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EUROPEAN UNION LEADERS have agreed to ban more than two-thirds of Russian oil imports, tightening economic screws on the country even as Moscow’s forces press their offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
The compromise deal reached late yesterday, meant to punish Russia for its invasion three months ago, cuts “a huge source of financing for its war machine,” European Council chief Charles Michel tweeted.
“Maximum pressure on Russia to end the war,” he said.
Leaders of the 27-nation bloc had met to negotiate the long-sought deal earlier yesterday in Brussels, amid concerns raised by Hungary and other neighboring countries reliant on Russian fuel.
The agreement also includes plans for the EU to send €9 billion in “immediate liquidity” to Kyiv, Michel announced.
Hours earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had called an oil embargo the “key point” to any sanctions package.
“I believe that Europe will have to give up Russian oil and oil products in any case, because this is about the independence of Europeans themselves from (weaponised) Russian energy,” he said in his daily address to the nation.
Speaking in Brussels yesterday, An Taoiseach Micheál Martin said it would be a significant move by the EU when added to other sanctions in the proposed package, which proposes removing Sberbank from the SWIFT banking system.
“Russia is using the income from oil to finance its war and Ireland is supportive of the work that has been done in relation to the sixth round of sanctions,” Martin said.
Martin said that up to €9 billion is set to be set aside for Ukraine to help the country with budget measures, while adding that work is currently underway on plans to rebuild Ukraine after the war has ended.
The Netherlands and Denmark are today expected to join the growing list of European countries who have seen their gas shipments halted after refusing to pay Russian giant Gazprom in rubles, a demand meant to sidestep crippling Western sanctions.
Battle for Donbas
On the ground, Russian forces were making incremental gains in the Donbas region, including the industrial city of Severodonetsk, where they were edging closer to the city centre.
“The situation in Severodonetsk is as complicated as possible,” Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said on Telegram, saying the entire region was under continuous bombardment – “air bombs, and artillery, and tanks. Everything”.
As Europe announced its new sanctions on Moscow, Washington was taking a cautious line regarding weaponry for Ukraine.
Ukraine has received extensive US military aid, with legislators approving another $40 billion (€37.2 billion) assistance package in May.
But US President Joe Biden said he would not send long-range rocket systems that could hit Russian territory, despite urgent requests from Kyiv for exactly that.
“We are not going to send to Ukraine rocket systems that can strike into Russia,” Biden told reporters in Washington.
His comments came as new US ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink – filling a position vacant since 2019 – and French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna both arrived in Kyiv.
France will “continue to reinforce arms deliveries,” Colonna said at a news conference with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.
The highest-ranking French official to visit the capital since Russia’s invasion began February 24, Colonna also visited Bucha, near Kyiv, where Russian troops have been accused of committing war crimes against civilians.
“This should never have happened,” Colonna told reporters after visiting an Orthodox church in the town. “It must never happen again.”
Her visit came as a French journalist was killed while working in Ukraine.
Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff was “on board a humanitarian bus” when “he was mortally wounded,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter.
Oil sanctions
Participants in yesterday’s EU summit hatched a compromise deal that exempts deliveries by pipeline from the oil import ban, after Hungarian President Victor Orban warned halting supplies would wreck the country’s economy.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the ban “will effectively cut around 90% of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year”.
Michel said the sanctions also involved disconnecting Russia’s biggest bank, Sberbank, from the global SWIFT system, banning three state broadcasters and blacklisting individuals blamed for war crimes.
Russia’s Gazprom, meanwhile, was set to halt gas supplies to the Netherlands today, with Denmark likely to see the tap turned off as well.
The Netherlands’ partly state-owned energy firm GasTerra revealed the looming shut-off yesterday, saying it would not comply with payment requirements that breach EU sanctions.
Moscow has demanded clients from “unfriendly countries” – including EU member states – pay for gas in rubles as it attempts to avoid Western financial sanctions.
Danish energy company Orsted also warned its gas shipments could be cut off when a 31 May payment deadline passed.
Russia has previously halted deliveries to Finland, Bulgaria and Poland, a move blasted by the EU as “blackmail”.
Referendum cancelled
With Russia facing the oil import ban, a Georgian breakaway region delivered another blow to Moscow’s hopes for further unity among local allies, with the leader of South Ossetia scrapping a planned July referendum on joining Russia.
The Moscow-controlled enclave’s president, Alan Gagloev, warned yesterday about “uncertainty of the legal consequences of the issue submitted to a referendum.”
Since failing to capture Kyiv in the war’s early stages, Russia’s army has narrowed its focus, hammering Donbas cities with relentless artillery and missile barrages.
At least three people were killed and six wounded in an overnight rocket attack on the city of Slovyansk, Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kirilenko said Tuesday on Telegram.
“I repeat once again that there are no safe places in the Donetsk region, so I call again: evacuate – save your lives,” he said.
But Ukrainian forces are pushing back in the southern region of Kherson, the country’s military leadership has said.
Yesterday, Ukraine’s southern command centre said they had driven Russian troops from the village of Mykolayivka.
A day earlier, the army claimed to have pushed Russian forces into “unfavourable positions” around the villages of Andriyivka, Lozovo and Bilohorka, forcing Moscow to send reserves to the area.
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How is this news? Of course it’s the key, scientists and proper journalists I am sure have better things to do than publish this drivel.
@Valentine Kane: Your kids are lucky to have such a close connected and positive person in their lives.
@WiseUp: why the ad hominem? He’s right that the report just tells us what we already knew.
@john smith iv: I think the miserable, negative commentary first thing in the morning is a bit much……just my opinion. No need to comment if he doesn’t have any interest in the report.
@Valentine Kane: a miserable negative moany parent usually results in a miserable negative moany child! It’s time people knew that, some quite obviously don’t
@Marie Agnew: Sounds like the excuse of a miserable negative moany teacher to me. I know a lot more people whose school life did a lot more harm than anything at home
As parents, staying connected and available to your children as they get older is a fine balance of letting them know they are loved, and loving them enough to give them independence and opportunities to grow and develop so they can live a healthy, free and productive life. If we shelter them from all problems and carry their school bag to the gate at age 17, that is unhelpful. If we throw them to the wolves at age 10 and say “good luck let me know if you need anything”, that is neglect. Finding a healthy balance takes a lot of hard work for many years, but the results are worth it and society will thank us for helping produce functioning and healthy adults.
“curriculum for wellbeing at senior cycle level” ? What does that look like? I had a 5th class teacher(a lovely nun, all girls school)who disrupted class one day to get us to say together “I am beautiful. I am beautiful…” over a few times. I don’t if the chanting improved our self image but it gave us a laugh anyway! laugher is the best medicine!
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