World leaders have reacted to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with raw outrage – and vows of unprecedented sanctions – that shrouded a sense of powerlessness to defend Ukraine militarily without running the risk of a wider war in Europe.
Nato had already reinforced its eastern flank facing Russia and planned a virtual summit of its leaders on Friday after President Vladimir Putin warned that any interference from other countries would lead to “consequences you have never seen in history”.
European Union and Nato member Lithuania declared a state of emergency since the Baltic nation borders Russia’s Kaliningrad region to the south west and Russia’s ally Belarus to the east.
Nato countries had 100 jets and 120 ships on high alert as a deterrent.
“Make no mistake: We will defend every ally against any attack on every inch of Nato territory,” said Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Mr Stoltenberg both called the invasion a “barbaric” attack on an independent nation that threatened “the stability in Europe and the whole of the international peace order”.
The EU scheduled an emergency summit in Brussels.
But no-one promised to move in militarily and defend Ukraine at the risk of touching off a bigger European war.
Ukraine is not a Nato member, and the US and its Western allies have said for weeks that they would not send troops into the country.
The goal instead is to make Moscow pay so high a price by other means that the Kremlin will change course.
“Our mission is clear: Diplomatically, politically, economically and eventually militarily, this hideous and barbaric venture of Vladimir Putin must end in failure,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Almost all of the world – but not China – condemned the attack and threatened to hit the Russian elites with, in the words of the EU president, “massive and targeted sanctions”.
Ms von der Leyen said she would put to EU leaders late on Thursday a proposal that would target strategic sectors of the Russian economy by blocking access to key technologies and markets.
She said the sanctions, if approved, “will weaken Russia’s economic base and its capacity to modernise. And in addition, we will freeze Russian assets in the European Union and stop the access of Russian banks to European financial markets”.
“We want to cut off Russia’s industry from the technologies desperately needed today to build the future,” Ms von der Leyen said.
She said all Western powers are in lockstep on the crisis.
US President Joe Biden has already convened a morning meeting of his National Security Council in Washington to assess the situation.
Highlighting a widening rift in superpower relations, China stood alone in failing to condemn the attack and instead accused the United States and its allies of worsening the crisis.
China went further and approved imports of wheat from Russia, a move that could reduce the impact of Western sanctions.
Russia, one of the biggest wheat producers, would be vulnerable if foreign markets were closed off.
In a clear defence of Moscow, China “called on parties to respect others’ legitimate security concerns”.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that “all parties should work for peace instead of escalating the tension or hyping up the possibility of war”, in language China has consistently used to criticise the West in the crisis.
One thing was clear – weeks of diplomatic cajoling, global crisscrossing of leaders and foreign ministers, and the threat of sanctions against Mr Putin’s inner circle had failed to persuade the Kremlin to take one of the most significant measures in Europe since the end of the Cold War.
The turmoil set off by the attack rippled from Europe to Asia.
Stock markets plunged, oil prices surged, and European aviation officials warned of the danger to civilian aircraft over Ukraine amid the fighting.
Oil prices climbed by more than five dollars per barrel.
Brent crude briefly jumped above 100 dollars per barrel in London for the first time since 2014 over fears of a disruption of supplies from Russia, the number three producer.
The possible repercussions extended well beyond economics and geopolitics.
The director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention worried that the crisis will further distract global attention from helping the world’s least vaccinated continent fight Covid-19.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said European Union leaders need to adopt sanctions that will be strong enough to impact the Russian economy and the country’s military industrial complex.
“We don’t need sanctions that bark, we need sanctions that bite,” Mr De Croo said upon his arrival at an urgent meeting of EU leaders in Brussels to discuss a new package of measures targeting Russia.
Mr De Croo said the main goal of the sanctions should be to make it hard for Russian financial institutions to access international markets.
Asked whether Russia should be expelled from the Swift payment system financial system that moves money from bank to bank around the world, Mr De Croo said he is open for discussions on that topic.
