Biden, European Leaders Recommit Raising Costs on Putin’s Russia

According to the White House, in a video-call on Monday, the US President and Western allies recommitted to continue raising costs on Vladimir Putin’s Russia for its unjustified and unprovoked large-scale attack on neighboring Ukraine. The European officials said that the world leaders were likely to discuss additional coordination on ‘severe sanctions’ among other issues.

The White House statement reads that the US President Biden, Olaf Scholz, the Chancellor of Germany, British PM Boris Johnson, and French President Emanuel Macron affirmed their determination to continue providing security, humanitarian and economic aid to Ukrainians. The video-call lasted for nearly one hour and 20 minutes.

The White House said that President Biden and Western allies recommitted on Monday to continue raising costs on Moscow for its large-scale incursion of Ukraine. However, the leaders committed to providing humanitarian and economic assistance to Ukrainians. pic.twitter.com/AOEnsGK2qN

— Live News Now (@LiveNewsNow6) March 8, 2022

Furthermore, U.S. officials said Saturday that the United States is looking for an agreement in which the Polish administration would deliver Soviet-time jets to the post-Soviet state in return for US’ F-16 fighter planes in a fresh bid to assist Ukrainian forces in retaliating to Moscow’s incursion. However, some US allies, including Britain, wouldn’t be taking the same action, according to officials.

Members of the North Atlantic Alliance have strengthened their presence in the Baltic states – Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia – since defiant Putin attacked his neighboring country, and additional forces and military equipment are on the way, according to lawmakers.

Russia Hit with Wall of Sanctions

As a consequence of Russia’s attack, Washington hit Moscow with the harshest sanctions on exports of technologies to refineries of Russia and the North Stream 2 pipeline, which has never launched. Until now, it has curtailed targeting oil and gas exports of Russia as the President Biden government weighs the influence on world oil markets and United States energy prices.

In addition, Antony Blinken, the US State Secretary, said on March 6 that America and its Western allies are looking for barring Russian oil imports but emphasized the importance of worldwide steady oil supplies. However, according to the two sources knowing the subject, America is willing to proceed with a bar on Russian oil imports without the input of Western partners. Oil prices have climbed over the last week after America and its partners imposed sanctions following its Ukraine attack.

After its all-out attack on Ukraine, Russia has been hit with a wall of severe sanctions from the world powers. Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, also likened the sanctions on his country to the declaration of premeditated war.

European Union, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, America, Canada, Japan, and some other countries have prohibited transactions with the Bank of Russia, sovereign wealth fund (SWF), and Finance Ministry. Moreover, they’ve proceeded to freeze the overseas possessions of the three entities.

Cease-Fire Attempts Collapsed

Russian officials stated they planned to achieve a cease-fire on March 8 to permit innocent civilians to leave the besieged cities of Ukraine – something Ukrainian authorities said they’d believe only after safe departures commenced after two previous efforts collapsed.

The humanitarian crisis in the East European country increased on Monday due to intensified bombardment and shelling by Russian military forces. As a result, water, food, medicine, and heat grew increasingly scarce in some regions, including the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Ukrainian and Russian leaders held the latest round of discussions, and a senior Ukrainian official said that there was little, indeterminate advancement toward creating green corridors for non-military people to flee.