Ukraine. Day eight. What's happening now. Updated

On the night of February 24, Vladimir Putin announced the start of a “special military operation” in Ukraine with the aim of “protecting the residents of Donbass.”

We continue to monitor the main events in our online. Read about how events developed online for February 24 . About the main events on February 25 here

We reported on the events of the third day online here.

We were forced to delete the online video dedicated to the fifth day of hostilities at the request of Roskomnadzor. You can read the main events of the sixth day here. Online for March 2 is available at this link.

Main:

The United States is closing its airspace to aircraft from Russia. President Joe Biden said that “Putin’s war with Ukraine will make Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger.” At the same time, Biden promised that American troops would not fight on Ukrainian territory.

More than a million people left Ukraine after the outbreak of hostilities. This was announced by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

The European Union disconnected VTB, Rossiya and Otkrytie banks from SWIFT, as well as Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Sovcombank and VEB.RF. VTB said that the shutdown will not affect service to Russian clients.

For the first time, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the figures for the losses of the Russian army during the fighting in Ukraine. According to the department, 498 Russian soldiers and officers were killed, and another 1,597 people were wounded.

The second round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine is scheduled for March 3, it will take place in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The delegations will discuss, among other things, a ceasefire. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov named Russia’s main demands at these negotiations: recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, recognition of the DPR and LPR within the borders of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, demilitarization and “denazification” of Ukraine.