Mar 2, 2022: According to a report by Reuters, the U.S has announced a closure of its airspace to Russia as the Russian military attempted to encircle and subdue Ukrainian cities with intensifying bombardments on Wednesday, seven days after invasion that has sparked massive international sanctions.

Despite having so far failed to capture a single city since the assault began last Thursday, Russia has shown no sign of stopping an assault that has included strikes on Kyiv and rocket attacks in the second city of Kharkiv. Dozens have been killed as the violence prompted 660,000 Ukrainians to flee neighbouring countries as Russia continues to bombard cities across Ukraine.

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have fled fighting to advance on a mile-long Russian military convoy north of Kyiv. A cruise missile killed four people, including a child, in the western city of Zhytomyr on Tuesday, a Ukrainian official said.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has called on Russia to stop bombing civilians and resume talks.

Ukraine’s health ministry has previously said 352 civilians had been killed during the Russian attack, as of Monday. The figure included 14 children, it said.

Meanwhile, U.S President Joe Biden vowed Russian President Vladimir Putin would pay a heavy price for his decision to invade Ukraine, a Western-leaning democratic country of 44 million people.

“He has no idea what’s coming,” he said in a State of the Union address in the chamber of the House of Representatives.

“Let each of us if you’re able to stand, stand and send an unmistakable signal to Ukraine and to the world.”

Biden said the U.S is imposing powerful sanctions on Russia that are cutting off its banks from the international financial system and “choking” its access to technological imports.

Ukraine, a non-NATO member, has called on the U,S-led military alliance to implement a no-fly zone – a request Washington has rejected, fearing the move will lead to a direct confrontation between the world’s two major nuclear powers.

Washington and its allies have instead sent weapons to Kyiv, and Finance Minister Janet Yellen said the U.S had agreed with its partners to convene a task force to “freeze and seize the assets of key Russian elites.”

The West is shutting down Russia’s economy from the global financial system, forcing international companies to cut sales and suspend operations. Exxon Mobil, along with other major Western energy companies, including British BP PLC and Shell, announced that it would leave oil-rich Russia after the invasion. Apple Inc. has stopped selling iPhones and other products in Russia, and is making changes to its Maps app to protect citizens in Ukraine.

Alphabet Inc.’s Google excluded Russian state publishers from its news, and Ford Motor suspended operations in the country.

Credit card companies including Visa, Mastercard and American Express announced they were blocking Russian banks from their payment networks following international sanctions.

Boeing also joined a host of other American companies who have announced a suspension sales and operations to the country since the launch of a military offensive on Ukraine by Russia.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s air force continued to defy expectations that Russia would achieve swift dominance of the air.

“The airspace is actively contested every day,” a senior US defence official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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