Portal:Current events/2022 February 27

February 27, 2022 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Russo-Ukrainian War
- 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
  - Battle of Kharkiv, Battle of Kyiv
    - Russian Ground Forces begin targeting gas and oil pipelines outside Kharkiv and Kyiv in an attempt to incapacitate their defenses, with multiple explosions being reported at an oil depot near Vasylkiv, Kyiv Oblast. (BBC News)
    - The Ukrainian Army announces that they remain in control of Kyiv. Additionally, regional governor Oleh Synyehubov announces that Ukraine remains in control of Kharkiv. (India Today) (Daily Sabah)
    - Ukraine's military says that it has destroyed a convoy of 56 tanks near the capital Kyiv and killed Chechen General Magomed Tushayev. (Times of Israel)
  - Kherson offensive
    - Russian troops enter the port city of Berdiansk and seize all administrative buildings, according to the city's mayor. (The Jerusalem Post) (Ukrinform)
  - 368,000 refugees have fled Ukraine since the invasion started, according to an estimate by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (Euronews)
  - Russian President Vladimir Putin orders Russia's nuclear forces placed on high alert, in response to what he considered "aggressive statements" by NATO members. (AP)
  - Ukraine says that they have used Baykar Bayraktar TB2 drones against Russian forces. (The Wall Street Journal)
  - The European Union says that it will provide fighter aircraft and finance €500 million in procurement and delivery of weapons to Ukraine, the first time that the EU has done so. The EU will also provide €50 million in medical supplies. (Ukrinform) (Reuters)
  - Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen allows volunteers to join Ukrainian soldiers to fight against Russia. (Jyllands Posten)
Syrian civil war
- Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war
  - The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that a Turkish drone has targeted Tell Rifaat near the Aleppo Governorate. No casualties are reported. (Kurdistan 24)

Business and economy

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
- International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War
  - Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan freeze all assets of the Russian Central Bank and the Russian National Wealth Fund under their jurisdiction, preventing the usage of more than a third of Russia's $630 billion of foreign exchange reserves. (Rzeczpospolita) (The Japan Times)
  - British Petroleum liquidates its 19.75% stake in Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft. (The Daily Telegraph)
  - Norway's sovereign fund will divest its Russian holdings. (Reuters)
  - The Russian ruble experiences extreme buy–sell spreads. While the currency exchanges in banks offer a range of 70–90 rubles per US dollar and 80–100 rubles per euro, sell quotes vary from 100 rubles to over 150 rubles for 1 US dollar. Panic selling is suspected as a reason for the fluctuations. (The Wall Street Journal) (Izvestiya)

Disasters and accidents

2022 Eastern Australia floods
- Six people are killed and another is missing during heavy floods in Queensland. (7 News)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong
    - Hong Kong reports a record 26,062 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the territory to 138,955. (The Standard)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand
    - The Thailand Public Health Ministry calls for hospitals in Thailand to treat COVID-19 like an endemic instead of a pandemic beginning on March 1. (The Nation)
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
  - COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in New York City
      - New York City Mayor Eric Adams announces that the city will lift their vaccine mandate for indoor businesses and dining on March 7. (NBC News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Peru, Travel during the COVID-19 pandemic
  - The Peruvian Ministry of Transport and Communications announces that they have extended the suspension of passenger flights from South Africa until March 31. (Andina)

International relations

Reactions to the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis, International reactions to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russia–Ukraine relations
  - Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov says that a Russian delegation has arrived in Gomel, Belarus, to hold talks as part of an effort to end the war. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejects Belarus as the country is a non-neutral party in the conflict. Ukraine and Russia eventually agree to hold negotiations on the Belarus–Ukraine border near the Pripyat river tomorrow as the Ukrainian delegation is travelling to the location via Poland for safety reasons. (Belarusian Telegraph Agency) (The Washington Post) (Ukrainska Pravda) (Rzeczpospolita)
  - Ukraine sues Russia in the International Court of Justice, seeking an injunction ordering an immediate end to Russian military activities. (Ukrinform)
  - During a meeting intended to approve a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Russian delegate Oleg Anisimov apologizes to Ukraine and says that there was "no justification" for invading Ukraine. (Politico.eu)
- Russia–European Union relations, Canada–Russia relations
  - The European Union and Canada close their airspaces to Russian aircraft. (Reuters)
- Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits
  - Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, the foreign minister of Turkey, triggers the wartime clause of the Montreux Convention and limits movements of military vessels whose bases are not on the Black Sea coast. (Reuters)
- Belarus–European Union relations
  - The European Union imposes sanctions on Belarus, forbidding the import of some commodities, including timber, steel, oil-derived fuels and cement. (Ekonomichna Pravda) (Reuters)
- Israel–Russia relations, Israel–Ukraine relations
  - Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett offers to mediate a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. (Axios)
- Germany–Ukraine relations
  - Germany announces it will send weapons to Ukraine. (The Wall Street Journal)
2021–2022 North Korean missile tests
- North Korea says that it has tested a ballistic missile that entered the sea. (AP)
China–European Union relations
- China and the European Union will host a virtual summit on April 1 as part of an effort to deescalate the economic and geopolitical tensions between the two governments, particularly with respect to Lithuania. (Politico.eu)

Law and crime

Protests against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Anti-war demonstrators gather in Minsk, Belarus, to protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine despite Belarus's involvement in the invasion. Around 440 people are detained in the protests. (Times of Israel) (Interfax)

Politics and elections

2022 Belarusian constitutional referendum
- Belarus holds a constitutional referendum. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état
- The ruling military junta of Burkina Faso, the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration, says that it is considering beginning a thirty-month transition to democracy. (Bloomberg)

Science and technology

Reactions to the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis
- Censorship in the European Union
  - The European Union bans the Sputnik news agency and RT, both state-sponsored news outlets which are widely considered to be promoting Russian propaganda. (Reuters)

Sports

Reactions to the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis
- Boycott of Russia and Belarus
  - FIFA prohibits Russia from playing under its own flag, but will allow the country to compete under a neutral banner of "Football Union of Russia", which is similar to how the International Olympic Committee requires Russian athletes to compete at the Olympics under the name of the Russian Olympic Committee. International football matches that would have taken place in Russia may only be played without spectators in other, neutral countries. However, several teams, including all possible playoff opponents for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, refuse to compete against the Russian team. (The Guardian)
  - The International Judo Federation suspends Russian president Vladimir Putin's titles as the honorary president and ambassador of the federation, "in light of the ongoing war... in Ukraine". (AFP via RFI)
  - Latvian ice hockey club Dinamo Riga withdraws from the Kontinental Hockey League in protest of the invasion, joining Finland club Jokerit. (Sportsnet)
2022 FIFA World Cup
- The Associated Press reveals that Qatar, the host of the World Cup, paid more than $10 million for "Project Riverbed", a covert influence campaign run between 2012 and 2014 by a former CIA operative's company, which was aimed at neutralising Theo Zwanziger's criticism of FIFA's decision making process for Qatar's host bid, which Zwanziger accused of being corrupt. (AP)
2022 EFL Cup Final
- Liverpool beat Chelsea 11–10 in a penalty shoot-out at Wembley Stadium to win the 2021–22 EFL Cup and claim a record ninth cup title. (The Guardian)