ros atkins has more about ukraine s wartime leader. president zelenskyy addressed the nation. translation: the enemy has marked me as the number one target. my family is the number two target. they want to destroy ukraine politically by destroying the head of state. mr zelenskyy is facing down a nuclear power. four years ago, he was a comedian with a tv series. he played a character who becomes president. that became reality when, with no political experience, he ran for office and he won. it was a landslide victory. he promised to tackle corruption and promising something new. translation: | will vote for zelenskyy because there is hope that this man who comes from the people can better understand us and break the system that exists in the country. but, to his critics, this was a man without the necessary substance. translation: i don t think he or the other candidates l will stand up to putin. they willjust have a laugh, drop to their knees and give him ukraine. that has not happ
really rather striking. we of society, notjust politics. it is really rather striking. of society, notjust politics. it is really rather striking. we are also heaļ¬na really rather striking. we are also hearing reports really rather striking. we are also hearing reports from really rather striking. we are also hearing reports from eu - really rather striking. we are also hearing reports from eu officialsl hearing reports from eu officials that an eu wide flight ban for russian flights could be part of a fresh sanctions on moscow. the question really is whether president putin has the support that he needs internally to continue with this operation and what sort of pressure he would likely to yield to, if any? this is the really difficult question, i don t think anyone can answer it. at the moment, mr putin is bullish about sanctions. this morning, state television has been saying that the central bank it is ready to make sure that everything will be ok, that citizens won t notice
a very confusing picture and it is a continuation of what we have seen from the kremlin in recent days, a lot of obfuscation and confusion around whether or not russia really is prepared to negotiate. vladimir putin has also issued a statement this morning thanking russian troops in ukraine, calling what they are doing their courageous and i want to bring you a little bit of breaking news because the internationaljudo federation has announced that the russian president is to be suspended or has been suspended as its honorary president. that might sound rather facile. suspended as its honorary president. that might sound ratherfacile. mr putin is a black belt enthusiast, he likes to show off his judo skills, but i think it is yet another illustration of how isolated he is increasingly becoming, notjust politically but also in terms of sport, in terms of culture, the disapproval coming in from around the world from all different sectors of society, notjust politics. it is
putin, who is a friend of schroeder s. he was at birthday parties with him and putin was at schroeder s birthday parties and people now view him as toxic. there were suggestions this week that possibly schroeder could negotiate with putin but i think those bridges were burned when schroeder posted something on social media saying that he condemned the war but mistakes have been made on both sides, and didn t name putin by name and i think, for many germans, that was a bridge too far and many are saying schroeder needs to cut all ties with russia and possibly even be sanctioned, so pretty tough words all round. damien mcguinness in berlin, thank you very much. well, here, the uk foreign secretary has urged the russian start to escalate the conflict and said the uk is looking at what more it can do to support ukraine. prime minister boris johnson has said the west is tightening the economic ligature around putin s russia as the allies
unveiled new measures to hit its financial system. the uk, the eu, america and canada have agreed to exclude certain russian banks from the swift international payment system among other new sanctions. chris mason has the details. anger at president putin s actions is growing around the world. this was westminster yesterday. late last night, further international action. some russian banks will be removed from an international payment system called swift, which acts like a financial artery, making payments around the world quicker and easier, and russia s central bank faces restrictions too. all of these measures will significantly harm putin s ability to finance his war. putin embarked on a path aiming to destroy ukraine. but what he is also doing, in fact, is destroying the future of his own country. meanwhile in the uk,