The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Call for oil import ban by EU as Russia shells infrastructure in west
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 air-launched 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 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 the strikes damaged three power substations, knocking out electricity in parts of the city and disrupting the water supply. Two people were hurt.
The strikes on the train stations were meant to disrupt the delivery of western weapons, Russian defence ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said, while the minister warned any such deliveries were legitimate targets.
Shoigu told top military brass yesterday that the West was “stuffing Ukraine with weapons”.
Western weaponry pouring into Ukraine has helped to blunt Russia’s initial offensive and seems certain to play a central role in the potentially decisive battle for Ukraine’s Donbas, where Russianbacked separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014.
Now, in addition to supplying weapons to Ukraine, Europe and the US are seeking to punish Moscow with sanctions.
The EU’s top official called on the 27-nation bloc yesterday to ban Russian oil imports.
“We will make sure that we phase out Russian oil in an orderly fashion, in a way that allows us to secure alternative supply routes and minimises the impact on global markets,” European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
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 Ms von der Leyen did not elaborate on whether they would receive an exemption, which appears likely.