Biden and EU use 'financial nuclear option' and REMOVES Russian banks from SWIFT network: Task force will target oligarchs and their 'yachts, luxury apartments and ability to send their kids to fancy colleges in the West'

 The US and its Western allies announced on Saturday a new raft of crippling sanctions on Moscow, as they promised to ban key Russian banks from the international SWIFT banking network and impose restrictions on the Russian Central Bank.

They will also set up a transatlantic taskforce to go after sanctioned oligarchs, 'their yachts, luxury apartments, their money and their ability to send their kids to fancy colleges in the West,' said a senior Biden administration official.

US officials said the steps were designed to send the ruble into 'free fall' and trigger soaring inflation in the Russian economy.

The moves will be welcomed in Ukraine, which saw isolating Russian banks as a key way to choke off financing and punish Moscow for its invasion. 

The announcement came as Russian troops battled Ukrainian forces on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv. 

Officials said cutting Russian banks off the system will stop them from conducting most of their financial transactions worldwide and effectively block Russian exports and imports.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said it would prevent Putin using his 'war chest.' 

In a joint statement, the US, European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Canada said: 'We will hold Russia to account and collectively ensure that this war is a strategic failure for Putin.' 

A raft of measures will be implemented in the coming days, they said. 

'First, we commit to ensuring that selected Russian banks are removed from the SWIFT messaging system. This will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and harm their ability to operate globally,' they continued.

'Second, we commit to imposing restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions.'

In Washington, a senior administration officials said the governments were following the 'Iran model' of cutting off Moscow's banks. 

'This coming week, we will launch a multilateral transatlantic task force to identify, hunt down and freeze the assets of sanctioned Russian companies, oligarchs, their yachts and their mansions and any ill gotten gains that we can find and freeze under the law,' he said.

This week, the administration delivered a raft of sanctions on key oligarchs and people close to Putin.  

They include former chief of staff Sergei Ivanov; Andrey Patrushev, a Putin ally who has held high-ranking positions at the state-owned Gazprom Neft; and former Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, chairman of the management board of the oil company Rosneft. 

Ukrainian soldiers take up positions outside a military facility as two cars burn in a street in Kyiv. US officials now believe some 75,000 Russian troops have entered Ukraine - about half the force that massed on the country's borders

Ukrainian tanks on the move ahead of an attack in Lugansk region on February 26, 2022.

President Joe Biden authorized a new package of military assistance on Friday. On Saturday he was at home in Wilmington, and ventured out in the afternoon for Mass at the Brandywine Catholic Church

Ukrainians have been demanding that Russia be removed from SWIFT, shutting off their banks from international transfers

Russian troops have made rapid advances since they invaded early on Thursday morning.

Skirmishes were reported around the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, as local forces tried to hold off Russian troops.

A Pentagon official said half of the 150,000 Russian troops deployed to the Ukrainian border had no entered the country.  

And the Kremlin ordered its military to ramp up the Ukraine offensive 'from all directions' – as ordinary Russians started to express their horror at the war being waged in their name. 

Earlier officials said that Javelin anti-tank missiles were part of a new $350 million package of military hardware being sent to help Ukrainian troops hold off invading Russian forces. 

It came two days after Ukraine's defense minister made a direct appeal to Congress.

Alexey Reznikov said: 'We need as much Stinger and anti-tank weapons as possible.

'In order to provide for reliable procurement of equipment, you may deliver it to Poland. From there we will transport them across the land and quickly saturate our defense.'

Javelins are used by small, mobile units to destroy tanks from a distance and are seen by Kyiv as one of their best hopes for slowing the advance. 

Although Ukrainian airspace is contested, the official said the Pentagon was continuing to find routes in to the country.  

'We’re going to look for additional venues to do that, especially now given that the president has authorized another $350 million worth of assistance,' the official said. 'We’re going to do everything we can to get that into the hands of the Ukrainians.'   

Ukrainian soldiers beat back a Russian attack in the capital Kyiv only hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Moscow would attempt to take the city before dawn

Residents of Kyiv faced an uncertain Saturday night and Russian troops entered some parts of the city in skirmishes

A wounded woman is taken to hospital after shelling in Kyiv on Saturday

Ukrainian servicemen ride on tanks toward the front line with Russian forces in the Lugansk region of Ukraine on Friday

The top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee said Ukraine needed Stingers.

'I hope the military aid package announced by the administration today includes these Stingers,' said Rep. Mike Rogers. 

'The Ukrainians are fighting like hell to save their country and the administration should have sent this lethal aid weeks ago.'

The military assistance was authorized by President Joe Biden a day earlier, bringing the total amount of help to $1 billion over the past year.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said it would come from U.S. inventories 'including anti-armor, small arms and various munitions, body armor, and related equipment in support of Ukraine’s front-line defenders facing down Russia’s unprovoked attack.'

Ukraine has been desperately asking for more Javelins as well as Stinger anti-aircraft missiles as its forces battle Russia's tanks, bombers, helicopters and missiles

A Pentagon official told reporters that Javelin anti-tank weapons were part of the package but declined to say whether Stingers were included, according to Defense News.

World leaders say they are united in facing down Russia.

And in an interview released on Saturday, Biden said he believed NATO was stronger than ever and the invasion was backfiring on Putin. 

'My goal from the very beginning was to make sure that I kept all of NATO and the European on the same page. It's the one thing I think Putin thought he could do was split NATO, creating a great aperture for him to be able to walk through and that hasn't happened,' he said in an interview with political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen.

'If you notice it's been complete unanimity, and Russia will pay a serious price for this short term and long term.'

A stray Russian rocket slammed into the side of a residential tower on Lobanovsky Street just west of Kyiv’s city centre

Apartments between the 16th and 20th floors were set ablaze

The scale of the challenge facing Ukraine was laid out by a Pentagon official.

In the past 24 hours, the US had recorded more than 250 Russian missile launches, mostly short-range ballistic missiles, according to the official. And more than 50 percent of the 150,000 troops that lined up around the border have now entered in the invasion force.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the assistance package should send a clear signal to Moscow. 

'This package will include further lethal defensive assistance to help Ukraine address the armored, airborne, and other threats it is now facing,' he said. 

'It is another clear signal that the United States stands with the people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereign, courageous, and proud nation.'

Biden offered the cash as Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky revealed he'd snubbed a US offer of evacuation from war-town Kyiv, as Vladimir Putin reportedly dispatched kidnap squads to abduct or kill him.

Zelensky said: 'The fight is here. I need ammunition, not a ride.' He spoke as Ukrainian forces claimed to have killed 3,500 Russian troops during a bloody night of combat across the European state, which saw street battles begin to erupt on the streets of Kyiv.