Ukraine: chronicle of events on March 8 – Rosbalt

Rosbalt continues to talk about the events that followed after statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin about the start of a special operation in the Donbass and in Ukraine in response to the appeal of the leaders of the LPR and DPR. On demand Roskomnadzor media should use data on its progress only from official Russian sources. With information about events that took place in previous days can be found here: February 24, February 25February 26, February 27, February 28, March 1st, March 2nd, March 3rd, March 4th, March 5th, March 6th and March 7th.

07:00. China’s envoy to the UN Zhang Jun said that China calls for intensified diplomatic efforts to end hostilities as soon as possible. The PRC also believes that unilateral sanctions are an ineffective way to resolve the situation, and the import of lethal weapons to Ukraine and the dispatch of mercenaries will only aggravate it. Beijing calls on the US, NATO and the EU to engage in equal dialogue with Russia and to pay attention to Russia’s security concerns.

7:08. Russia in a few days from the recognition of the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) and the start of a special military operation in Ukraine has become the leading country in terms of the number of sanctions imposed against it. This is reported by Bloomberg, referring to the Castellum.AI database platform.

7:14. President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, congratulating women on March 8, assured that in the special military operation of Russia in Ukraine “soldiers who are doing military service do not participate and will not participate,” and “there will be no additional call-up of reservists from the reserve.” He also announced that in the Russian Federation, from April, new payments will be established for children from 8 to 16 years old inclusive for all families with “low incomes”.

7:22. Video hosting YouTube has decided to block the channel of the sanctioned journalist Vladimir Solovyov “Soloviev Live”. In addition, the channel “Evening with Vladimir Solovyov” has been removed, Lenta.ru reports.

7:29. The American transnational corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G) has decided to suspend capital investments in the Russian Federation and advertising activity, and the number of products available on the market will be reduced due to Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.

7:41. Japan imposes a ban on the export of oil refining equipment to Russia as part of a new package of sanctions against the backdrop of the situation in Ukraine. In addition, the Japanese government expanded personal sanctions against the Russians, adding to the updated list the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, deputy heads of the presidential administration Dmitry Kozak and Sergey Kiriyenko, the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, Russian businessmen Alisher Usmanov, Gennady Timchenko, Arkady and Boris Rotenberg .

8:03. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has decided to recall Ukrainian peacekeepers from international operations back to Ukraine to reinforce the Ukrainian army in connection with a Russian military special operation.

8:25. The international trading network of stores of construction and household goods OBI, in response to the military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, decided to stop working in Russia. In addition, the American manufacturer of cosmetics and perfumery Estee Lauder is also suspending its activities in Russia.

8:44. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki warned that China’s failure to comply with anti-Russian sanctions could lead to retaliatory steps from the United States.

8:57. The international rating agency S&P Global Ratings has downgraded the credit ratings in local and foreign currencies of more than 50 largest Russian companies in the fuel and energy complex, construction, communications, the outlook is “negative”. The ratings have been lowered for such, in particular, giants as Gazprom, Rosneft, ALROSA, X5 Group.

9:16. Courts in St. Petersburg have arrested 269 people who took part in an unsanctioned rally against Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine on March 6, according to the Joint Press Service of the Courts. In total, the judges received 957 cases concerning detainees.

9:29. Australian Foreign Minister Maris Payne announced the imposition of sanctions against Russia due to the special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine. Sanctions against the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, in particular, included the ground forces, the Navy, the aerospace forces, the strategic missile forces and the airborne troops. Meanwhile, Australian oil refiner Ampol has said it has not been buying crude oil from Russian companies since the start of a special operation in Ukraine.

9:50. A group of nine people, including, presumably, the son and grandson of the famous singer Sofia Rotaru, were detained on the border of Ukraine with Moldova. They, according to Ukrainian media, were stopped near the city of Mogilev-Podolsky for trying to illegally cross the Ukrainian state border.