Live updates: follow the latest news on Russia-Ukraine
Poland and Nato on Tuesday ruled out sending fighter jets to help Ukraine fend off a Russian offensive, but finance chiefs from the world's top economies said the sanctions imposed in place of military retaliation were "hitting Vladimir Putin's war chest".
It came on a sixth day of war in Ukraine, when missiles were fired at the city of Kharkiv and a Russian military convoy rolled towards the capital, Kiev. A defiant President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a speech to the European Parliament: "Nobody is going to break us".
Ukraine is receiving military hardware shipped through Nato member Poland, which is acting as a logistical hub. But Polish President Andrzej Duda and Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on a visit to a Polish airbase that the alliance was not a party to the conflict and would not provide combat jets.
"We are supporting Ukrainians with humanitarian aid. However, we are not going to send any jets to the Ukrainian airspace," said Mr Duda, dismissing claims that dozens were coming. His response did not appear to answer suggestions that Ukrainian pilots could take control of the fighter jets in Poland.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the European Union of ushering in a "Russophobic frenzy" by financing weapons exports to Ukraine. It came in a speech to the Human Rights Council in Geneva during which more than 100 diplomats walked out in protest at the incursion.
Mr Lavrov was unable to travel to Geneva because of airspace closures that formed part of a wide package of sanctions imposed by western powers, in what Britain described to the same council in Geneva as a "chorus of condemnation" towards Moscow.
Finance ministers from G7 countries held talks with their Ukrainian counterpart on Tuesday and declared themselves satisfied with how financial sanctions on Russia were hitting home, said Germany's Christian Lindner, who chaired the virtual meeting.
Sanctions on Russia's central bank and financial markets were "already surpassing expectations" and "Vladimir Putin's war chest is being severely hit," Mr Lindner said.
He said the ministers had discussed possible further sanctions and considered whether Russia could keep being represented in international institutions such as the G20. It was banished from what was formerly the G8 after its annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Ukraine wants the EU to show further solidarity by granting it immediate admission to the bloc, a demand renewed on Tuesday by Mr Zelenskyy in his speech that drew a standing ovation from MEPs and top European officials.
Mr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was "giving away its best people" and described Russian cruise missiles hitting the city of Kharkiv on the sixth day of the incursion. An interpreter fought back tears as he said: "This is the price of freedom".
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said Ukraine "belongs in our European family" but said there was "still a long path ahead" to full membership.
Polish aid
Asked in Poland if his country would give jets to Ukraine, Mr Duda said: “We are not joining that conflict, Nato is not a party to that conflict."
Speaking before Mr Duda, Mr Stoltenberg said: “Nato is not going to be part of the conflict. Nato is not going to send troops into Ukraine or move planes into Ukrainian airspace.
But he said it was for Mr Duda to comment on Polish planes being made available to Ukrainian pilots.
Mr Stoltenberg said the Russian president had “shattered peace in Europe” through the “unjustified and brutal invasion of Ukraine”.
"Russia must immediately stop the war, pull out all its forces from Ukraine and engage in good faith in diplomatic efforts. The world stands with Ukraine in calling for peace,” he said.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Poland on Tuesday to hold talks in Warsaw, where he said the talks he preferred to resolve the conflict were "impossible at this moment".
"How can you negotiate with somebody whose tanks are rolling towards Kiev and who is bombing innocent civilians?" Mr Johnson said from the Polish capital.
"We must get over that key point that this is not Russia's war, not the Russian people's war, this is Putin's war. And that's been increasingly obvious from everything that he has said and written in the last year," he said.
Mr Johnson said his intention was to protect the people of Ukraine and do "everything we can" to allow Ukrainians to "defend themselves and to have a sovereign, independent Ukraine".
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Children who witnessed blood bath want to help others
Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.
As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.
Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.
“It was very horrible for her. She saw her mum, dying, just next to her eyes. But now she just wants to go forward,” said Khulood, speaking about how her eldest daughter was dealing with the trauma of the incident five years ago. “She is saying, 'mama, I want to be a lawyer, I want to help people achieve justice'.”
Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.
“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”
Khulood’s son, Saeed, was nine in 2014 and slept through the attack. While he did not witness the trauma, this made it more difficult for him to understand what had happened. He has ambitions to become an engineer.
Skoda Superb Specs
Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol
Power: 190hp
Torque: 320Nm
Price: From Dh147,000
Available: Now
LIVING IN...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Kandahar%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ric%20Roman%20Waugh%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%C2%A0%3C%2Fstrong%3EGerard%20Butler%2C%20Navid%20Negahban%2C%20Ali%20Fazal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
FA%20Cup%20semi-final%20draw
%3Cp%3ECoventry%20City%20v%20Manchester%20United%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EManchester%20City%20v%20Chelsea%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20Games%20to%20be%20played%20at%20Wembley%20Stadium%20on%20weekend%20of%20April%2020%2F21.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
