EU proposes ban on Russian oil
THE European Commission proposed a gradual ban on Russian oil imports yesterday to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, as Russian forces pounded sites to the east of the country and hit targets in the far west near the EU border.
The EU also pledged to “significantly increase” its support for Moldova, Ukraine’s neighbour that has seen a series of attacks in a Moscow-backed separatist region, sparking fears it could be drawn into the conflict.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen announced the bloc would “phase out Russian supply of crude oil within six months, and refined products by the end of the year”. If approved, the oil ban would be the EU’s toughest move yet against Russia’s strategic energy sector that helps the Kremlin finance its war, but will still not touch its huge gas exports.
Hungary and Slovakia, both hugely dependent on Russian oil, would be given more time to meet the ban under the proposed plan, which will need unanimous approval before going into effect. The proposed new sanctions also include moves against Russia’s biggest bank, Sberbank, and the targeting of Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Western allies continue to provide Kyiv with cash and weapons in a bid to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to pull back, alongside unprecedented sanctions. But more than two months after the February 24 invasion, Russian forces continue to batter the south and east, where 21 civilians were killed and 28 wounded in a series of assaults in Donetsk on Tuesday.
Both sides yesterday also reported Russian strikes on key transport infrastructure around the western city of Lviv, near Poland, and Transcarpathia, a region bordering Hungary.
In neighbouring Moldova, there are fears the conflict will spill over the border. Visiting the tiny ex-Soviet republic yesterday, European Council President Charles Michel offered the EU’s “full solidarity” and support including in the areas of logistics and cyber defence. “This year we plan to significantly increase our support to Moldova by providing its armed forces with additional military equipment,” he told a press conference with President Maia Sandu.
Ukraine has accused Russia of wanting to destabilise Moldova’s separatist region of Transnistria to create a pretext for a military intervention.
The war in Ukraine has killed thousands of people and displaced more than 13 million, creating the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. There was some rare good news on Tuesday with the arrival in the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia of more than 150 civilians evacuated from the devastated southern port city of Mariupol. Further evacuations from the city, now almost entirely under Russian control after two months of siege, were to take place yesterday with the help of the UNand the Red Cross, a Mariupol mayoral adviser said.
Osnat Lubrani, UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Ukraine, had earlier said that 101 of the civilians had been evacuated from the immense underground galleries of the Azovstal steelworks, but more could be trapped.
The Russian army said Tuesday that its forces and pro-Moscow separatists were attacking “firing positions” in
Azovstal where Ukrainian fighters are making their last stand. But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov yesterday denied Ukrainian claims that it had launched a “powerful assault”.”
Azovstal evacuees who emerged from a caravan of white buses in Zaporizhzhia were met at a makeshift reception centre by crying loved ones and dozens of journalists.
Since abandoning early attempts to capture Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, Russian forces have shifted to the east, including largely Russian-speaking areas, and the south. Ukraine’s general staff said yesterday the Russian assault continued with the aim of establishing “full control” of the regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, and to maintain a land corridor to occupied Crimea.
Russia’s defence ministry said yesterday that its air- and sea-based weapons had destroyed six electrical substations near railways including around Lviv, near Odessa to the south, and near Dnipropetrovsk to the south-east. It said Ukrainian troops in the Donbas region had used the railway stations to transport weapons and ammunition from the EU and US.