Diplomacy
The UN Secretary General and Bulgaria’s Prime Minister are both in Kyiv, where two Russian missiles struck the city.
Sanctions
The House passed a few measures targeted at the Ukraine war this week. The two important ones were the Senate-passed lend-lease bill (passed 417-10) and a bill to authorize seizures and liquidation of Russian oligarch assets (passed 417-8).
Germany is reportedly coming around to sanctioning Sberbank.
Renewed activity in the pro-Russian breakaway region of Transnistria has prompted Moldova to implement the EU’s sanctions against Russia.
Consequences
Despite yesterday’s warning from the EU that paying for gas in rubles violates sanctions, though countries feel that the EU’s guidance is ambiguous and needs tightening. Hungary and a German company will pay in rubles. Meanwhile, Russia has earned $66 billion in energy exports since the beginning of the invasion.
A Russian newspaper reported that Russia may need to cannibalize half of its commercial aircraft for parts.
Amid talks of a new Marshall Plan for Ukraine, some economists estimate the country will need somewhere between $220 and $540 billion for reconstruction.
Microsoft says Russia has launched extensive waves of hack attacks on Ukraine, but Wired reports that Russia has seen hack attacks itself too.
Ukraine Sitrep
The White House sent a request to Congress for $33 billion in new military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine (see a list of the various military aid announcements here). The military portion of the package is $16 billion, with $6 billion to procure weapons for Ukraine, $5 billion to send existing inventories to Ukraine, and $5 billion to shore up eastern flank NATO allies. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the U.S. needs to do even more. NATO said it’s ready to support Ukraine for years, including helping to transition from Soviet-era equipment to more modern Western equipment.
Russia has been repositioning troops away from the southern city of Mariupol and more toward the eastern front, where Ukraine has slowed Russia’s advance. Weather may also be on Ukraine’s side, with heavy clouds, rain, and mud.
The U.S. sees efforts by Russia to dissolve local municipal governments in Ukrainian territory it holds, but the effort seems to be moving in fits and starts. After reports yesterday that Russia was planning to hold referenda this month in Donetsk and Luhansk regarding joining Russia, new reports emerged suggesting that may not be the case. That said, pro-Russian officials in the occupied city of Kherson said that the city will transition currency from the Ukrainian hryvna to the Russian ruble over the next four months.
Canadian lawmakers voted unanimously to label Russia’s actions in Ukraine a genocide.