Russia-Ukraine war latest news: rouble crashes as markets open; US condemns Putin’s nuclear deterrence order – live updates

The rouble plunged nearly 30% to an all-time low versus the US dollar on Monday as markets opened for trading on the first day after western nations announced punishing economic sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

The rouble dropped to as low as 119 per dollar, and was last down 28.77% at 118 from its closing price 83.64 on Friday.

The sanctions include blocking some Russian banks from the Swift international payments system, leading investors to anticipate a run on the Russian currency as people try to change their money for dollars and other denominations.

“The escalating crisis in Ukraine will force markets to price in a substantially higher geopolitical risk premium,” strategists at the Australian bank Westpac said on Monday. “The Ukrainian situation is volatile.”

Amid the mounting tensions, western nations have said they will tighten sanctions and buy and deliver weapons for Ukraine, including Stinger missiles for shooting down helicopters and other aircraft.

The US stepped up the flow of weapons to Ukraine, announcing on Sunday it will send Stinger missiles as part of a package approved by the White House.

Germany also plans to send 500 Stingers and other military supplies.

However, the Biden administration has said the US will not “put boots on the ground” and US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield reiterated this stance in an interview with CNN on Sunday.

“We will not give up the capital, Ukraine is already winning,” are the remarks Ukraine’s minister of defence has given this morning in response Russia’s attempt to break into the capital overnight.

Oleksii Reznikov said it has so far been “96 hours of resistance” and “4 days of dedication, courage and faith” for the Ukrainian people, vowing his country will win the war.

In an statement given late last night which has seen been published on the Ukrainian ministry of defence website, Reznikov said: “The enemy who came to our land will go in a known direction. Therefore, we advise the occupiers to go home. It’s not too late.

“It is useless to intimidate Ukrainians. It will not be possible to break our defenders.”

Amid reports of a referendum in Belarus approving a proposal to renounce its non-nuclear status, a US official believes Belarus is preparing to send soldiers into Ukraine in support of the Russian invasion.

The Washington Post spoke to an unnamed US administration official on Sunday evening who said the deployment could begin as soon as Monday.

It’s very clear Minsk is now an extension of the Kremlin,” they said.

The Guardian has not been able to independently verify the claim.

A referendum in Belarus on Sunday reportedly approved a new constitution renouncing the country’s non-nuclear status at a time when the former Soviet republic has become a launch pad for Russian troops invading Ukraine, Russian news agencies report.

The move could theoretically allow Russia to place nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil for the first time since the country gave them up after the fall of the Soviet Union. The referendum result will come into force 10 days after its official publication, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.

On Sunday, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said: “If you [the west] transfer nuclear weapons to Poland or Lithuania, to our borders, then I will turn to Putin to return the nuclear weapons that I gave away without any conditions.”

According to RIA, the head of the Belarus central elections commission, Igor Karpenko, said that 65.16% of citizens voted for the amendments to the constitution in a referendum.

This number was also reported in the Kyiv Independent newspaper, also citing that 65.16% of citizens allegedly supported these constitutional amendments.

The west has already said it will not recognise the results of the referendum, which is taking place against the background of a sweeping crackdown on domestic opponents of the government.

An update from Ukraine’s interior ministry late last night said 352 Ukrainian civilians have so far been killed during Russia’s invasion, including 14 children.

The ministry said an additional 1,684 people, including 116 children, have been wounded.

Blasts were heard in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and in the major city of Kharkiv early on Monday morning, Ukraine’s state service of special communications reported.

Kyiv had been quiet for a few hours prior to that, it said in a brief statement on the Telegram messaging app.

“Explosions are heard again in Kyiv and Kharkiv. Before that, it was calm in the Ukrainian capital for several hours,” the agency said.

The mood in the city, however, remains defiant.

Meanwhile, about 150km north-east of Kyiv in Chernihiv, a missile reportedly hit a residential building in the centre of the city, causing a fire to break out, Ukraine’s state service of special communications also reported.

“A rocket hit a residential building in the centre of Chernihiv. A fire broke out, two lower floors are on fire. The number of injured is currently unknown,” the agency said in a brief statement on the Telegram messaging app.

The development follows reports from the Kyiv Independent newspaper of an air raid alert that sounded in the city about 4.30am local time with residents being urged to head to the nearest shelter.

Hello it’s Samantha Lock with you as we unpack all the latest developments on the unfolding crisis in Ukraine.

As dawn breaks in Kyiv and Ukrainians across the country wake for the fifth day since their Russian neighbour invaded, here is where the situation currently stands:

For any tips and feedback please contact me through Twitter or at samantha.lock@theguardian.com

• Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered his military command to put nuclear deterrence forces on high alert, in response to what he called “aggressive statements” by Nato countries. The US condemned the order and said Putin was “manufacturing threats that don’t exist in order to justify further aggression”.
• The rouble plunged nearly 30% to an all-time low versus the US dollar on Monday as markets opened for trading on the first day after western nations announced punishing economic sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. The European Central Bank said on Monday morning that Sberbank Europe, a fully owned subsidiary of Sberbank Russia, which in turn is majority owned by the Russian state, is failing or likely to fail.
• Belarus reportedly approved in a referendum a new constitution renouncing the country’s non-nuclear status at a time when the country has become a launch pad for Russian troops invading Ukraine, Russian news agencies report. The move could theoretically allow Russia to place nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil for the first time since the country gave them up after the fall of the Soviet Union. The package of constitutional reforms also extended the rule of leader Alexander Lukashenko.
• Ukraine’s interior ministry says 352 Ukrainian civilians have been killed during Russia’s invasion, including 14 children. It says an additional 1,684 people, including 116 children, have been wounded. The ministry did not give any information on casualties among Ukraine’s armed forces. Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Malyar, claimed Russian forces had lost about 4,300 servicemen, a figure it was not possible to verify independently.
• Satellite imagery taken on Sunday showed a large deployment of Russian ground forces including tanks moving in the direction of the capital Kyiv from approximately 40 miles (64 km) away. The city remains in Ukrainian hands. The images released by Maxar Technologies showed a deployment comprising hundreds of military vehicles and extending more than 3.25 miles (5km), the company said. The convoy contained fuel, logistics and armoured vehicles including tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and self-propelled artillery, it said.
• Ukraine has agreed to peace talks with Russia “without preconditions”, the office of Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. The Ukrainian president said he was not confident that any progress would be made, but “let’s try, so that no citizen of Ukraine would have any doubt that I, as president, tried to stop the war when there was even a chance”.
• British prime minister Boris Johnson said he called the Ukrainian president who said he believed the next 24 hours was a “crucial period” for Ukraine. Johnson said he would do all he could to help ensure defensive aid from the UK and allies reached Ukraine.
• The EU will buy weapons for Ukraine. Multiple European countries are offering military aid to Ukraine, including Sweden, which hasn’t sent weapons to a country in armed conflict since the Soviet Union’s invasion of Finland in 1939.
• The EU plans to close its airspace to Russian aircraft, including the private jets of Russian oligarchs. The bloc will also ban Russian-state backed television channels RT and Sputnik.
• A rare emergency special session of the UN general assembly is due to be held on Monday in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, marking the first time in 40 years the security council has made such a request.
• The UN refugee agency has said more than 368,000 people have fled Ukraine into neighbouring countries. Up to 4 million people could become refugees if the situation continues to worsen, the UN said.
• The World Health Organization warned that thousands of lives are at risk from falling Ukrainian oxygen supplies.
• Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Oleg Deripaska have spoken out against Putin’s invasion. Fridman said: “I am deeply attached to Ukrainian and Russian peoples and see the current conflict as a tragedy for them both.” Deripaska called for peace talks to begin “as fast as possible”.
• Pope Francis said he was “heartbroken” by the war and appeared to take direct aim at Putin by condemning people who “trust in the diabolic and perverse logic of weapons”.
• The UK will send an additional £40m in humanitarian aid to Ukraine, while the US said it is sending nearly $54m (£40m) in new humanitarian aid
• Russian police detained more than 1,400 people at anti-war protests on Sunday, an independent monitoring organisation said, lifting the tally for crackdown arrests to over 4,000.