INTERNATIONAL: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed moves to disconnect Russia from "global financial civilisation" in a video message on Saturday , February 26.

A French presidential official has mentioned earlier on Saturday that European Union members were close to agreeing to exclude Russia from the SWIFT international payment system.

President Zelenskiy has said; "Our diplomats fought around the clock and inspirationally for all European countries to agree on a strong and fair decision to disconnect Russia from the international interbanking network. We have also this important victory. This is billions and billions of losses for Russia ,a tangible price for this vile invasion of our country.”

Zelenskiy also thanked President Tayyip Erdogan for Turkey's support, saying "it is extremely important to ban the passage of Russian warships to the Black Sea.''

He has also welcomed proposals by Turkey and Azerbaijan to hold peace talks with Russia.