Putin hits back at sanctions with oil payment changes | Reuters
Russian forces bombed areas of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Wednesday as Western leaders began gathering in Brussels to plan more measures to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt his month-old campaign.
Putin, responding to a welter of Western sanctions that have hit Russia's economy hard and frozen its assets, said Moscow planned to switch its gas sales to "unfriendly" countries to roubles - a move that alarmed international markets.
And in a sign of cracks in Moscow's ranks, a veteran aide to Putin, Anatoly Chubais, resigned over the Ukraine war and has left Russia with no intention to return, two sources said. He was the first senior official to break with the Kremlin since Putin launched his invasion on Feb. 24.
Although the invasion force has stalled in some areas and Ukrainian resistance has thwarted its hopes for a swift victory, Russian artillery and war planes maintained their bombardments on several cities while civilians sheltered underground.
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