Among the strategic sites captured on the first day of the assault was the Chernobyl nuclear power station north of Kyiv, where staff still oversee the plant, though no reactors are in operation 36 years after the world’s worst nuclear accident.

Ukraine is one of the top three buyers of oil from Azerbaijan. The country imported about 337,000 tonnes of crude from Azerbaijan for $196 million in January 2022.

The United Kingdom is ready to guarantee loans of up to $500 million to support Ukraine and mitigate the economic consequences of Russian aggression. Italy is ready to allocate 110 million euros.

Western countries denounced the Russian incursion, launched as the U.N. Security Council was debating the prospect of intervention, and pledged to introduce tough punitive measures on the Kremlin.

The agency said that the CIS sovereigns could be affected given their economic, financial and energy ties with Russia, as well as their generally weak liquidity and external positions.

Krivenko achieved incredible success by focusing his supermarket chain on healthy and responsibly sourced products, as well as local producers. With more than 1,000 stores across Russia, the chain is now among the top-10 food retailers and continues to expand rapidly.