Political | Process

The latest dire warning signs of a full-blown attack follow the West sanctioning the Kremlin’s inner circle; Ukraine issuing a nationwide state of emergency and moving to allow citizens to arm themselves.

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• Ukrainian government websites and banks have also been shut down because of a sweeping cyberattack while Moscow’s tactical units have formed into battle-ready units ready to attack from the north, east and south.

• Meanwhile the U.S. has re-positioned its firepower and 4,700 paratroopers around eastern Europe, with F-35s fighter jets and a fleet of Apache attack helicopters being sent from Germany to Baltic states and Poland.

• Since October, Russia has been building an enormous military force along Ukraine’s border, with as many as 190,000 troops in or near Ukraine, American and Ukrainian officials told The New York Times.  

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called up military reservists, declared a 30-day state of emergency and has urged his people to stand up and fight with their country on the brink of invasion.

• ‘Ukrainians are a peaceful nation,’ he said. ‘We want quiet. But if we are today silent, then tomorrow we will disappear.’  

• In addition to the troop movements, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, said government websites are the result of a ‘new mass distributed denial-of-service attack.’ It’s unclear who is behind the cyber intrusion.    

• Meanwhile, Russia warned there would be a ‘painful’ response to sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies against Putin’s inner circle.

• A fresh round of sanctions that struck at the heart of Putin’s inner circle appear not to be working. Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called them part of Washington’s ‘ongoing attempts to change Russia’s course,’ and added that the pressure will not prove to be a deterrence. 

• ‘There should be no doubt that sanctions will receive a strong response, not necessarily symmetrical, but finely tuned and painful to the American side,’ the ministry said on Wednesday.