Financial Times Ukraine news

2022-04-27 16:14:38 By targeting Ukraine’s entire agricultural economy, destroying fields, farm equipment, warehouses, roads and ports, Russia intends to cut off a major source of Ukraine’s income while also creating a food crisis that could last well into 2023. https://on.ft.com/3MvmAfy

The EU is debating whether to make it easier for sanctions-hit Russian assets to be seized and sold, as a way to pay for rebuilding Ukraine after the war. Italy’s anti-mafia laws offer a potential model of how such assets may be confiscated and sold. https://on.ft.com/3kk4iBO

Wealthy Russians have historically used Switzerland as their financial clearing house. But just $8bn of Russian assets held by Swiss banks have been frozen so far — the FT’s Sam Jones looks at why. https://on.ft.com/3EVDFg3

Russia's military in eastern Ukraine has been slowed by logistical problems and the loss of troops, but also by bad weather, as western officials say Moscow's forces ‘don’t like to fight in the rain’. https://on.ft.com/3LrNfd5 Open / Comment

2022-04-27 11:13:48 Breaking news: European gas prices rose by a fifth on Wednesday after Russia’s Gazprom suspended supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, saying they had failed to make rouble payments that were due a day earlier. https://on.ft.com/3MsSXLQ Open / Comment

2022-04-26 16:46:06 Germany will send anti-aircraft cannon tanks to Ukraine, it’s defence minister Christine Lambrecht announced today, after weeks of mounting pressure to do more to help Kyiv. This is the first time Germany has allowed the export of heavy weaponry to the country. (Free to read)
https://on.ft.com/3xSj3Uq

EU member states are considering whether to put a price cap on Russian oil as a way to hit the Kremlin's revenues, and plan to discuss a potential sixth round of sanctions in the coming days.
https://on.ft.com/3vhqhQh

With little military success and peace talks faltering, there are signs the Kremlin is preparing for a protracted conflict that it sees as a proxy war with the west. (Free to read)
https://on.ft.com/3kdyej7

Latin America can help ease some of the food, metal and energy shortages created by Russia’s war in Ukraine, but only if it embraces reforms and promotes social inclusion, a top IMF official said.
https://on.ft.com/3ELyoYB Open / Comment

2022-04-25 19:30:38 ‘I have seen some people saying it could be like the second world war’: The battle for the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine is likely to be a brutal and bloody onslaught.

The US has pledged to resume diplomatic operations in Ukraine and said it wanted to see Russia ‘weakened’ by its war after the US secretary of state Antony Blinken and defence secretary Lloyd Austin paid a visit to Kyiv.

Opinion: Germany’s self-serving Russia policy and its self-inflicted energy dependence found eager supporters across the political party spectrum. They emboldened the Kremlin and enabled Vladimir Putin’s war. Open / Comment

2022-04-22 18:08:29 Boris Johnson conceded that Russia could win the war in Ukraine, breaking G7’s united front since the invasion began, and proposed sending tanks to Poland. (Free to read)
https://on.ft.com/39ePxhH

Russia aims to seize the whole of Ukraine’s Donbas region and capture territory linking it to the annexed Crimean peninsula, a senior Russian military commander said.
https://on.ft.com/3EL4qE4

Family members of sailors on Russia’s flagship, Moskva, that sank on April 14 still have unanswered questions about their missing relatives. (Free to read)
https://on.ft.com/3K6cXlY Open / Comment

2022-04-21 17:28:48 Talk of a full-scale embargo on Russian energy is spreading panic in Germany, with some fearing it would plunge German business into its ‘worst crisis since the second world war’. But many companies expect an embargo to happen. (Free to read)
https://on.ft.com/3rGMN2P

Opinion: ‘If Russia stops fighting, there will be peace. If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no Ukraine,’ writes Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal. Can heavy weaponry and budget support from the west help?
https://on.ft.com/36ztZet

Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic said in an interview that Belgrade would not ‘choose sides’ in the Russia-Ukraine war, and instead would stick to its accommodating line towards Russia and China despite pressure from Brussels.
https://on.ft.com/3jWY4I0 Open / Comment

2022-04-21 12:58:48 Breaking news: President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered Russian forces to ‘block off’ the last remaining Ukrainian fighters at the Mariupol steelworks as he claimed Moscow had conquered the port city. https://on.ft.com/3MlDTQ9 Open / Comment

2022-04-20 20:11:00 Ukraine plans to open a humanitarian corridor for civilians to leave Mariupol, where Russia this week began bombing the city’s Azovstal steelworks. Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, said the situation in Mariupol was ‘catastrophic’ and that changes might occur on the path of the corridor ‘due to the very difficult security situation’. (Free to read)
https://on.ft.com/3jUpwpF

Western companies such as McDonald’s and Renault continue to pay almost 200,000 employees based in Russia despite pledges to suspend or end activities in the country, an analysis by the Financial Times shows. The true number is likely to be far higher, as large employers including KFC owner Yum Brands and Coca-Cola have yet to confirm whether they are still paying staff.
https://on.ft.com/3rFBxUd

What do remote Russian pilots think about their jobs? Do they, like American nuclear scientists, find soothing ways to rationalise their mission? How do they handle the contradictions? Anthropologists, strangely enough, might have the answer to these questions, writes Gillian Tett.
https://on.ft.com/38a2Lvy Open / Comment

2022-04-19 18:49:40 The EU has paid Russia more than €20bn for gas imports alone since the start of the Ukraine war, arguably weakening the impact of the sanctions it has placed on the country at the same time. Can it seriously reduce its reliance on Russian gas by the end of the year?
https://ig.ft.com/europes-race-to-replace-russian-gas/

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia has begun its offensive in the eastern Donbas region, after attacks by Russian forces intensified along the frontlines. Ukrainian officials worry the new offensive could precede more attacks to capture territory in the rest of the country. (Free to read)
https://on.ft.com/3JX09hu

FT View: The idea of a ‘holy war’ in Europe may seem like a throwback to centuries past. But that is essentially how the Russian Orthodox Church, and its head, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, have portrayed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
https://on.ft.com/3EzRMrq Open / Comment

2022-04-19 16:25:22 Breaking news: The IMF has said the global economy will suffer a hit to growth and higher inflation this year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as it cut its global growth forecast to 3.6%. Open / Comment