Edited by: TJVNews.com
As the war rages on in Ukraine and as Russian troops continue targeting civilians in bloody bombings, on Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. will ban all Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia’s economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine, as was reported by the AP. He did, however, acknowledge that as a result of the ban, Americans will bear the brunt of increased prices, especially at the gas pump.
The action follows pleas by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to U.S. and Western officials to cut off the imports, which had been a glaring omission in the massive sanctions put in place on Russia over the course of the invasion, as was reported by AP. Energy exports have kept a steady stream of cash flowing to Russia despite otherwise severe restrictions on its financial sector.
“We will not be part of subsidizing Putin’s war,” Biden declared, according to the AP report. He called the new action a “powerful blow” against Russia’s ability to fund the ongoing offensive.
He warned that Americans will see rising prices, saying, “Defending freedom is going to cost.”
Biden said the U.S. was acting in close consultation with European allies, who are more dependent on Russian energy supplies and who he acknowledged may not be able to join in immediately. The announcement marked the latest Biden attempt at cutting off Russia from much of the global economy and ensuring that the Ukraine invasion is a strategic loss President Vladimir Putin, even if he manages to seize territory, according to the AP report.
“Ukraine will never be a victory for Putin,” Biden said. The AP also reported that in a post on Twitter, President Zelenskyy praised Biden’s action: “Thankful for US and @POTUS personal leadership in striking in the heart of Putin’s war machine and banning oil, gas and coal from US market. Encourage other countries and leaders to follow.”
The European Union this week will commit to phasing out its reliance on Russia for energy needs as soon as possible but filling the void without crippling EU economies will likely take some time. The AP reported that the U.K., which is no longer part of the EU, announced Tuesday that oil and oil products from Russia will be phased out by the end of the year.
Unlike the U.S., which is a major oil and gas producer, Europe relies on imports for 90% of its gas and 97% of its oil products. The AP reported that Russia supplies 40% of Europe’s gas and a quarter of its oil. The U.S. does not import Russian natural gas.
The issue of oil sanctions has created a conflict for the president between political interests at home and efforts to impose costs on Russia. Though Russian oil makes up only a small part of U.S. imports, Biden has said he was reluctant to ban it, cutting into supplies here and pushing gasoline prices higher, as was reported by the AP.
The report noted that Inflation is at a 40-year peak, fueled in large part by gas prices, and that could hurt Biden heading into the November midterm elections.
“Putin’s war is already hurting American families at the gas pump,” Biden said, adding, “I’m going to do everything I can to minimize Putin’s price hike here at home,” as was reported by the AP.
Gas prices have been rising for weeks due to the conflict and in anticipation of potential sanctions on the Russian energy sector. The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. hit a record $4.17 Tuesday, rising by 10 cents in one day, and up 55 cents since last week, according to auto club AAA.
The price of a barrel of crude oil also hit a 13-year high at $130 per barrel.
Biden said it was understandable that prices were rising but cautioned the U.S. energy industry against “excessive price increases” and the exploitation of consumers, as was reported by the AP.
Even before the U.S. ban many Western energy companies including ExxonMobil and BP moved to cut ties with the Russia and limit imports. Shell, which purchased a shipment of Russian oil this weekend, apologized for the move on Tuesday amid international criticism and pledged to halt further purchases of Russian energy supplies, as was reported by the AP. Preliminary data from the U.S. Energy Department shows imports of Russian crude dropped to zero in the last week in February.
The AP also reported that if Russia were eventually shut off from the global market, rogue countries such as Iran and Venezuela might be “welcomed back” as sources of oil, said Claudio Galimberti, an analyst at Rystad Energy. Such additional sources could, in turn, potentially stabilize prices.
In 2021, the U.S. imported roughly 245 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia — a one-year increase of 24%, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Max Bergmann, a former State Department official who is now a senior fellow at the Democratic-leaning Center for American Progress told the AP that, “It’s an important step to show Russia that energy is on the table.”
Bergmann said it wasn’t surprising that the U.S. was able to take this step before European nations, which are more dependent on Russian energy.
“All of this is being done in coordination, even if the steps are not symmetrical,” he said. “We are talking to them constantly.”
The White House said the ban on new purchases was effective immediately but the administration was allowing a 45-day “wind down” for continued delivery under existing contracts, according to the AP report.
The White House announcement comes amid bipartisan pressure on Capitol Hill to ban Russian energy and impose other economic costs. Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave a big boost when she declared, “Ban it.”
On Monday, Democrats on the powerful Ways & Means Committee posted, then removed, an announcement on a bipartisan bill to ban Russian oil imports and slap further trade sanctions on the country, according to an aide, because of pushback from the White House to acting before Biden had made his decision, the report indicated.
Also on Tuesday, Israel National News reported that the McDonald’s fast-food company announced that it would temporarily close 850 stores across Russia in response to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
CEO Chris Kempczinski wrote in a letter to McDonald’s employees: “The conflict in Ukraine and the humanitarian crisis in Europe has caused unspeakable suffering to innocent people. As a System, we join the world in condemning aggression and violence and praying for peace.”
“Working closely in consultation with our Chairman, Rick Hernandez, and the rest of McDonald’s Board of Directors over the last week, McDonald’s has decided to temporarily close all our restaurants in Russia and pause all operations in the market. We understand the impact this will have on our Russian colleagues and partners, which is why we are prepared to support all three legs of the stool in Ukraine and Russia. This includes salary continuation for all McDonald’s employees in Russia,” he wrote.
Kempczinski said that the company would continue to pay its 62,000 employees in Russia and the Ronald McDonald House Charities in Russia would continue to operate, as was reported by INN.
“Years ago, when confronted with his own difficult decision, Fred Turner explained his approach quite simply: “Do the right thing.” That philosophy is enshrined as one of our five guiding values, and there are countless examples over the years of McDonald’s Corporation living up to Fred’s simple ideal. Today, is also one of those days,” Kempczinski said.
“As we move forward, McDonald’s will continue to assess the situation and determine if any additional measures are required. At this juncture, it’s impossible to predict when we might be able to reopen our restaurants in Russia. We are experiencing disruptions to our supply chain along with other operational impacts. We will also closely monitor the humanitarian situation,” he added.
On the military front, Moscow’s forces have laid siege to Ukrainian cities and cut off food, water, heat and medicine in an escalating humanitarian disaster, as was reported by the AP. For a number of days, attempts to create corridors to safely evacuate civilians have stumbled amid continuing fighting and objections to the proposed routes.
The AP reported on Tuesday that an attempt to evacuate civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol in Ukraine was thrown into jeopardy by continued Russian fighting. Conditions grew more desperate inside the city of 430,000, with corpses lying in the streets and starving residents breaking into stores for food.
Ukrainian officials said renewed Russian shelling and other risks endangered the effort to relieve an encircled Mariupol, where the sound of artillery fire was relentless and where thousands crammed into basements. The report indicated that the situation became so desperate that many fleeing Russian aggression were forced to get their water from streams or by melting snow.
As Ukraine pleaded for more warplanes, Poland said it would give all of its MiG-29 fighter jets to the U.S., apparently agreeing to an arrangement that would allow them to be used by Ukraine’s military. Ukrainian pilots are trained to fly Soviet-era fighter jets, according to the AP report.
Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II became even more severe, with U.N. officials reporting that 2 million people have now fled Ukraine to such neighboring countries, as Poland, Moldova, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.
Also on Tuesday, Zelenskyy vowed that his country would fight Russia’s invasion in its cities, fields and riverbanks, as was reported by the AP.
“We will not give up and we will not lose,” he said in a video hookup to a packed House of Commons chamber in the British Parliament, evoking the “never surrender” speech that Winston Churchill gave in the darkest days of World War II.
On Tuesday one evacuation attempt did appear at least partially successful, according to the AP report. A convoy of buses packed with people fleeing the fighting moved along a snowy road from Sumy, a northeastern city of a quarter-million people, according to video from the Ukrainian communications agency.
The AP report indicated that the Russian military said 723 people were evacuated from Sumy to the Ukrainian city of Poltava. It identified them as mostly citizens of India, with the rest from China, Jordan and Tunisia. It made no mention of any Ukrainians among those evacuated.
Hours before the convoy reached Sumy, overnight strikes killed 21 people there, including two children, Ukrainian authorities said.
Ukrainian officials also said a safe corridor had been opened from the embattled town of Irpin, outside Kyiv, but it was not clear for how long it remained open and how many people used it, according to the AP report.
Meanwhile, buses emblazoned with red cross symbols carried water, medicine and food toward Mariupol, scene of some of the worst desperation. Vereshchuk said the vehicles would then ferry civilians out of the city.
The AP also reported that soon after officials announced that buses were on their way, Ukrainian authorities said they had learned of shelling on the escape route.
On the humanitarian front, INN also reported on Tuesday that Israeli Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked announced that Israel is prepared to temporarily host 25,000 Ukrainian citizens who are not covered by the Law of Return in light of the humanitarian crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of the country.
“The sights of the war in Ukraine and the suffering of its citizens shock the soul and do not allow us to remain indifferent. These difficult events also have a direct impact on the State of Israel, which is currently preparing to absorb, according to estimates, about 100,000 Jews and those entitled to the Law of Return and their family members fleeing the battle zones,” Shaked said.
“The founding fathers of the State of Israel anchored their identity as a national home for the Jewish people, and even stated as a founding element that “the State of Israel will be open to Jewish immigration and the ingathering of the exiles.” Our brothers around the world are entitled to return to their homeland by right and not by grace. This is their home.
“Immigrants are expected to arrive mostly destitute and receive citizenship along with all the rights granted to citizens almost immediately. It can be determined with certainty that no other country is expected to deal with an event of this magnitude. For comparison, in terms of population size it is equivalent to granting citizenship to three and a half million people in the US, or over 700,000 new citizens in England. But as the State of Israel has proven more than once in the past, we can meet this historic challenge. The Immigration Absorption Minister is leading this move along with myself and other ministers.” (Sources: AP, INN) – (Additional reporting by Fern Sidman)
