The European Union and United States are continuing to ramp up economic sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine - but many are divided as to whether the punishments will work.
The US announced personal sanctions against Russian president Vladimir Putin over the weekend, as well as some against Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian ministers of Defence.
It comes as the EU and north American nations have banded together to remove some Russian banks from the SWIFT system - a global financial service that allows banks to make high value, high volume trades securely.
EU president Ursula von der Leyen says the aim is to "cripple Putin's ability to finance his war machine".
There had been some reluctance from countries to exclude Russia from SWIFT.
Late last week, US President Joe Biden said the sanctions his administrations imposed "exceed SWIFT".
"Let's have a conversation in another month or so and see if they're working."
Two days later, the SWIFT block was announced.
But while the system eases the way for nations to trade exports such as oil and gas, removing Russian banks won't stop the flow of money entirely. And it will also make doing business harder for those countries that buy Russian oil and gas - a vital supplier to Europe.
"It's a nuclear option that's going to basically exterminate yourself and your enemy," said Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy, in an interview with the BBC.
Sanctions have been threatened for weeks and words traded over meetings at the United Nations but nothing has stopped Putin. (Source: 1News)
As for the personal sanctions - there is very little known about President Putin's finances and where he keeps his money.
Meanwhile Russia is continuing to resist attempts at de-escalating the situation.
Russia used its veto to shut down a resolution at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, which demanded Russia stop its attack and withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
"You can veto this resolution but you cannot veto our voices," US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas Greenfield told her Russian counterpart.
Russian troops and military vehicles have been reported inside the city limits. (Source: 1News)
"You cannot veto the truth. You cannot veto our principles. You cannot veto the Ukrainian people. You cannot veto the UN charter."
America, Australia, France and Germany have all announced they are sending more weapons supplies to Ukraine.
The United States has spent NZ$1.4B on supplying weapons to Ukraine since late last year.
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