Russian oil import ban urged by EU

RUSSIAN forces have pounded targets across Ukraine, taking aim at supply lines for foreign weapons in the west and intensifying an offensive in the east, as the European Union moved to further punish Moscow for the war with a proposed ban on oil imports.

The Russian military said yesterday it had used sea and airlaunched precision-guided missiles to destroy electric power facilities at five railway stations across Ukraine, while artillery and aircraft also struck troop strongholds and fuel and ammunition depots.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said a steel mill in Mariupol – the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in that city – was sealed off, a day after Russian troops began storming it.

Ukrainian authorities, meanwhile, said attacks in the eastern Donbas region left 21 civilians dead.

The flurry of attacks came as Russia prepared to celebrate Victory Day on Monday May 9, marking the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany.

This year, the world is watching for signs of whether Russian president

Vladimir Putin will use the occasion to declare a limited victory, or expand what he calls a “special military operation” to a wider war.

While the Russian attacks were across a wide swathe of the country, some were concentrated in and around Lviv, the western city close to the Polish border serving as a gateway for Nato-supplied weapons.

Explosions were heard late on Tuesday in the city, which has seen only sporadic attacks during the war and has become a haven for civilians fleeing the fighting elsewhere.

The mayor said they damaged three power substations, knocking out electricity in parts of the city and disrupting water supplies.

Vehicles on fire at an oil depot in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Makiivka, Ukraine