U.S., ALLIES PLAN TO FINALISE RUSSIA OIL PRICE CAP IN ‘NEXT FEW DAYS’

WASHINGTON: US and its allies are planning to finalise a price cap for Russian oil in “the next few days”, as they seek to cut off a critical source of funding for Moscow, the treasury department said on Tuesday.

The price cap would be the basis for a ban set to take effect on December 5 that will prohibit firms to transport or provide insurance for Russian oil shipments sold above the fixed price.

The Group of Seven nations, European Union, and Australia will impose the measure which aims to deprive Moscow of a key source of funds to pay for its war in Ukraine - as well as helping to cool high global energy prices.

Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog met a Russian delegation in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss safety at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, the watchdog said.

Strike on maternity hospital kills newborn

An overnight rocket attack struck a hospital maternity ward in southern Ukraine, killing a newborn baby, Its mother and a doctor were pulled alive from the rubble, Ukrainian authorities said on Wednesday.

The strike in the city of Vilniansk adds to the toll suffered by hospitals and other medical facilities - and their patients and staff - in the Russian invasion entering its tenth month.