war worsens fertilizer crunch, risking food supplies and Czechs provide free shooting training for local Ukrainians are happening
More than 720 people have been killed in Bucha and other Kyiv suburbs that were occupied by Russian troops and more than 200 are considered missing, the Interior Ministry said early Wednesday.
In Bucha alone, Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said 403 bodies had been found and the toll could rise as minesweepers comb the area.
Ukraine’s prosecutor-general’s office said Tuesday it was also looking into events in the Brovary district, which lies to the northeast.
Authorities said the bodies of six civilians were found with gunshot wounds in a basement in the village of Shevchenkove and Russian forces are believed to be responsible.
Vladimir Putin vowed Tuesday that Russia’s bloody offensive in Ukraine would continue until its goals are fulfilled and insisted the campaign was going as planned, despite a major withdrawal in the face of stiff Ukrainian opposition and significant losses.
The Biden administration is preparing yet another, more diverse, package of military support possibly totaling USD 750 million to be announced in coming days, a senior US defence official said Tuesday.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss plans not yet publicly announced.
The additional aid is a sign that the administration intends to continue expanding its support for Ukraine’s war effort.
Delivery is due to be completed this week of USD 800 million in military assistance approved by President Joe Biden just one month ago.
Ukrainian officials say fugitive Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, who is both the former leader of a pro-Russian opposition party and a close associate of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, has been detained in a special operation carried out by the country’s SBU secret service.
In his nightly video address to the nation Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed that Russia could win Medvedchuk’s freedom by trading Ukrainians now held in Russian prisons.
Ivan Bakanov, the head of Ukraine’s national security agency, said on the agency’s Telegram channel that Medvedchuk had been detained.
The statement came shortly after Zelenskyy posted on social media a photo of Medvedchuk sitting in handcuffs and wearing a camouflage uniform with a Ukrainian flag patch.
Medvedchuk was the former leader of the pro-Russian party Opposition Platform – For Life. He was being held under house arrest before the war began and disappeared shortly after hostilities broke out.
PUTIN IS THE GODFATHER TO MEDVEDCHUK’S YOUNGEST DAUGHTER
In response in his apparent ambition to overrun the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Russian President Vladimir Putin is now building up forces for a new offensive in the eastern Donbas region, and insisted that his campaign would continue until it achieves its goals.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to the world Tuesday to respond to Russia’s use of a poisonous substance in Mariupol.
Given the repeated threats by Russian propagandists to use chemical weapons against the Mariupol defenders and given the repeated use by the Russian army, for example, of phosphorus munitions in Ukraine, the world must react now, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation Tuesday.
Phosphorus munitions cause horrendous burns but are not classed as chemical weapons.
Zelenskyy said experts were still trying to determine what had been used in Mariupol.
Zelenskyy said in addition to the killings in Bucha, more evidence was appearing of the inhuman cruelty of Russian soldiers toward women and children in other Kyiv suburbs and other towns in the north and east.
Members of the US Congress said the Biden administration and its allies will not stand by if chemical weapons were used in the Russian war with Ukraine.
Lawmakers monitoring developments during a trip to Poland said Tuesday that the U.S. is investigating reports that a poisonous substance had been dropped in Mariupol.
But they cautioned that determining the nature of the attack in the beleaguered port city could take time.
We’re taking those reports seriously and I know the United States government and others are trying to determine if that did indeed occur, said Rep Jason Crow, D-Colo.
Crow said the administration has been very clear that the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also addressed the reports coming from Mariupol.
We’re not in a position to confirm anything, I don’t think Ukrainians are either, Blinken told reporters.
But let me say that we had credible information that Russian forces may use a variety of riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents, that would cause stronger symptoms to weaken, incapacitate … Ukrainian fighters and civilians, as part of the aggressive campaign in Mariupol.
We share that information with … Ukraine and other partners, Blinken said. And we’re in direct conversation with partners to try to determine what what actually is happening.
The global chemical weapons watchdog says it is concerned by the recent unconfirmed report of chemical weapons use in Mariupol and is closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine.
The spokesperson for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says in a statement that the allegations follow reports in the media over the past few weeks of shelling targeted at chemical plants located in Ukraine, together with accusations levelled by both sides around possible misuse of toxic chemicals.
The spokesperson said in Tuesday’s statement that the use of chemical weapons anywhere by anyone under any circumstances is reprehensible and wholly contrary to the legal norms established by the international community against such use.
Both Russia and Ukraine are among the organization’s 193 member states.
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization says that it remains ready to assist any State Party upon its request, in case of use or threat of use of chemical weapons.
