February 27, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Russian forces are 50 kilometers, or approximately 31 miles, outside the city center of Mariupol, a city on the Sea of Azov in the southeast of Ukraine, a senior US defense official said. 

The US believes the city will be “well-defended” based on what the US knows about Ukrainian military positions, the official added.

Russian forces are not moving on Odessa as of right now, according to US assessments, the official said, but there is some Russian military posturing in the Black Sea.

Odessa is a port city on the Black Sea, west of Mariupol.

Russia is also trying to advance on the city of Kherson, to the east of Odessa, using forces that invaded from Crimea, the official said.

 

Japan will freeze the financial assets of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin "and other key government officials" following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio said, according to Japan’s public broadcaster NHK.

Prime Minister Fumio said Russia’s actions are a violation of international law that Japan strongly condemns, NHK reported Sunday.

He also said a united response was needed to safeguard international order, NHK reported.

Prime Minister Fumio also "indicated that Japan will join the United States and European countries in blocking selected Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment network," NHK said.

The prime minister also said Japan will provide an additional $100 million in emergency humanitarian aid for the people of Ukraine, in addition to a prior pledge amounting to ‘about 100 million dollars,’ NHK reported.

SWIFT is the high-security network connecting thousands of financial institutions worldwide. Read more about it here.

The European Union Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said on Sunday that the EU needs to prepare for millions of Ukrainian refugee arrivals.

She added that so far “around 300,000 Ukrainians have come to the EU member states.” 

Interior ministers from across the EU are meeting in Brussels to discuss the fallout from the crisis in Ukraine.

Johansson said she will “launch a solidarity platform” to coordinate the different kind of support that member states will need, and “to Ukrainians that are fleeing Ukraine.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order for his country’s deterrence forces — including nuclear arms — to be placed on high alert, is part of a “dangerous rhetoric,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday.

The Secretary General added, “That's the reason why we both provide support to Ukraine, but also why we over the last weeks and months have significantly increased the presence of NATO in the eastern part Alliance, US but also European allies are now stepping up with more troops, more ships, more planes, and why we also have to realize that we are now faced with a new normal for our security."

He went on to say this was “just the beginning of the adaptation that we need to do as response to a much more aggressive Russia.”

The US continues to see Russian forces face “stiff resistance” and see their momentum slow in the northern part of Ukraine, while Russians are having a “little bit more success” in the south, a senior US defense official told reporters on Sunday, citing fuel shortages and logistical issues.

The US is seeing the most resistance in the Russian advance on the city of Kharkiv, the official said. The Russians are “facing some logistics challenges as well on their advance down north to Kyiv,” the official added.

The official noted that the Russians would learn from their logistical issues and find ways to overcome them. 

Russian forces remain 30 kilometers, or approximately 19 miles, outside Kyiv’s city center, according to the official. They were in that same position 24 hours earlier, indicating that the Russian military has not made appreciable gains in its invasion of Ukraine from the north in that time.

There is some fighting inside Kyiv, which the US believes is the Ukrainians fighting with Russian reconnaissance elements in the city, the official said.  

The US still has no indication that the Russian military has taken control of any Ukrainian city, the official said, but that continues to be Russia’s goal.

In the south, Russian forces that were part of an amphibious assault on Friday on the Sea of Azov, which put navy infantrymen ashore there, have now “moved up towards Mariupol’,” the offfical said.

The airspace over Ukraine is still contested, the official added.

The US is also seeing preparations for a potential siege of Chernihiv, a city approximately 80 miles north-northeast of Kyiv on the Belarussian border. 

The concern comes from observations of increased rocket attacks inside the city and the Russian attempt to surround the city.

“It remains to be seen if that’s exactly what they’re going to end up doing, but the indications are enough in terms of how they’re positioning their forces around the city,” the official said. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Sunday that Turkey has decided that Russia’s invasion to Ukraine is a “war.”

Turkey’s recognition is important for the application of 1936 Montreux Convention that regulates naval passage through the Turkish straits.

The Montreux Convention gives Turkey certain control over the passage of war ships from Dardanelles and Bosporus Straits that connect the Aegean, the Marmara, and the Black Sea. 

In peace times, war ships can pass the straits by prior diplomatic notification with certain limitations about the weight of the ships and arms they carry depending on the ship if it belongs to is a Black Sea country or not. 

During wartime, when Turkey is not at war, warships can use the straits except for those belonging to belligerent states. 

According to the convention, if Turkey is a part of the war or considers itself threatened with imminent danger of war, it can shut down the straits to the passage of warships that have a coast onto the Black Sea or not.

However, as Çavuşoğlu mentions the article 19 of the Montreux Convention provides an exception. The war ships of belligerent countries can return to their base of origin in Black Sea. 

“Now this conflict has turned into a war, in this case, this is how we apply Montreux for the parties, Russia or Ukraine. Article 19 provides an exception. If the ship of the war country will return to its port, an exception is made. We will implement all the provisions of Montreux with transparency.”

This means even if Turkey bans, Russian and Ukrainian ships can return to their base of origin. Çavuşoğlu said when applying the exception countries should not abuse the clause, and added, “I explain Montreux and Turkey’s position."

More background: The Montreux Convention gives Turkey control over the passage of vessels through those two key straits. 

In peacetime and war time, Turkey does not have the right to restrict civilian ships even if Turkey is part of the war.  

Warships can navigate through the straits during peacetime, but under conditions that restrict aggregate tonnage depending on if they are or are not a Black Sea country and limits the duration of stay in the Black Sea for non-Black Sea nations.

Black Sea nations include Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Turkey, Russia, and Ukraine.

There are also limitations on the caliber of weapons they can carry, and Turkey needs to be notified of the request. 

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly mischaracterized the Turkish foreign minister's comments about applying the Montreux Convention's exception.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has used two-thirds of the Russian total combat power “he applied to this invasion,” a senior US defense official told reporters Sunday.

The US has assessed that “as of this morning” Russian forces “have launched more than 320 missiles.”

The majority of those missiles are “short-range ballistic missiles,” the official added.

Spain will close its airspace to Russian airlines, according to the Spanish Ministry for Transport. 

The Ministry for Transport announced the move in a tweet Sunday saying the country would "proceed to close its air space to Russian airlines" following the European Union's directives of cooperation. 

Spain joins a slew of other countries that have closed their airspace to Russian airlines this weekend in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including Germany, Italy, France and Canada.

The Czech Republic football national team has joined Poland and Sweden in refusing to play Russia in a potential match at the upcoming men’s 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in protest of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Poland and Sweden, individually, made their announcements on Saturday.

See the tweet:

More context: Russia is scheduled to host Poland in a playoff semifinal on March 24. The game is due to be held at the VTB Arena in Moscow.

The winner of the Poland-Russia match would host either Sweden or Czech Republic on March 29 in the final of their World Cup qualification route.

Read more about this here.