Vladimir Putin told his Turkish counterpart that Kyiv must to agree to his demands if fighting is to end, lowering hopes for progress at a third round of Ukraine-Russia talks that could happen as soon as Monday but isn’t yet confirmed.
An evacuation from the southern city of Mariupol has been halted for a second day, with Ukrainian officials claiming that Russia again violated a temporary cease-fire deal brokered to allow the safe passage of civilians. An aid group called conditions in the city “catastrophic." Over 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion, the UN said on Sunday, chiefly to Poland and Moldova.
Putin signed a decree Saturday allowing Russia and Russian companies to pay some of their foreign creditors in rubles, in a bid to avoid defaults. Russia’s biggest lender is looking for a workaround after the credit card issuers Visa and Mastercard said they’re suspending operations in Russia.
Russia’s biggest lender, Sberbank PJSC, said it’s looking at the possibility of issuing cards using the domestic payments system Mir and China’s UnionPay after credit card giants Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. suspended operations there.
The move could allow Russians to make some payments overseas, since state-owned UnionPay operates in 180 countries and regions. Visa and Mastercard said that any transactions initiated with their cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside the country from March 10.
