Putin unbowed as Russia presses on with invasion towards Kyiv

Bloomberg

Russian forces closed in on Ukraine’s capital and its embattled leadership as President Vladimir Putin shrugged off a barrage of sanctions imposed by the US and Europe and pressed deeper with his invasion.
With the war raging Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Putin in a call that he supported negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, according to China Central Television. It cited Putin as saying that he was ready to conduct high-level talks. There was no immediate confirmation of the call readout from Moscow.
At about the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow won’t talk to Kyiv until Ukraine’s army surrenders. “We’re ready for negotiations at any time, as soon as the Ukrainian armed forces respond to our president’s call, stop resistance and lay down their weapons,” Lavrov said in the Russian capital.
The offensive proceeded despite the US and the European Union ratcheting up the pressure on the Kremlin with a coordinated set of sanctions overnight aimed at inflicting a heavy toll on the Russian economy. The goal, said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, is “to financially isolate Russia.”
Still, Russian markets rallied at the open after US President Joe Biden and EU leaders shied away from the most drastic action, stopping short of barring Russia from the Swift international banking network and allowing exemptions for energy exports.
With Russia’s central bank pledging aid for sanctioned lenders, the benchmark MOEX index was up 15% after losing as much as 45% Thursday. The ruble gained 2.1% against the dollar after sinking to a record low the previous day. Stocks in Europe also rebounded and were at session highs, while oil slipped further.
With the war in its second day, sirens warned Kyiv’s residents to take shelter from early in the morning. Ukraine’s armed forces said their units were engaging Russian armor to the north, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Russian aircraft were attacking residential areas of the capital.
In a morning address, Zelenskiy said that his intelligence services had identified him as Russia’s top target, but that he is staying in Kyiv and his family will remain in the country. “They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state,” he said.
Putin has said that he wants to replace Ukraine’s leadership, calling it a “junta.” Russia defended its invasion and brushed off the sanctions, vowing to retaliate. Senate speaker Valentina Matvienko, a Putin ally, said that Russia has prepared counter-sanctions to hit at “weak” spots of the West.
Lavrov, who met with envoys from the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, said the Russian assault was an unavoidable step to protect the breakaway zones that Putin recognized before ordering the attack.
Ukraine has repeatedly denied that it planned to try and retake the separatist regions.