The Reason Putin Targeted Kyiv

[Hydrogen]

Today I watched a documentary that claimed the first thing Hitler did when he invaded a country. Was to visit their central bank and plunder all of its valuable assets. Nazis were able to seize tons of gold, cash, art and precious assets in this way. Sometimes invaded nations shipped their gold reserves and assets overseas to be housed in central bank vaults of safe countries. Other times they did not.

Does anyone know where ukraine's central bank is located?

Image link:  https://i.ibb.co/fqKRQHw/ukraine-national-bank-location.jpg

Is it safe to say that Putin invaded ukraine and went straight to the national central bank in kyiv where $28+ billion is held to make a withdrawal.

Would ukraine have been better off holding $28 billion in bitcoin assets.

It wouldn't matter the size of Putin's army. He could never steal the assets unless he had the private key.

[hatshepsut93]

Ukraine holds only $1.5B in gold, the rest is cash and other assets. And it can be held in many places, including Western countries. Plus there were preparations before Feb 24, lots of valuable stuff was moved out of Kyiv, like government servers and documents.

Putin attacked Kyiv because capturing the capital is always one of the biggest strategic goals of any war. There's no economic justification here, the costs of waging war, the effects of sanctions are orders of magnitude higher than any potential spoils of war. This war has ideological roots, no the economic ones.

[Gozie51]

The reason may not just be for theft purposes or to carry away valuables out from kyiv. I watched sometimes when certain important important monument, statue, document etc were evacuated from the city. Attacking the capital city shows more seriousness for combat and to send a signal the intention to overrun the country. The capital city is important to capture in most wars because that is the seat of power and that will destabilize the government more than attacking less important cities of a country that has less important facilities to the government. Just as you will expect, Kyiv is important , it is more organized and has more of the educational facilities, cultural, industrial and the hob to technology in Ukraine.

[Poker Player]

Putin attacked Kyiv because capturing the capital is always one of the biggest strategic goals of any war.

Of course, this is normal. The fact that the Central Bank is there, although it may be important, I see it as secondary, because apart from gold I imagine that there will be a lot of Ukrainian currency (Grivna). In the hypothetical case that Putin ends up taking power over the whole Ukraine I imagine that this currency would be worth 0, imposing the ruble as the official currency.

Would ukraine have been better off holding $28 billion in bitcoin assets.

It wouldn't matter the size of Putin's army. He could never steal the assets unless he had the private key.

Probably, but I don't see it as realistic today. I await the day when some central bank announces that it buys Bitcoin for its reserves, which I'm sure is going to be a very small percentage to its total reserves, on the order of 1% or thereabouts. If that happens, other banks copy it and it becomes widespread, we could see central banks acquiring more and more in the future, but that's a long way off, I think.

[pooya87]

Before WWII ended Europe saw a major conflict every couple of years and in each war every country that could steal anything from others, never hesitated to do so. Even during WWII all those involved (on both sides) sacked any city they reached without hesitation. There is no reason to believe Russia is not going to do the same but comparing it to Germany and their motivations is not right in my opinion considering that before WWII German economy was in total collapse and millions were unemployed. Their main motivation was economical while Russia's main motivation is something else.

[bittraffic]

Before WWII ended Europe saw a major conflict every couple of years and in each war every country that could steal anything from others, never hesitated to do so. Even during WWII all those involved (on both sides) sacked any city they reached without hesitation. There is no reason to believe Russia is not going to do the same but comparing it to Germany and their motivations is not right in my opinion considering that before WWII German economy was in total collapse and millions were unemployed. Their main motivation was economical while Russia's main motivation is something else.

Before they go Ukraine they were not really struggling. Russia is still wealthy today after 6 months of war and sanctions so it's not thier very objective since they were very concerned about the security that an unfriendly president in Ukraine is inviting NATO. But it would be too naive not to think Putin is up to reclaiming the Soviet Union Region since he started with Georgia and Crimea.

[DrBeer]

You missed one small but important nuance. Putin is a notorious moral freak, and also a cowardly one. He is a miserable likeness of Hitler, although he copies many of his "achievements" - from speeches to the Hitler Youth, symbols and much more.
Hitler's goal was to bleed, financially including the enemy. For classic Russians, theft is part of the culture. In Ukraine, they did not even steal, they were engaged in looting. What can be carried away - voprovali, what is impossible - destroyed. Or they showed the "Russian soul", and for example they shit in baby carriages, cribs, bathtubs and sinks. You do not compare Germanic Nazism with the bastard-cowardly structure of the kleptomaniac-deceitful-cowardly ideology of the Kremlin's under-furrers!

[sunsilk]

Would ukraine have been better off holding $28 billion in bitcoin assets.

It wouldn't matter the size of Putin's army. He could never steal the assets unless he had the private key.

That's actually much better but the problem is that, they're quite late to realize that it's the best way to hold an asset. And plus, a government can't wholly depend on putting the country's wealth into bitcoin.

When the attack came, they can't dispose and liquidate their assets and put it into bitcoin. That's just too late.

And as for the central banks, it's really where it's placed in most countries on their capital.

[edgycorner]

Naa, it's all about geopolitics. Got nothing to do with a few billions in central bank.

Ukraine's location holds a strategic value and Russia wants to maintain its influence over its politics(to prevent it from joining EU/NATO and its natural resources).

He wants Ukraine to remain a buffer zone, and of course to not let Ukraine's become its competition in natural gas. He's playing the long game.

[NotATether]

Would ukraine have been better off holding $28 billion in bitcoin assets.

Nope. Then Russia would be able to target it at any time through human weaknesses.

At least when the reserves are in gold or hard cash, you'd have to pass through armed infantry, machine guns, tanks, missiles, mortars, assault helecopters first.

[Poker Player]

Would ukraine have been better off holding $28 billion in bitcoin assets.

Nope. Then Russia would be able to target it at any time through human weaknesses.

At least when the reserves are in gold or hard cash, you'd have to pass through armed infantry, machine guns, tanks, missiles, mortars, assault helecopters first.

That's an example of how in the forum we are Bitcoin biased. It seems that Bitcoin is going to solve all the ills of the world and that everything is going to be better thanks to Bitcoin.

Well no, there are some cases in which it does not, as you rightly point out.

[Moneyprism]

it is also impossible for a country to store their gold reserves in one place,, of course they divide their gold reserves in several countries in the world, maybe in switzerland or in england .. because we know that gold is the main asset backed currency ,, if this runs out then the value of a currency will definitely fall and I think the Ukrainian government has thought about the worst possibility for a long time and has thought of various ways to avoid such a thing from happening

[Ucy]

Do not forget the Two (or Three) main objectives of the Russia's Special Operation is the De-Nazification & De-militarization of Ukraine, plus freedom for small Pro-Russian Region (that was part of Ukraine) called Donbas. So it would be proper to start from the Seat of Power or the Nation's Capital if you want to easily rescue the entire country and others from its destructive path.

I do not believe the Ukrainian Authority deserves that kind of Military it has considering how much they have tolerated the Nazis and other evil entities who were determined to conquer Russians and the World.


Why would Putin rob a bank whereas he made sure other institutions didn't stop operating during the military operation. Workers were told to continue work under Russia military protection while Ukrainian soldiers guarding the facilities where released to go home and be with their families. Seems like a person who wasn't interested in sabotaging the economy. He even allowed them to export their foods

[LoyceV]

Would ukraine have been better off holding $28 billion in bitcoin assets.

No, probably not.

~ could never steal the assets unless he had the private key.

Usually, people don't use an army to steal Bitcoin, and yet, it gets stolen in large amounts. North Korean state hackers for instance are quite good at it.

This war has ideological roots, no the economic ones.

And even if there are economic reasons, the natural resources of the country are much more valuable than the "small" amount of gold it holds.

[davis196]

The whole idea of Putin trying to invade Kyiv only for the sake of stealing 28 billion USD from the Ukraine central bank is the dumbest thing I've heard so far about the war in Ukraine. 28 billion USD is peanuts for Russia and Putin.
The main idea of the attack against Kyiv was to dethrone the regime in Ukraine and force the Ukrainian army to surrender, effectively ending the war in a couple of weeks.
Do you even know how central banks work? Most of the reserves of the central bank of Ukraine are deposited in other countries. That's how central banks work in general. It would be totally dumb(and expensive) for the central bank of Ukraine to hold the entire Ukrainian national reserve in the central bank's building in Kyiv.

[BADecker]

It was simply a distraction to take all Ukrainian eyes off the Donbas and other, nearby areas.

[Kavelj22]

I do not see that Putin is trying to bring down the capital in any case, or that he is trying to subjugate the Ukrainians with the aim of stealing some money from the Central Bank.

Six months have passed since the war began and not a single missile has been fired at the capital. I don't think that Russia is incapable of doing this or that it is seeking a ground invasion.

Putin does not want his neighbor Ukraine to join any Western alliance, be it the European Union or NATO.