Portal:Current events/2022 February 27
February 27, 2022
(Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Russo-Ukrainian War
- 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Battle of Kharkiv, Battle of Kyiv
- Russian Ground Forces begin targeting gas and oil pipelines outside Kharkiv and Kyiv in hopes of incapacitating their defenses; multiple explosions are reported at an oil depot near Vasylkiv, Kyiv Oblast. (BBC News)
- The Ukrainian Army announces that they remain in control of Kyiv. Additionally, regional governor Oleh Sinegubov announces that Ukraine remains in control of Kharkiv. (India Today) (Daily Sabah)
- A large column of Kyiv-bound Russian tanks northeast of Ivankiv, some 65 km (40 mi) from the capital, was detected on satellite photographs by Maxar Technologies. (Reuters)
- Ukraine's military says it has destroyed a convoy of 56 tanks near the capital Kyiv and killed Chechen General Magomed Tushayev. (Times of Israel)
- Kherson offensive
- Russian troops enter the port city of Berdiansk and seize all administrative buildings, according to the city's mayor. (The Jerusalem Post) (Ukrinform)
- 368,000 refugees have fled Ukraine since the invasion started, according to an estimate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (Euronews)
- Russian President Vladimir Putin orders Russia's nuclear forces placed on high alert, in response to what he dubbed "aggressive statements" by NATO members. (Associated Press)
- Ukraine says that they have used Baykar Bayraktar TB2 drones against Moscow's forces. (The Wall Street Journal)
- The European Union says it will finance €450 million in procurement and delivery of weapons to Ukraine, the first time the EU does so in its history, as well as €50 million in medical supplies. (Reuters)
- Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen allows volunteers to join Ukrainian soldiers to fight against Russia. (Jyllands Posten)
- Battle of Kharkiv, Battle of Kyiv
- 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Syrian civil war
- Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that a Turkish drone has targeted Tell Rifaat near the Aleppo Governorate. No casualties are reported. (Kurdistan 24)
- Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war
Business and economy
- 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
- International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War
- Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States freeze all assets of the Russian Central Bank and the Russian National Wealth Fund under their jurisdiction, preventing the usage of 39% of Russia's $630 billion of foreign exchange reserves. Japan also agrees to do the same. Due to the sanctions already in place (including trade in gold), Russia may have as much as three-quarters of its currency reserves unusable. (Rzeczpospolita) (Japan Times)
- British Petroleum abandons its 19.75% stake in state-owned oil giant Rosneft. (The Daily Telegraph)
- Norway's sovereign fund will divest from all Russian holdings. (Reuters)
- The Russian ruble experiences extreme buy–sell spreads – while the currency exchanges in banks offer a range of 70–90 rubles per US dollar and 80–100 rubles for a euro, sell quotes vary from 100 to over 150 rubles for $1. Panic selling is suspected to be a reason for that. (The Wall Street Journal), (Izvestiya)
- International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War
Disasters and accidents
- 2022 Eastern Australia floods
- Six people are killed and another is missing during heavy floods in Queensland. (7 News)
Health and environment
- COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
- COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong
- Hong Kong reports a record 26,062 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the total of confirmed cases in the territory to 138,955. (The Standard)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand
- The Thailand Public Health Ministry calls for hospitals in Thailand to treat COVID-19 like an endemic instead of a pandemic beginning on March 1. (The Nation)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
- COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state)
- COVID-19 pandemic in New York City
- New York City Mayor Eric Adams announces that the city will lift their vaccine mandate for indoor businesses and dining. It will take effect on March 7. (NBC News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in New York City
- COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Peru
- Travel during the COVID-19 pandemic
- The Peruvian Ministry of Transport and Communications announces that they have extended the suspension of passenger flights from South Africa until March 31. (Andina)
- Travel during the COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
International relations
- Reactions to the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis, International reactions to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russia–Ukraine relations
- Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov says that a Russian delegation has arrived in Gomel, Belarus, to hold talks in an effort to end the war. However, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejects Belarus as the country is a non-neutral party in the conflict, and calls for the talks to be held instead in Warsaw, Bratislava, Istanbul, Budapest or Baku. Ukraine and Russia eventually agree to hold negotiations, which will kick off on the Belarus–Ukraine border near the Pripyat river tomorrow as the Ukrainian delegation takes a detour via Poland for safety reasons. (Belarusian Telegraph Agency) (The Washington Post) (Ukrainska Pravda) (Rzeczpospolita)
- Ukraine sues Russia in the International Court of Justice, seeking an injunction ordering an immediate end to Russian military activities. (Ukrinform)
- The European Union and Canada close their airspaces for Russian aircraft. (Reuters)
- During a meeting aimed to approve a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Russian delegate Oleg Anisimov apologizes to Ukraine and says that there was “no justification” for invading it. (Politico EU)
- Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits
- Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, the foreign minister of Turkey, triggers the wartime clause of the Montreux Convention and limits movements of military vessels whose bases are not on the Black Sea coast. (Reuters)
- Belarus–European Union relations
- The European Union imposes sanctions on Belarus, forbidding the import of some commodities, including timber, steel, oil-derived fuels and cement. (Ekonomichna Pravda) (Reuters)
- Israel–Russia relations, Israel–Ukraine relations
- Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett makes an offer to mediate a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. (Axios)
- Russia–Ukraine relations
- 2021–2022 North Korean missile tests
- North Korea says that it has tested a ballistic missile that entered the sea. (Associated Press)
- China–European Union relations
- China and the European Union will host a virtual summit on April 1 as a effort to deescalate the economic and geopolitical tensions between the two, particularly over Lithuania. (Politico EU)
Law and crime
- Protests against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Anti-war demonstrators in Belarus gather in Minsk to protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine despite Belarus's involvement in the invasion. Around 440 people are detained in the protests. (Times of Israel) (Interfax)
Politics and elections
- 2022 Belarusian constitutional referendum
- Belarus holds a constitutional referendum. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
- 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état
- The ruling military junta of Burkina Faso, the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration, says it is considering beginning a thirty-month transition to democracy. (Bloomberg)
Science and technology
- Reactions to the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis
- The European Union bans the Sputnik news agency and RT (formerly known as Russia Today), both state-sponsored outlets which are widely seen to be peddling Russian propaganda. (Reuters)
Sports
- 2022 FIFA World Cup
- Reactions to the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis
- FIFA strips Russia from its possibility to play under its own flag, but allows to participate under a neutral banner of "Football Union of Russia" (similar to the International Olympic Committee forcing Russian athletes to compete at the Olympics under the name of the Russian Olympic Committee over concerns of Russian athletes cheating by doping on drugs); international soccer matches that would have taken place in Russia may only be played without spectators in other, neutral countries. At the same time, several teams, including all possible play-off opponents for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, refuse to play with the country's team. (The Guardian)
- The Associated Press reveals that Qatar, the host of the World Cup, paid in excess of $10 million for "Project Riverbed", a covert influence campaign in 2012–2014 run by a former CIA operative's company aimed at neutralising Theo Zwanziger's criticism of FIFA's decisionmaking process as regards Qatar's host bid, which he accused of being corrupt. During the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the same company surveilled Amos Adamu, another FIFA's executive committee member (who has since been expelled). (Associated Press)
- Reactions to the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis