The Banking Executive Magazine - April 2022 Issue

Who Owns World Resources? GLOBAL WAR AND COVID-19 SPREAD This section overviews key facts and figure of Russia war on Ukraine, the related cyber war and social media misinformation, and the rising COVID-19 spread from this war. War Facts and Figures Russia launched a full-scale military invasion into Ukraine on February 24, 2022. This has caused over nine hundred civilian deaths and pushed millions of Ukrainians to flee to neighbouring countries. On February 24, 2022 Putin an- nounced the beginning of a full-scale land, sea, and air invasion of Ukraine targeting Ukrainian military assets and cities across the country. Biden declared this attack “unprovoked and unjustified” and has since issued severe sanctions in coordination with European allies targeting four of Rus- sia’s largest banks, its oil and gas in- dustry, and United States technology exports to the country. The United Nations, Group of seven G7, European Union EU, and other countries continue to condemn Russ- ian actions and support Ukrainian forces. In an emergency United Na- tions session, 141 of 193 member- states voted to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and demanded that Russia immediately cease its use of force in Ukraine. The United States has issued escalating sanctions on the financial assets of Putin and Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign min- ister, removing Russian banks from the global SWIFT financial messag- ing system, and banning United States imports of Russian oil and nat- ural gas. Direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have continued with Russia announcing in late March 2022 that it would reduce military activity near Kyiv and Chernihiv. Meanwhile, Russian forces continue to combat the major Ukrainian cities. Several Russian long-range missile strikes have caused significant dam- age to Ukrainian military assets, urban residential areas, and commu- nication and transportation infra- structure. Hospitals and residential complexes had also sustained shelling and bombing attacks. Civil- ians in Mariupol, a port city in south eastern Ukraine, have been facing an ongoing humanitarian crisis with acute shortages of food, water, and heat. Russian forces have surrounded the city for weeks with aerial bom- ISSUE 160 APRIL 2022 the BANKING EXECUTIVE 15