--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Good morning. It's Monday, February 28th. I'm Duarte Giraldino. And I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: There's reports of Russian rocket strikes today in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city. It comes after a weekend of intense fighting as the Russian military attempts to capture both this city and the capital city, Kiev.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So far, this war has not gone Russia's way, though that could all change quickly. The Washington Post reports that both in the air and on the ground, the Russian military has struggled, despite having the second largest air force in the world and a far superior military to Ukraine's.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Russian forces have been met with heavy resistance. Here's Washington Post reporter Sudarsson Raghavan, who spoke to us from the ground in Ukraine.
--:-- Sudarsson Raghavan: The Russians were expected to enter and take over places quickly. In fact, that's what even they vowed to do. But what they instead found, the Russians found, was very determined, very resilient Ukrainian civilians. They've risen up to the challenge and they've slowed the Russian forces down.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Raghavan explains Ukrainians are defiant in the face of long odds. Ordinary civilians have vowed to pick up arms and defend their country. So it's pretty remarkable.
--:-- Sudarsson Raghavan: What we're seeing in the past three days are thousands of Ukrainians, men and women, lining up at police centers and other security service centers to sign up to join these territorial self-defense units. They go in, they sign up, and they walk out with guns.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Many of these civilians, they've had no military training. We spoke to one man, a 31-year-old mechanic the other day, who had never fired a gun and his only knowledge of weaponry was playing video games.
--:-- Sudarsson Raghavan: He was so confident that he could get up and use a gun, even though he's never fired an actual one before. And so you have people like that, too, with zero experience, but just a lot of confidence and a desire, a will to fight against Russian forces to protect their motherland.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And among the people taking to the streets is Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky. Raghavan told us that before the invasion, Zelensky wasn't doing well in the polls. His popularity had been dwindling and he had downplayed the likelihood of a Russian attack.
--:-- Sudarsson Raghavan: But since the Russian invasion, Raghavan says Zelensky become something of a national hero. Probably the most important thing of all he did and which Ukrainian people appreciated is that he didn't flee. He could have easily have fled the country. The Americans offered him to take him out to safety, but he said no. I'm not going to leave. Send me ammunition instead.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Despite being outgunned and outnumbered by Russian forces, Raghavan says morale is fairly high among Ukrainian civilian fighters. They managed to hold off Russian troops over the weekend. And that success is emboldening them.
--:-- Sudarsson Raghavan: There's this determination not to give up. Every Ukrainian who has a gun, who's playing a part in the role is saying, you know, we are going to fight until we die. The Russians are not going to take over our homeland.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Amid reports of Russia's faltering military position, Vladimir Putin announced over the weekend that he was putting his nuclear forces on high alert. Meanwhile, Belarus, which is a Russian ally, is preparing to send soldiers to support the Russian military.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Today is a crucial day in the war. Ukraine and Russia are meeting in the hopes of negotiating a peaceful outcome, although Zelensky says he is not optimistic. He's also asking the EU to fast-track membership for Ukraine to join the European Union, a process that typically takes years.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Let's turn now to the global response to this crisis. Around the world this weekend, people took to the streets to protest Russia's invasion and to call for peace.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Stop Russian aggression! Stop Russian aggression! We want to live in peace! We want to live in peace!
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the United States and European Union are enacting the most aggressive package of sanctions ever levied against a major economy.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Some of these sanctions directly target Vladimir Putin. Some will paralyze the assets of Russia's central bank. And just this morning, the Treasury Department announced it's banning all people in the U.S. and E.U. from doing business with Russia's central bank or its finance ministry.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The goal here is to cut the Kremlin off from international reserves. And there's also a plan to block some Russian institutions from SWIFT. That's the international payment system.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The White House estimates nearly 80 percent of the country's banking assets have been targeted. And we're starting to see the impact of those sanctions. The Russian ruble crashed to a record low against the U.S. dollar this morning, losing as much of a quarter of its value within hours.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Russia's central bank hiked up interest rates, and it closed the Moscow stock exchange for the day because of the developing situation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This morning the European Central Bank declared that a subsidiary of Russia's largest bank is failing or likely to fail.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And we saw videos on social media this weekend of Russians waiting in long lines at ATMs trying to withdraw money.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And oligarchs, they should feel the economic pain too. The U.S. and its allies issued a joint statement saying they would limit access to so-called golden passports. These are the passports that historically have let wealthy Russians connected to the government, become citizens of other countries and gain access to outside financial systems.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Now, the U.S. and its allies said they would set up a task force to ensure sanctions against oligarchs are effectively put in place.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And financial pressure, it isn't just coming from governments. We're also starting to see it come from the private sector. Over the weekend, BP said it would walk away from its 20 percent stake in Russia's state-controlled oil company.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Though the Russian economy pales in comparison to the United States or China's. It's still the world's 11th largest economy, and Russia is one of the world's largest suppliers of natural gas and oil.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So hitting the Russian economy hard could have implications for the global economy too.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are fleeing for other European countries. The Washington Post says the scale of the exodus is one the world hasn't seen in Europe for years.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Thousands of Ukrainians are trying to get into Poland. They're driving, walking, just trying to get to safety. According to the United Nations, this weekend, there was a nine-mile-long line at the country's border with Poland.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Celebrity chef Jose Andres is at the border with his foundation, helping to feed refugees. Here's what he posted on Twitter.
--:-- Jose Andres: The people don't stop arriving. People are cold. Families are cold. They carry with them whatever they can bring. It's really a suitcase, but they are bringing children. It's freezing cold. I don't know how people make it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The United Nations is warning up to 5 million people could become refugees. That's more than 10 percent of the Ukrainian population.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: For the most part, Ukrainians are being welcomed by neighboring countries. Even countries that have been resistant to refugees coming from countries like Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan in the past.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Poland, for example, is in the middle of building a border wall to block refugees and migrants from the Middle East. But this weekend, the interior minister said Poland is prepared to take in Ukrainians.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: It's a similar story in Hungary. President Viktor Orban described past waves of refugees as a threat to his country. His government has been accused of human rights abuses against refugees from the Middle East and Africa.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But in response to Putin's aggression, Hungary announced all Ukrainian citizens and third country nationals legally living in Ukraine will be entitled to protection in Hungary.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And as for the United States, on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said President Biden is, quote, certainly prepared to accept refugees from Ukraine.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Despite many countries welcoming Ukrainians, there is one group of people inside Ukraine who feel like they have nowhere to turn. Students from Africa.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Tens of thousands of students from African countries attend universities in Ukraine. As Business Insider reports, many African students are calling on their embassies and pleading for help.
--:-- Shamita Basu: For many who have tried to leave Ukraine, they find that they're being stopped. The Globe and Mail reports the story of one woman from Ghana who's studying medicine in Ukraine.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And she says she walked for eight hours to reach the Polish border. But when she got there, she was held up. She watched as Ukrainians were allowed to pass through. But she waited in line for nearly two days with little water and nothing to eat.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Eventually, she says, she was allowed to cross.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Let's turn now to some other news stories we're following. Today, the Supreme Court is going to hear a case could have huge consequences for the future of our planet.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The court will decide whether the EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Now, this is significant because the power sector is the second largest source of emissions in the U.S.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Today is the big deadline for Major League Baseball and the Players Union. The two sides have been in contentious contract negotiations.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: If they don't reach a deal today, MLB, which locked out the players back in December, says it will start canceling games for the regular season.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And finally, a man from Texas will be the first January 6th defendant to face a jury. His trial, which begins today, is going to be the first time the Justice Department presents evidence from that day to the public.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: You can find all these stories and more on the Apple News app, where we have all the latest developments coming out of Ukraine.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News Plus partners.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Goodbye for now.
