By Frank Csongos and Denny Gulino
WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – President Joe Biden announced Thursday new economic sanctions on Russia to punish its military invasion of Ukraine.
Biden denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin of waging “naked aggression” and pledged Russia will bear the consequences. “It’s a war without a cause,” he said.
Biden said the U.S. sanctions would hinder the Russian military’s ability to finance its force, freeze U.S. assets held by Russian banks and target Russian oligarchs and their families. Putin himself was not targeted.
Russia’s onslaught under way in Ukraine is rapidly recalibrating the world’s dashboard of significant metrics, from markets, monetary policy and long-held assumptions about European security and the U.S. security role in the world.
Although forewarned for weeks, the ferocious beginning of Russia’s attack was still a surprise overnight, hitting oil prices particularly hard. WTI and Brent initially up more than 6%, with Brent breaking through $100 a barrel before receding later in the day.
World leaders were watching the full-scale assault minute by minute. President Biden’s meeting with other G-7 leaders lasted an hour and 10 minutes. Biden’s address to the American people in the early afternoon included the announcement of the additional sanctions. Senior officials from the Commerce and Treasury departments did not provide details until later in the day.
European authorities, the UK and Canada announced their own coordinated set of actions with separate lists of sanctioned Russian individuals. Not included were more severel restrictions on energy purchases from Russia, a multi-national exclusion from the SWIFT international payments system or anything aimed at Russia President Putin personally.
Putin’s intentions are now widely assumed to include a technical decapitation of Ukraine’s leadership which might include arrest or worse for Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and members of his Cabinet. Putin has already made clear he also intends to demilitarize Ukraine.
Meanwhile, CNN’s remarkable on-the-scene reporting from within Ukraine and just across the border in Russia has identified dozens of Russia attacks on radar sites and other military targets and a successful Russian airborne assault on the Antonov/Gostomel air base only 15 miles from the capital of Kiev. A senior Pentagon official said 75 fixed-wing bombers are other aircraft were used in the attack and more than 100 intermediate- and short-range missiles were launched at Ukraine targets.
Ukraine’s government has claimed to have shot down at least one Russia helicopters that brought in Russia special forces to seize the airport. More than 40 Ukrainian troops were killed in that attack.
Meanwhile, in the United States, authorities at several levels were on the alert for any Russia cyberattacks on the electrical grid and CNN reported President Biden has been given the option of launching cyber attacks against Russian infrastructure. Within Ukraine denial of service attacks and other Internet incursions disabled government and banking sites.
Predictably, world financial markets were rocked by the overnight warfare news. European bourses closed with losses of up to 4%. US equities were off as much as 2.1% (DJIA) at midday with the S&P experiencing its worst week since 2020 before a late afternoon rally. The Dow industrials closed up 0.28% or 92 points. The VIX so-called fear index was registering heavy anxiety, at 33.96, up 9.5% after improving to 30.32 by day’s end.
CNN’s Clarissa Ward reported from the underground subway station in the capital city which serves as a bomb shelter, as hundreds of people huddled in fear, not knowing what is to come and unable to withdraw their funds from bank machines. Outside, traffic jammed highways leading to Ukraine’s west and in the direction of Poland.
There were no immediate formal statements issued by the Federal Reserve as expectations for aggressive rate hikes appeared to moderate while all financial system indicators were fairly calm. Informally, a spokesman for the central bank said all financial system indicators were being closely monitored. ECB President Christine Lagarde has remarks scheduled for Friday when she might refer to what has become a pan-European crisis.
In the credit markets, the U.S 10-year yield was still below 2% at 1.947% and rose to 1.971%. The German 10-year was at 0.172%.
As Russia’s advance toward Ukraine’s capital city of Kiev appeared to decelerate somewhat as night fell in Ukraine as did the missile attacks on facilities around the second largest city, Kharkiv. Yet various estimates of the speed of Russia’s advance were being revised to anticipate major developments within hours instead of days. CNN reported from within Russia that convoys of heavy military equipment, including howitzers and tanks, were heading to Ukraine using the existing highways, not hindered by any blockages or mining of major travel routes.
Contact this reporter: denny@macenews.com
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