Russia pounds Ukraine, targets Western arms
LVIV: Russian forces 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 on Wednesday to further punish Moscow for the war with a proposed ban on oil imports.
The Russian military said on Wednesday it 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.
The defence minister 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 over the past day comes as Russia prepares to celebrate Victory Day on May 9, marking the Soviet Union’s defeat over 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 swath of the country, some were concentrated in and around Lviv, the western city close to the Polish border seen as gateway for Natosupplied 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 the strikes damaged three power substations, knocking out electricity in parts of the city and disrupting the water supply. Two people were wounded.
The strikes on the train stations were meant to disrupt the delivery of Western weapons, Russian defence ministry spokesman Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov said, while the minister warned any such deliveries are legitimate targets.
In addition to supplying weapons to Ukraine, Europe and the US have sought to punish Moscow with sanctions. The EU’s top official called on the 27-nation bloc on Wednesday to ban Russian oil imports.
The proposals need to be unanimously approved to take effect and are likely to be the subject of fierce debate. Hungary and Slovakia have already said they won’t take part in any oil sanctions, but von der Leyen didn’t elaborate on whether they would receive an exemption, which appears likely.
Von der Leyen also proposed that Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, and two other major banks be disconnected from the SWIFT international banking payment system.