Russia Ukraine War Updates: EU leaders agree to ban 90% of Russian oil by year-end

Russia Ukraine War, Mariupol Fall to Russia:

Most Russian oil imports into the EU will be banned by the end of the year, as part of new sanctions imposed on Moscow at a summit aimed at assisting Ukraine with a long-delayed package of new financial aid. The embargo applies to Russian oil imported by sea, with a temporary exemption for pipeline imports, a move that was critical in bringing landlocked Hungary on board with a decision that required consensus.

The sanctions came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces shelled the northeastern city of Kharkiv, as well as the border region of Sumy, which was hit from within Russia, again on Monday. Russian shelling has left much of Sievierodonetsk in ruins, but Ukrainian defence has slowed Russia’s overall campaign in the Donbas region. Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk, said Russian troops had advanced into Sievierodonetsk’s southeastern and northeastern outskirts, but Ukrainian forces had driven them from the village of Toshkivka to the south, potentially thwarting an encirclement push. Gaidai described a “terrible smell of death” on the outskirts of Sievierodonetsk as temperatures rose.

Meanwhile, France has called for an investigation after a French journalist was killed in Ukraine when the vehicle he was travelling in was hit by shelling while evacuating civilians near the city of Sievierodonetsk. According to his employer, Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff, 32, the latest journalist killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, was on his second reporting trip to Ukraine for French television channel BFM.

Source:IE