\u2018Thugs and bullies\u2019<\/p>\n
after president\u2019s order
\nUkraine starts drafting reservists aged 18-60
\nKYIV: Ukraine on Wednesday has started conscripting reservists aged 18-60 following a decree by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the armed forces said in a statement.
\nThe maximum service period is one year. Zelenskiy on Tuesday said he was introducing the conscription of reservists but ruled out a general mobilization after Russia announced it was moving troops into eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n
The possibility of imminent war in Ukraine has raised fears not only of massive casualties but of widespread energy shortages and global economic chaos
\nNews Agency
\nTOKYO
\nWorld leaders sought Wednesday to back up their tough words over Russia\u2019s aggression against Ukraine, announcing financial sanctions, trade and travel bans and other measures meant to pressure Moscow to pull back from the brink of war.
\nEven as they ramped up penalties, however, nations in Asia and the Pacific also prepared for the possibility of both economic pain, in the form of cuts to traditional energy and grain supply lines, and retaliation from Russian cyberattacks.
\n\u201cWe can\u2019t have some suggestion that Russia has some just case here that they\u2019re prosecuting. They\u2019re behaving like thugs and bullies, and they should be called out as thugs and bullies,\u201d Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said while announcing targeted financial sanctions and travel bans as a first step in response to Russian aggression toward Ukraine.
\nThe possibility of imminent war in Ukraine has raised fears not only of massive casualties but of widespread energy shortages and global economic chaos.
\nThe punitive actions in Asia followed sanctions levied by US President Joe Biden and European leaders against Russian oligarchs and banks in response to Russia massing 150,000 troops on three sides of Ukraine. While the larger army has yet to move, Russian forces have rolled into rebel-held portions of eastern Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized those areas\u2019 independence.
\nIn Japan, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced sanctions targeting Russia and the two separatist Ukrainian regions.
\nKishida told reporters that Tokyo will ban any new issuance and distribution of Russian government bonds in Japan because of \u201ca series of actions Russia has been taking in Ukraine.\u201d
\nKishida said Japan will also stop issuing visas to people linked to the two Ukrainian rebel regions and will freeze their assets in Japan. Tokyo will also ban trade with the two areas. He said Japanese officials are finalizing further details and added that Japan could increase sanctions if the situation worsens.
\nJapan opened a temporary office in Lviv, in western Ukraine, to help evacuate about 120 Japanese citizens, and has arranged chartered flights in nearby countries, Kishida said.
\nOfficials in South Korea, which relies on imports to meet nearly all fossil fuel demand, held emergency meetings Wednesday to weigh how seriously events in Ukraine would hurt their country\u2019s economy.
\nThe fallout has so far been limited, but First Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon said things could worsen if the situation in Ukraine escalates and there\u2019s a \u201cdisruption of energy supply chains and an increase in market volatility.\u201d
\nWhile South Korea relies heavily on imports from Russia and Ukraine for wheat and corn, Lee said the country has enough reserves to last until June or July.
\nThe Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy also discussed ways to secure alternative energy supplies in case the Ukraine crisis disrupts the current methods.
\nUS officials have said an invasion is all but inevitable. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled plans for a Thursday meeting in Geneva with his Russian counterpart, saying it would not be productive and that Russia\u2019s actions indicated Moscow was not serious about a peaceful path to resolving the crisis.
\nMore than two dozen European Union members unanimously agreed to levy their own initial set of sanctions against Russian officials. Germany also said it was halting the process of certifying the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia \u2014 a lucrative deal long sought by Moscow but criticized by the United States for increasing Europe\u2019s reliance on Russian energy.
\nThe United States moved to cut off Russia\u2019s government from Western finance, sanctioning two of its banks and blocking it from trading its debt on American and European markets.
\nThe Biden administration\u2019s actions hit civilian leaders in Russia\u2019s leadership hierarchy and two Russian banks considered especially close to the Kremlin and Russia\u2019s military, with more than $80 billion in assets. That includes freezing all of those banks\u2019 assets under US jurisdictions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018Thugs and bullies\u2019 after president\u2019s order Ukraine starts drafting reservists aged 18-60 KYIV: Ukraine on Wednesday has started conscripting reservists aged 18-60 following a decree by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the armed forces said in a statement. The maximum service period is one year. Zelenskiy on Tuesday said he was introducing the conscription of reservists but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246153,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[338,456],"class_list":{"0":"post-246138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-russia","9":"tag-ukraine"},"yoast_head":"\n