Russian troops control “most” of the Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk, an important enclave in Donbass, local authorities acknowledged, hours after the European Union approved an embargo on Moscow’s oil. “Unfortunately, today (Tuesday) the Russian soldiers control most of the city,” said Lugansk governor, Sergei Gaidai, hours before he described the situation as “ultra-complicated”.
mining basin
The troops already occupied half of the city, as confirmed by its mayor, Oleksandre Striuk. “But the city is still defending itself, it is still Ukrainian and our soldiers are defending it,” he added at the time. Severodonetsk is one of the focuses of the fighting in the Lugansk region in Donbass, a mining area in eastern Ukraine where Moscow is centering its offensive after failing to take kyiv.
with her neighbor Lysychanskon the other shore of the river donutsis located just 80 kilometers from Kramatorsk, the administrative capital of the Donbass under control of kyiv. Both have been enduring constant Russian bombardment for weeks. Moscow forces tighten their grip on eastern Ukraine. In Donetsk, four people were killed and seven were injured, the Donetsk regional governor said on Telegram, Pavlo Kyrylenko.
On Tuesdaythe attacks hit a nitric acid tank at a chemical plant of the city, reported Gaidai. “Do not leave the shelters,” he asked the population, recalling that this compound “is dangerous if inhaled” and can cause lung injuries or loss of vision. The Norwegian Refugee Council said on Tuesday that about 12,000 civilians could remain in Severodonetsk, which had about 100,000 inhabitants before the war.
On the legal frontUkrainian justice identified 15,000 cases of war crimes in the Donbass region since the beginning of the war, said the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, Iryna Venediktova, in The Hague. Among the crimes, he cited torture, murder, destruction of civil infrastructure and transfer of people. Hours earlier, a court sentenced two Russian soldiers to 11 and a half years in prison for bombing two towns in the Kharkov region, in the northeast of the country, with a multiple missile launcher.
More sanctions
In this situation, The European Union approved a sixth package of sanctions that includes an embargo on oil imports and banking restrictions. The embargo currently affects crude transported by ship, which accounts for two-thirds of the total imported from Russia, but should be extended to 90 percent by the end of the year.
This temporary exception will allow Hungary to continue to receive oil by pipeline, since it is highly dependent on crude from Moscow, which is why it was opposed to a total embargo. The President of the European Council, Charles Michelaffirmed that the measure will serve to cut off “an enormous source of financing” for the Russian “war machine”.
The summit agreements also include a package of 9,000 million euros (9,630 million dollars) to support the Ukrainian economy and the exclusion of three Russian banks from the SWIFT international financial system. Among these is the largest entity in the country, Sberbankwho on Tuesday assured to continue working “normally”.
energy transition
The European summit ends this Tuesday with a second day dedicated to addressing the energy transition necessary to be able to do without Russian gas. But several European leaders defended the need for a “pause” on sanctions and some even ruled out a future gas embargo.
“Gas… is much more complicated,” said the Belgian prime minister, Alexander De Croo. “Let’s stop here for the moment and see the impact” of the sixth battery of sanctions, he defended. Russia has cut gas shipments to several countries that refuse to pay in rubles, the local currency. These include the Netherlands, Poland, Bulgaria and Finland. And this Tuesday, the Danish energy company Ørsted announced that the supply of Russian gas to Denmark will also be suspended from June 1.