NEWS.am digest: What we know about Ukraine conflict? Russian ruble hits record low

Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 24.02.22:

• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is breaking off diplomatic relations with Russia after Vladimir Putin announced the decision to start a military operation in Donbas at night.

“Ukraine is defending itself and will not give up its freedom no matter what they think in Moscow,” Zelenskyy said.

He added that all willing Ukrainians will be given weapons ‘to protect their land.’

Ukraine and Russia have already closed airspace.

An embassy of Armenia in Ukraine, in turn, said they are working in full staff, and are in constant contact with the Armenian citizens.

The situation is highly tense in the biggest cities of Ukraine, including Kharkiv and Kyiv. (VIDEO KARDRER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MRs214KQkg) Armenians in Ukraine’s Kharkiv noted there are long queues at ATMs.

On Thursday morning, long queues of cars also formed from the city center towards various exits out of Kyiv and people took cover in the city’s underground stations and other safe places, according to local media.

Russia, in turn, reported that dozens of Ukrainian border guards crossed over to the Russian side.

• The Ukrainian Presidency said that more than 40 soldiers have been killed since the Russian operation in Donbas began -- and a few dozen injured, although Russia said that they do not intend to inflict any strikes on civilian objects on the territory of Ukraine.

Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser in the President’s Office, said that in addition to the military casualties, “as far as I know, at the moment there are a few civilian deaths -- up to ten.”

Ukrainian media also noted that Russian troops have broken through the state border in the Kyiv region.

The Russian defense ministry, in turn, has already reported that Ukrainian armed forces are massively leaving their positions, throwing their weapons.

But they once again claimed that they target ‘only on military infrastructure, nothing threatens the civilian population.’

• The Russian president’s spokesperson said the Kremlin sees no barriers to organizing talks between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“But only if Ukraine is ready to talk about Moscow's security concerns,” Dmitry Peskov added.

He recalled that Putin had already formed his vision of what Russia would expect from Ukraine, so that "conceptual red-line problems were resolved."

“We formulated this quite clearly: this is a neutral status, this is a renunciation of weapons systems,” he noted.

• The European Union said they impose sanctions against strategic sectors of the Russian economy and block the access of Russian banks to European financial markets.

According to the EU, it will be the toughest sanctions ever imposed against Russia.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has condemned 'Russia’s reckless and unprovoked attack on Ukraine'.

However, Stoltenberg noted NATO does not plan to send troops to Ukraine.

Turkey also calls on Russia and Ukraine to resolve all contradictions through dialogue within the framework of the Minsk agreements.

According to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, “Russia's military operation against Ukraine is unacceptable.”

The Turkish National Security Council claimed that “Russia's actions are a violation of international law.”

Head of the EU delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin also noted that the European Parliament and all European structures are united.

“We stand next to Ukraine, and the statements of Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen were very clear, condemning the aggression against Ukraine,” she added.

Iranian FM Hossein Amir Abdollahian, in turn, said the situation in Ukraine was caused by NATO provocations and urged to focus on political and democratic solutions to the issue.

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko also noted that the West’s attitude provoked the situation created in Ukraine. He also added that the Belarusian troops are not taking part in the Russian special operation in Donbas.

• The Russian stock market plunged by more than 11% at the start of the morning session on Thursday after the statements of Russian President Vladimir Putin about the decision to launch a special military operation in the Donbass, following from the dynamics of trading.

The dollar was up more than 10% against the Russian currency as the day began, sending the ruble to its lowest level ever against the dollar. Moscow’s equities index, the MOEX, fell as much as 45% after trading was temporarily suspended.

The ruble was trading at 89.89 to the dollar at 8:40 a.m. in Moscow.

• Special Representatives for the normalization process between Armenia and Turkey —  the Armenian parliament deputy speaker, Ruben Rubinyan, and Ambassador Serdar Kilic, respectively — held a meeting Thursday in Vienna.

The Special Representatives confirmed that the ultimate goal of the negotiations is to achieve full normalization between Armenia and Turkey, as agreed during their first meeting in Moscow.

They exchanged views on possible concrete steps that can be mutually undertaken to that end, and reiterated their agreement to continue the process without preconditions.

• Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has arrived in Kazakhstan on a working visit.

Pashinyan was welcomed at Kazakhstan's Nur-Sultan International Airport by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Trade and Integration Bakhyt Sultanov.

In Nur-Sultan, the Armenian Prime Minister will take part in a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council. The meeting will be held in a narrow format on Thursday and in an extended format on Friday.

• Acting President Alen Simonyan has signed a decree, according to which Artak Davtyan has been relieved from the post of Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia.

Artak Davtyan was the third army chief who was relieved from his post as soon as Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan came to power back in 2018.