Ukraine-Russia war latest: Russians ‘withdraw billions’ from banks amid fears Putin could seize money

The widespread bank withdrawals in Russia are causing liquidity problems, according to a former senior Russian finance official who spoke to the newspaper.

“Drones are flying. Things are burning down. Nervousness is growing. And people’s everyday wisdom may be kicking in that they need to have cash under their pillow and not somewhere in banks where it may never be returned,” said a former finance official.

“For some banks this really is a problem,” the former official added.

“They didn’t expect this, and they invested all the cash elsewhere, and yet people are coming and taking out half a trillion rubles a month.”

Alexandra Prokopenko, a former adviser to the Russian Central Bank, said the withdrawals illustrated that the Russian public are scared.

“It means people have no trust in the Russian banking system or in the Russian financial system,” Prokopenko said.

“This is all a consequence of the fear that the government will do something with the banking system, that it could nationalise deposits.”

People in Russia are withdrawing billions from the nation’s banks over fears that the Kremlin could begin to seize money to finance the war with Ukraine, a report says.

Nearly 286.4bn rubles (worth $3.4bn) was withdrawn in the first two weeks of August, according to data from the Russian Central Bank, reported in The Post.

That follows $7.3bn withdrawn last month and more than $4.5bn in June.

The withdrawals are causing liquidity problems in the country, according to a former senior Russian finance official, the newspaper says.

“Drones are flying. Things are burning down. Nervousness is growing. And people’s everyday wisdom may be kicking in that they need to have cash under their pillow and not somewhere in banks where it may never be returned”, a source told The Post.

Kyiv aims to ensure that every drone on the front line is equipped with AI capabilities, the Ukrainian ministry of defence has said.

The target comes alongside Ukrainian plans for an “AI-driven army,” where the ministry plans for target identification, engagement, and battle damage assessment to be completed using AI technology.

The government has said that the move is designed to save the lives of Ukrainian service members, and maximise the effectiveness of frontline operations.

A thermal power plant in ⁠central Ukraine halted operations on Tuesday after it ⁠suffered significant ​damage ⁠from a Russian ⁠strike, power firm ​DTEK ⁠said.

The company ‌declined to name the ‌plant involved. It ‌said in a statement ⁠on Telegram that its thermal plants have been attacked more than 230 times ‌by Russia ​since ‌the start ⁠of the full-scale ⁠invasion in 2022.

Ukrainian officials have accused Putin of prolonging the war.

“Putin continues to drag out the war instead of accepting Ukraine’s realistic ceasefire proposals and ending the bloodshed,” Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha has said in a post on X.

“As long as Moscow refuses peace, it must face a growing cost for prolonging this war through additional sanctions, isolation, and strict accountability for Russian crimes,” the minister added.

In light of the previously reported Russian parcel-bomb plot, German interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt has spoken out on the consequences of hybrid warfare.

“The aim of these hybrid attacks is to defeat us politically and socially. That is the underlying concept: hybrid threats acting as a driver for the erosion of public trust in the state,” he said.

“What we are witnessing today is the shadow war of the 21st century,” the minister added.

A German court has convicted a Ukrainian man over what prosecutors have described as a plot linked to Russian intelligence.

The plan is understood to involve detonating parcels in Europe with the purpose of causing ⁠damage and undermining public confidence in security.

Three Ukrainians were involved in sending two packages with GPS trackers and spare auto parts from Germany to Ukraine using a Ukrainian parcel service in an operation initiated by a Russian state entity, the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart has said in a statement.

A drone ​has exploded ⁠at ‌a bus stop used ‌by staff ‌of ⁠Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the International ⁠Atomic Energy Agency has said. ⁠

The explosion is confirmed to have killed one person, and ‌injured ​several ‌others.

President Zelensky has nominated Yevhenii ⁠Khmara ​for parliamentary ⁠approval for defence minister ⁠and Andrii ​Sybiha for ⁠foreign ‌minister, lawmakers said on Tuesday.

Khmara served as acting minister following the abrupt dismissal of his predecessor, Mykhailo Fedorov, in July, a decision that sparked a political crisis for Zelensky.

The ​vote ‌is expected to take place ⁠on Wednesday.