*** MILITARY SITUATION ***
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, March 25th
March 25th Map of Russian Operations:
The Russian General Staff issued a fictitious report on the first month of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on March 25 claiming Russia’s primary objective is to capture the entirety of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Sergei Rudskoi, first deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, gave a briefing to Russian press summing up the first month of the Russian invasion on March 25. Rudskoi inaccurately claimed Russian forces have completed “the main tasks of the first stage of the operation,” falsely asserting that Russia has heavily degraded the Ukrainian military, enabling Russia to focus on the “main goal” of capturing Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Rudskoi’s comments were likely aimed mainly at a domestic Russian audience and do not accurately or completely capture current Russian war aims and planned operations. Russia’s justification for the invasion of Ukraine from the outset was the fictitious threat Moscow claimed Ukrainian forces posed to the people in Russian-occupied Donbas. The Kremlin has reiterated this justification for the war frequently as part of efforts to explain the invasion to its people and build or sustain public support for Putin and the war. Rudskoi’s framing of the capture of the rest of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts as the “main goal” of the operation is in line with this ongoing information operation.
Rudskoi’s assertion that securing the unoccupied portions of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts was always the main objective of Russia’s invasion is false. The Kremlin’s initial campaign aimed to conduct airborne and mechanized operations to seize Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and other major Ukrainian cities to force a change of government in Ukraine. Rudskoi’s comments could indicate that Russia has scaled back its aims and would now be satisfied with controlling the entirety of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, but that reading is likely inaccurate. Russian forces elsewhere in Ukraine have not stopped fighting and have not entirely stopped attempting to advance and seize more territory. They are also attacking and destroying Ukrainian towns and cities, conducting operations and committing war crimes that do not accord with the objectives Rudskoi claims Russia is pursuing.
Russia continues efforts to rebuild combat power and commit it to the fight to encircle and/or assault Kyiv and take Mariupol and other targets, despite repeated failures and setbacks and continuing Ukrainian counter-attacks. The Ukrainian General Staff reports that the Russian military is building “consolidated units,” likely comprised of individuals or small units drawn from a number of different battalions, brigades, and regiments, to replace combat losses and deploying them on the west bank of the Dnipro near the Chernobyl exclusion zone, among other locations. Russian forces continue their grinding and likely costly advance in Mariupol as well.
The absence of significant Russian offensive operations throughout most of Ukraine likely reflects the inability of the Russian military to generate sufficient combat power to attack rather than any decision in Moscow to change Russia’s war aims or concentrate on the east. Rudskoi’s comments are likely an attempt to gloss the Russian military’s failures for a domestic audience and focus attention on the only part of the theater in which Russian troops are making any progress at this point. The West should not over-read this obvious messaging embedded in a piece of propaganda that continued very few true statements.
The Russian General Staff continued to downplay Russian casualties and issued likely false claims of damage inflicted on the Ukrainian military. Rudskoi claimed 1,351 Russian servicemen have been killed and 3,825 wounded since February 24. NATO estimates 7,000-15,000 Russian servicemen have been killed, and Kremlin-affiliated outlet Komsomolskaya Pravda posted and quickly deleted an article on March 22 citing the Russian Defense Ministry that 9,861 Russian soldiers have been killed and 16,153 have been wounded.
Rudskoi falsely claimed Ukraine’s air force and air defenses "are almost completely destroyed” and its navy “ceased to exist.” Russian forces have failed to secure air superiority, with the Ukrainian General Staff reporting on March 25 that Ukrainian air defenses destroyed one plane, one unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and four cruise missiles in the past 24 hours; the Ukrainian air force remains active. Rudskoi additionally claimed that all Ukrainian units have suffered significant losses, including 65.7% of tanks and armored vehicles, 42.8% of field artillery guns and mortars, 30.5% of multiple launch rocket systems, and 82% of S-300 and Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as three-quarters of Ukrainian aircraft, half their helicopters, and 35 of Ukraine‘s 36 TB2 drones. These figures are likely falsified and inaccurate.
Rudskoi claimed that Western states are only supplying Ukraine with weapons to prolong the conflict with Russia, not to support Kyiv. Rudskoi additionally claimed the number of “foreign mercenaries” in Ukraine peaked at 6,600 but has fallen due to desertion. Rudskoi falsely and preposterously claimed Russian forces do not strike civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and blamed all destruction on Ukrainian “nationalists.” He also falsely claimed that Russia opens daily humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians and falsely claimed Ukraine has not opened a single corridor.
Russia continues to rush forces to Ukraine to replace high combat losses, including the commander of the 49th Combined Arms Army. The Ukrainian General Staff reported at noon local time on March 25 that Ukrainian forces killed Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev, commander of the 49th Combined Arms Army (operating around Kherson), though ISW cannot independently confirm this claim. The Ukrainian General Staff stated on March 25 that Russia is deploying “consolidated units”—likely referring to BTGs formed from larger units that suffered combat losses earlier in the war—from the 37th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade (36th CAA, EMD), 5th Separate Tank Brigade (36th CAA, EMD), 38th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade (35th CAA EMD), and 40th Naval Infantry Brigade (Pacific Fleet) to Belarus.[6] The Ukrainian General Staff additionally reported on March 24 that Russia is withdrawing unspecified units from Ukraine after sustaining personnel losses over 50 percent.
-The Russian General Staff is attempting to adjust the war’s narrative so make it appear that Russia is achieving its aims and choosing to restrict operations when in fact it is not achieving its objectives and is being forced to abandon large-scale offensive operations because of its own failures and losses as well as continuing skillful Ukrainian resistance.
-Ukrainian forces claimed to kill the commander of Russia’s 49th Combined Arms Army, operating around Kherson.
-Ukrainian counterattacks northwest of Kyiv made further minor progress in the past 24 hours.
-Ukrainian forces additionally conducted a successful counterattack east of Kyiv in the past 24 hours, pushing Russian forces east from Brovary.
-Russian attempts to encircle Chernihiv remain unsuccessful.
-The military situation in northeastern Ukraine did not change in the past 24 hours.
-Russian forces continue to take Mariupol street-by-street and have entered the city center.
-Russian forces did not conduct any offensive operations around Kherson in the past 24 hours.
-Russian cruise missiles hit several buildings while attempting to strike the Air Force’s command in the Vinnytsia region, Reuters reports.
-The US has observed more than 1,250 missile launches since the start of the invasion.
-It appears that the Russians are at the moment not pursuing a ground offensive towards Kyiv, but, “They are digging in, they are establishing defensive positions, they don’t show any signs of being willing to move on Kyiv from the ground.”
-The US is still observing airstrikes on Kyiv, but nothing on the ground “in keeping with our assessment of a couple of days ago that they are going to prioritize the eastern part of the country”. “We’re seeing the Ukrainians really go now on the offense around Kyiv. That includes to the west of it ... The Russians are in a defensive position around Kyiv on the ground.”
-Asked if the US has seen indications that Putin has become more reckless in his tactics as Russia has not achieved its goals, the senior official said, “It’s there for the world to see. I can’t get inside Putin’s mind, and I wouldn’t want to speculate about his personal level of frustration, or whatever decisions he’s making based on the fact that they have been stymied and stalled throughout the country. But you can see for yourself how they have tried to make up for the fact that they haven’t been able to move well on the ground by the increasing use of airstrikes and missile strikes and artillery strikes on population centers.”
-Around 20 Russian BTGs are “no longer combat effective” officials estimate – out of 115-120 who were in the original invasion force. So Russia has lost “a sixth, maybe a fifth” of its effective troops
-Northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv cut off by Russian forces. The northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv has in effect been cut off by Russian forces, the regional governor said this morning according to reports from Reuters. “The city has been conditionally, operationally surrounded by the enemy,” Governor Viacheslav Chaus said on national television, adding that the city was under fire from artillery and warplanes.
-Russia is claiming that it used “Kalibr” cruise missiles to destroy a major fuel depot outside Kyiv. Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told a briefing the strike happened on Thursday evening with missiles fired from the sea. Konashenkov said the depot was used to supply Ukraine’s armed forces in the centre of the country.
-Reuters are reporting that the Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Valentyn Reznichenko, has reported that there is “serious destruction” after two missiles hit a Ukrainian military unit on the outskirts of Dnipro. The report says rescuers are looking for people among the debris.
*** ECONOMIC & POLITICAL ***
-BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, whose firm oversees investments equivalent to about half of US GDP, has predicted that efforts to punish Russia over its invasion of Ukraine would lead to the unraveling of globalism as decision-makers reconsider their foreign vulnerabilities. “The Russian invasion of Ukraine has put an end to the globalization we have experienced over the last three decades,” Fink said on Thursday in a letter to investors. “We had already seen connectivity between nations, companies and even people strained by two years of the pandemic. It has left many communities and people feeling isolated and looking inward. I believe this has exacerbated the polarization and extremist behavior we are seeing across society today.”
Western nations responded to the Ukraine crisis by launching an “economic war” against Moscow, including the unprecedented step of barring the Russian central bank from deploying its foreign currency reserves, Fink noted. Capital markets, financial institutions and other businesses have gone beyond the sanctions imposed by their governments, cutting off their Russian ties and operations.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has “upended the world order” that has been in place since the Cold War ended and will require BlackRock to adjust to “long-term structural changes,” such as deglobalization and higher inflation, Fink said. He added that central banks will have to either accept increased inflation – even beyond the 40-year high that was set last month in the US – or reduced economic activity and employment.
-The US federal government has run out of money to cover the cost of Covid-19 testing and treatment for uninsured people. Along with this, vaccine administration for the uninsured will also end in a few weeks. Since the Covid-19 pandemic is far from over and has been particularly bad in the United States already, the results of this will be disastrous. On March 15, the White House released a fact sheet warning about the implications of this funding deficit. Among the key issues were the fact that it would be harder to identify emerging variants, scaling back of planned purchases of preventative treatments, and damage to global vaccination and treatment efforts.
-G7 leaders have called for an extraordinary session of the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization in a bid to prevent the Ukrainian conflict from turning into a global food crisis, while French President Emmanuel Macron presented his own “initiative for food security.” According to a communique adopted on Thursday at the summit of the world’s biggest economies, the Russian offensive on its neighboring country “places global food security under increased pressure.” Therefore, the G7 leaders agreed to use “all instruments and funding mechanisms” and involve the “relevant international institutions” to address food security, including support for the “continued Ukrainian production efforts.” “We call for an extraordinary session of the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to address the consequences on world food security and agriculture arising from the Russian aggression against Ukraine,” reads the communique.
-Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in New Delhi on Thursday night for a diplomatic visit, where he is expected to meet his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the Indian foreign ministry announced. This is the first visit of a high-ranking Chinese official to India since border clashes in Ladakh in 2020. Wang Yi previously held talks with India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, according to Reuters. Both China and India kept the visit secret until the Beijing diplomat touched down in New Delhi late on Thursday. The talks, set for Friday, are likely to be focused on border tensions between India-China, as well as Russia's military offensive in Ukraine. Both countries have, so far, abstained from condemning and sanctioning Russia for its actions, maintaining trade relations with the country despite pressure from the West.
-The coordinated western response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is perceived as an ‘existential threat’ by outside forces that could merit the tactical threat, if not the actual use, of nuclear weapons. One speaker believes there is little to no risk of Russia using chemical and biological weapons as chemical weapons provides no military advantage and biological use is too indiscriminate. However, interpretation of the Russian doctrine does permit the use of tactical nuclear weapons to address ‘existential threats.’ While not seen as imminent, there is scope for miscalculation in the communication that could lead to unwanted reactions and responses, including nuclear alerts. The long-term consequences could reverse decades of progress in stemming the proliferation of nuclear weapons as Russia’s arsenal of nuclear weapons may be seen as effective in acting as a deterrent for NATO to be drawn into war. Military planners in countries around the world are now likely to see this as a clear signal regarding the benefits of nuclear weapons.
-Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy again has urged Russia to negotiate an end to war, but also asserted that Ukraine would not agree to give up any of its territory to achieve peace, according to AP’s report on his nightly video address Friday evening.
-Ukraine’s deputy interior minister, Anton Gerashchenko, said in a statement on Facebook this evening that Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, has been absent from public events since mid-March because he suffered a heart attack. The claim has not been independently verified
-Western analysts are trying to develop different scenarios for Russia’s actions in Ukraine. The “menu” is expansive: a protracted conflict with a gradual transition to low-intensity hostilities; a nuclear disaster; the use of chemical or biological weapons to bring victory in land operations; political compromise on the side of Ukraine and others. The only scenario that is not discussed is the full restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Everywhere there are some “buts”, as if the need to “sacrifice” something to Russia is considered unavoidable.
It is impossible for Ukraine to accept any of Russia’s ultimatums. Not the recognition of the so-called “republics” within the borders of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, not the annexation of Crimea, and not the demilitarisation of Ukraine. Kyiv understands that these concessions will not bring any security and in no way will they guarantee the withdrawal of Russian troops. Moreover, these “compromises” will not prevent a new Russian attack. To the contrary, they can only provoke a new Russian offensive against Ukraine. Ukraine will not surrender one inch of land to Russia – the west must understand this.
-The US and Nato are doing contingency plannng for the possibility Russia chooses to strike Nato territory, the White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Friday. Russian attacks have edged closer to Nato’s borders since the invasion of Ukraine began. On 13 March, Russia drew warnings from Nato after strikes on a major military base close to the alliance’s border, killing at least 35 people and injuring 134 more.
-Russia has said “nothing terrible will happen” if it were to be expelled from the G20 group of the world’s largest economies, because the world is much more diverse than just the United States and Europe. There are countries, he said, who take a “sober” approach to Russia and who aren’t burning bridges.
-Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday that the first phase of its military operation was “generally” complete, saying the country will focus on the “liberation” of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. The defence ministry stated Russian-backed separatists now controlled 93% of Ukraine’s Luhansk region and 54% of the Donetsk region. The two regions together are commonly known as the Donbas region.
“The main objectives of the first stage of the operation have generally been accomplished,” Sergei Rudskoi, head of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operational Directorate said during a briefing. In Friday’s announcement, Russia also appeared to hint that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine may be turning to more limited objectives, adding that the main goal of the operation was the “liberation of the Donbas”.
“The combat potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been considerably reduced, which ... makes it possible to focus our core efforts on achieving the main goal, the liberation of Donbas.” Russia has been shifting its objectives in Ukraine throughout the war. Russian president Vladimir Putin earlier said that the “denazification” of the Ukrainian leadership - generally understood as regime change - was the main motivation for the invasion.
Michael Kofman, the director of the Russia studies programme at the CNA thinktank on Friday tweeted that the military briefing suggested Russia would focus on “taking as much of the Donbas as possible,” while claiming the Donbas region was always the main goal of what Kremlin refers to a “special military operation.” “I had a hypothesis that the more minimal aims Moscow could have at this point is to try to take all of the Donbas, pursue some political settlement, then turn around and claim that’s what this operation was really all about in an effort to salvage something & declare victory,” Kofman tweeted.
ISW says the Rudskoi’s comments “were likely aimed mainly at a domestic Russian audience and do not accurately or completely capture current Russian war aims and planned operations”.
-North Korea says it test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday in order to prepare for “the long-standing confrontation” with Washington. It was the first time Pyongyang has launched a long-range missile of this type since 2017. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the test of the missile, a Hwasong-17, because of the “daily-escalating military tension in and round the Korean peninsula” and the “inevitability of the long-standing confrontation with the US,” state-run news agency KCNA said.
-Joe Biden has visited the Polish town of Rzeszów, about an hour’s drive from the Ukrainian border, in a show of support for eastern European states that are seeing Russian aggression wreak havoc in their neighbourhood.
-US President Joe Biden told American soldiers on Friday that “you’re going to see” Ukrainian civilians fighting Russian soldiers “when you’re there.” Despite signaling a potential US deployment to Ukraine, the White House says there’s been no change to Biden’s position of not sending troops into the country. “You’re going to see when you’re there … some of you have been there. You’re going to see women, young people standing in the middle, in the front of a damn tank saying ‘I’m not leaving, I’m holding my ground’,” Biden told members of the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division stationed in Poland. Biden’s statement triggered concern that the US may be preparing to intervene in Ukraine. However, a White House spokesperson said shortly afterwards that, “The president has been clear we are not sending US troops to Ukraine and there is no change in that position.”
-Neither Poland or Hungary have enjoyed a particularly warm relationships with the core elements of the European Union over recent years, with both countries having governments with strong nationalistic tendencies. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has now put those two countries slightly at odds with each other as well. Speaking on Polish public radio today, Reuters report that Poland’s ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said he is not pleased with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s cautious stance on Russia, but that he will wait to see what happens after Hungary’s April election. “If you asked me if I’m happy, then no, but I will wait for the election, we will see after the election.” Orban has condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine but has avoided personal criticism of President Vladimir Putin and is strongly opposed to sanctions on Russian energy.
-Finland’s national railway operator will suspend services between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg in Russia on Monday, closing one of the last public transport routes to the European Union for Russians. Reuters report that operator VR had been directed by the state that it was no longer appropriate to run the service, “So we are suspending the traffic for the time being,” head of passenger traffic Topi Simola said. Trains from Russia to Finland’s capital Helsinki have been full of Russians since the invasion of Ukraine. The border between Finland and Russia remains open for crossings by private car.
-Coming the day after the emergency NATO summit in Brussels, where Jens Stoltenberg vowed that Russia will pay "severe costs" for "years to come" over its Ukraine invasion, and with Joe Biden now visiting Poland to highlight the refugee crisis, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday hit back at US and Western sanctions, calling them tantamount to an act of "total war" on Russia. He called the sum total of isolation measures against Russia being pushed under US leadership "a real hybrid war" and said that "total war was declared on us," according to the The Associated Press.As The Hill writes further of the fresh remarks, "The international sanctions have clearly hurt the Russian economy, though Lavrov emphasized that many states will decline to join that effort." Lavrov said: "We have many friends, allies, partners in the world, a huge number of associations in which Russia is working with countries of all continents, and we will continue to do so" - which at the very least includes China, India, Brazil and others - which make up an outsized portion of the global economy.
-Bloomberg reports Friday that the Kremlin may be limiting its key military objectives to taking full control over the Donbas region. This despite multiple parts of the county, including outside the capital of Kiev, still witnessing intense fighting and shelling. The hugely important Friday Bloomberg report says that "After a month of fighting that’s yielded limited territorial gains, the Russian military said it’s focusing efforts on taking full control of Ukraine’s Donbas region, potentially a sign it’s backing away from hopes of taking larger swathes of the country." The Russian military's first deputy chief of the General Staff Sergei Rudskoi said the following as quoted in Interfax: "Our forces will focus on the main thing - the complete liberation of Donbas." The Russian military's first deputy chief of the General Staff Sergei Rudskoi said the following as quoted in Interfax: "Our forces will focus on the main thing - the complete liberation of Donbas."
-Russia appeared to scale back its ambitions for the war. The defence ministry said the first phase of its military operation was “generally” complete, saying the country will focus on the “liberation” of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. It marks a downgrading of objectives – amid a haphazard war campaign – after an initial aim of ‘denazification,’ or in other words regime change.
Bloomberg reports of a fresh casualty count from Russia's military, "Rudskoi put losses at 1,351 killed and 3,835 wounded, the first official accounting since March 2. He said Russian forces control 93% of the Luhansk People’s Republic and 54% of the Donetsk one." However, many believe the true count to be much higher. Earlier in the day Turkey's President Erdogan said that Russia and Ukraine have reached "an understanding" on 4 out of 6 key contentious issues. However, hours later Russian officials were cited in Interfax news a saying "no progress" has been made. Both sides continue blaming the other for lack of significant breakthroughs, and so far only temporary humanitarian corridors have been briefly established in major zones of fighting.
-The question that much of the internet is asking after this bizarre Friday moment while the president was in Poland not far from the Ukraine border is: Did Joe Biden just slip and inform 82nd Airborne troops that they're about to be sent to Ukraine? "You’re going to see when you’re there, you’re going to see women, young people standing in the middle, in the front of a damn tank saying 'I’m not leaving,'" he said while standing in the center of US troops in Poland. The remarks came during his visit to a base in Jasionka (Rzeszów County) in Poland, in the country's southeast, which is a mere 60 miles from the Ukraine border. The 82nd Airborne Division was earlier deployed along NATO's eastern edge as a 'deterrent' of sorts in protection of NATO territory. Biden had also said to the troops, "What's at stake (is) not just what we're doing here in Ukraine to help the Ukrainian people and keep the massacre from continuing, but beyond that what's at stake is what are your kids and grandkids going to look like in terms of their freedom?" He had also talked up such themes as "defending democracy" - while also meeting Polish President Andrzej Duda for a joint press conference at the base.
-Russian military will submit a proposal to Russian President Putin on how best to respond to NATO beefing up its Eastern flank, according to the Kremlin
-Indian Government is expected to formally announce a INR-RUB payment arrangement next week which would allow the bypassing of US sanctions, according to Sputnik.
-North Korea confirmed Thursday's launch was a 'new-type' Hwasong-17 and that its leader Kim directly guided the ICBM test, while Kim sees the new ICBM as an important deterrent against nuclear war. Kim also stated the new weapon shows the might and modernity of North Korea's strategic force and that they are preparing for a long confrontation with US imperialism. Furthermore, he said North Korea's strategic force is ready to check and contain any military attempt by the US, while he warned whoever attempts to infringe on North Korea's security will pay dearly.
-Russia and China should tell North Korea to avoid more “provocations” after it resumed intercontinental ballistic missile testing this week in a “brazen” move, the US state department has said, in a rather bizarre signal given that relations between the US and Russia are hardly normal at this time.
-The Russian president Vladimir Putin ranted the west was supposedly discriminating against Russian culture, comparing the treatment of Russian cultural figures with that of the “cancelled” Harry Potter author JK Rowling.
-Spotify became the latest company to announce it will fully suspend services in Russia, citing new legislation that could ‘risk’ the ‘safety’ of employees or listeners.
-Qatar’s energy minister said it would not “choose sides” but will continue to supply Europe with gas. Commenting on the Russia-Ukraine war, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi told CNN said:“From a business perspective, we do not choose sides”.
-Russia thundered on with its information warfare on Friday, accusing the US president, Joe Biden, of “diverting attention” from his country’s chemical and biological weapons programme – after Biden warned Nato would be forced to respond if the Kremlin resorted to using chemical weapons. It follows Kremlin disinformation this week accusing Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, of funding biological weapons labs in Ukraine through his investment fund Rosemont Seneca.
-Putin in his address added that the “last time” such a campaign was waged against “unwanted literature” was when Nazi supporters burned books in the 1930s. The Russian leader further compared the treatment Russia has received following the country’s invasion of Ukraine with the controversy surrounding British author JK Rowling’s comments on transgender people. “Recently they cancelled the children’s writer Joanne Rowling because she – the author of books that have sold 100s of millions of copies worldwide – fell out of favour with fans of so-called ‘gender freedoms.’ Today they want to cancel a whole thousand-year culture, our people,” Putin said.
JK Rowling on Friday distanced herself from Putin’s comments by sharing an article about jailed Kremlin-critic Alexei Navalny on Twitter. “Critiques of western cancel culture are possibly not best made by those currently slaughtering civilians for the crime of resistance, or who jail and poison their critics,” the British author write, sharing the hashtag IStandWithUkraine.
-The Swiss government has adopted more European Union sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, report Reuters.
-Putin retains solid support with the military and domestic population despite the severity of financial sanctions and heavy military losses. A recent poll showed that 58% of Russians approve of the invasion of Ukraine and 23% opposed, but one speaker sees two-thirds of the population continuing to support Putin. The support from Russia’s military for Putin does not appear likely to falter over the near term despite heavy casualties as the anger is directed at the US and NATO. The severity of the sanctions are perceived by many Russians as “unjust interference” by the West, which has turned Russia into an outlaw and have negatively impacted every Russian citizen, from infants to the very elderly. The decision to freeze central bank assets and confiscate property without a court order is perceived as “uncivilized.” Beyond the economic war, the crackdown on protests and bans on independent media coverage have led to a rise of misinformation.
-The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage shot significantly higher Friday, rising 24 basis points to 4.95%, according to Mortgage News Daily. The quicker-than-expected rise in rates has weighed on demand for mortgages and refinancing loans. With both rates and prices considerably higher, the median mortgage payment is now more than 20% higher than it was a year ago.
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