revolution that happens just to my left on independence square, which is looking pretty empty at the moment, and ukrainians, the majority of ukraine has their sense of national identity galvanised when russia becomes more and more aggressive, and the events of this morning have been no different. this morning have been no different- this morning have been no different. ., , ., different. now, we understand and we can different. now, we understand and we can see different. now, we understand and we can see from different. now, we understand and we can see from flight - and we can see from flight tracking websites, that the airspace above ukraine is completely devoid of aircraft today after this military operation was authorised by vladimir putin. we have also heard reports of the airport outside kyiv where you are closing and potentially there might be some trouble around there. we have heard of gunfire. how do the people of ukraine feel right now? how isolated, or do they feel g
bags, those emergency bags they would grab if this day would come, there are apps that show where air raid shelters are, underground bars and restaurants and the like, we speak to ukrainians who say they would fight because for them it is a battle for the home, their identity, their sovereignty. long has been, but this has been the worry. since last april when troops started to gather around ukraine and beyond, there have been eight years of sustained russian aggression. that has included a war in the east of the country where more than 14,000 ukrainians have lost their lives. that has included frequent cyber attacks on the country s infrastructure. there was another large one yesterday with some official websites, state banks were affected. the reason for the sustained aggression is it was triggered by the last pro moscow president being toppled from power through popular
seak imposing those sanctions. let s s - eak to imposing those sanctions. let s speak to professor imposing those sanctions. let s speak to professor sam - imposing those sanctions. let s speak to professor sam greene, director of the russia institute at king s college london. he is in north carolina in the us. thank you for joining us. we were talking about the effectiveness of sanctions used so far against russia. how do you see the ramping up of sanctions over the next 24 hours against russia, how effective do you think they will be in preventing any more escalation of this offensive in ukraine? at the moment it is hard to imagine what more escalation will look like. we seem to be in the early hours of a full escalation of ukraine. putin has announced a plan to demilitarised or as he puts it denazify ukraine. if us and eu
havens, but is anywhere that is the question and investors here are closely watching how this could impact asia as well because of course for both russia and ukraine, for both russia and ukraine, for example, china is the biggest export market and they have been interesting observations about how oil and gas will not be sold to europe but china may be willing to buy more from russia. at the same time, russia has its own economy interests. it is part of the belt and rode initiative. china and russia have been working together on a lot of infrastructure projects as well so it has been quite a tricky balancing act from beijing in terms of what has been happening in eastern europe. other countries, japan for example, thank it will likelyjoin us and its allies
choose freely who would run the country. it seems contrary to many of the actions that he has taken over the last 2a, 36 hours. taken over the last 24, 36 hours. , ., ., taken over the last 24, 36 hours. , . . , , hours. yes, again, it is very difficult hours. yes, again, it is very difficult to hours. yes, again, it is very difficult to know, hours. yes, again, it is very difficult to know, but - hours. yes, again, it is very difficult to know, but the i difficult to know, but the other thing we should bear in mind is consistently we have heard from western analysts saying for president putin, he doesn t necessarily view ukraine as being an independent nation to russia. there has been discussion over the last few days where president putin made a 65 minutes televised address before he recognised the separatist held areas where he talked about the idea that is an ukraine was, in his words, ancient russian land, talking about a history lesson from the 17th century through to the s