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The European Union’s leader has called on the 27-nation bloc to ban oil imports from Russia in a sixth package of sanctions targeting Moscow for its war in Ukraine.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen also proposed that Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, and two other major banks be disconnected from the Swift international banking payment system.
Ms von der Leyen, addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, called on the EU’s member nations to phase out imports of crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of the year.
“We will make sure that we phase out Russian oil in an orderly fashion, in a way that allows us and our partners to secure alternative supply routes and minimises the impact on global markets,” said Ms von der Leyen.
The proposals need to be unanimously approved to take effect and are likely to be the subject of fierce debate.
Ms von der Leyen conceded that getting all 27 member countries — some of them landlocked and highly dependent on Russia for energy supplies — to agree on oil sanctions “will not be easy”.
If approved, the ban on oil imports will be the second package of EU sanctions targeting Russia’s lucrative energy industry over its war in Ukraine that President Vladimir Putin started on February 24.
In addition to sanctions on various entities and individuals — including Mr Putin himself and members of his family — the bloc previously approved an embargo on coal imports.
The EU has started discussions on a possible natural gas embargo, but consensus among member countries on targeting the fuel used to generate electricity and heat homes is more difficult to secure.
Hungary and Slovakia have already said they would not take part in any oil sanctions, but Ms von der Leyen did not elaborate on whether they would receive an exemption from the sanctions, although this appears likely.
Ms von der Leyen also said that the EU should target high-ranking military officers and others “who committed war crimes in Bucha”, a suburb of the capital Kyiv. Ukrainian officials have alleged that retreating Russian troops carried out mass killings of civilians in Bucha.
“This sends another important signal to all perpetrators of the Kremlin’s war: We know who you are. We will hold you accountable. You’re not getting away with this,” Ms von der Leyen said.
Banks are also in the EU executive arm’s sights, and notably Sberbank. Ms von der Leyen said the aim is that “we de-Swift Sberbank”. Swift is the major global system for financial transfers.
Ms von der Leyen said Sberbank holds about 37 per cent of the Russian banking sector.
“And we will also de-Swift two other major banks in Russia. By that, we hit banks that are systemically critical to the Russian financial system and Putin’s ability to wage destruction,” she said.
Ms Von der Leyen added that those alleged to be spreading disinformation about the war in Ukraine would be targeted.
Mariupol
The proposals come as Russian forces pounded targets in eastern Ukraine, unleashing rockets on a steel plant that is the last redoubt for resistance in the port city of Mariupol.
Scores of evacuees who managed to leave the city under United Nations and Red Cross auspices reached the relative safety of Ukraine-controlled Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday after cowering for weeks in bunkers beneath the sprawling Azovstal steel plant.
Weary-looking evacuees, including children and the elderly, clambered off buses after escaping the ruins of their home town in southeastern Ukraine where Russia now claims control.
“We had said goodbye to life. We didn’t think anyone knew we was there,” said Valentina Sytnykova (70), who said she sheltered in the plant for two months with her son and 10-year-old granddaughter.
Russia is targeting Mariupol as it seeks to cut Ukraine off from the Black Sea and connect Russian-controlled territory in the south and east. Parts of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk were held by Russian-backed separatists before Russian president Vladimir Putin launched the February 24th invasion.
More than 200 civilians remain in the plant, according to Mariupol mayor Vadym Boichenko, with 100,000 civilians still in the city.
“You go somewhere and you are chased out . . . Where am I to go? Let them blow me up here,” a 67-year-old woman told Reuters in the city, as she boiled water on an open fire amid the rubble of a destroyed apartment block.
Pummelled by Western sanctions, Russia now faces new measures from the EU that would target its banks and oil industry – a major step for European countries that rely heavily on Russian energy.
Economic stakes
Moscow showed no signs of backing down nearly 10 weeks into what it calls a “special military operation,” a war that has killed thousands, destroyed cities and driven 5 million Ukrainians to flee abroad. Russia’s own $1.8 trillion economy is heading for its biggest contraction since the years following the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union.
Mr Putin raised the economic stakes for Kyiv’s Western backers by announcing plans to block exports of vital raw materials.
Russian forces have turned their heaviest firepower on Ukraine’s east and south after failing to take Kyiv, the capital, in the opening weeks of the war.
There were also fresh attacks in the west on Tuesday. The mayor of Lviv said Russian missile strikes had damaged electricity and water networks in the western city near the Polish border, across which flows Western arms supplies for Ukraine’s military.
Russian forces also struck six railway stations in the centre and west of the country, the head of Ukraine’s railways, Olesksandr Kamyshin, said. There were no injuries to civilians, he added on Twitter.
In the east, Russian attacks in Donetsk on Tuesday killed 21 civilians and injured 27, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said. He said the figure was the highest daily death toll in the region since last month.
Attacks and shelling also intensified in Luhansk, with the most difficult area being Popasna, where it was impossible to organise evacuations, regional governor Serhiy Haida said.
“There are no safe cities in Luhansk region,” he said on Telegram.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia’s military “reacted today with great anger to our successes”.
“The sheer scale of today’s shelling clearly does not indicate that Russia has any special sort of specific military aim,” he said in an evening address to the nation.
Russia said it had struck a military airfield near the Black Sea port of Odesa with missiles, destroying drones, weapons and ammunition supplied by the West. Ukraine said three missiles targeted the Odesa region and all were intercepted.

In this photo taken from video smoke rises from the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal in Mariupol, Ukraine on Tuesday. Photograph: AP


Fighting
Mariupol, a city of 400,000 before the invasion, has seen the bloodiest fighting, enduring weeks of siege and shelling.
A ceasefire broke down with some civilians still trapped in the bunkers beneath the steel works despite a UN-brokered evacuation.
In a Telegram video from the steel plant, captain Sviatoslav Palamar of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment said Russia had pounded Azovstal with artillery and air strikes on Monday night. Reuters could not independently verify his account.
Mr Zelenskiy accused Russia of breaching agreements to pause fighting to allow civilians to escape.
“They’re still fighting. They’re still bombarding and shooting,” Mr Zelenskiy said via video link at a Wall Street Journal event. “We need a breather.”
US president Joe Biden used a visit to a Lockheed Martin defence plant to press the US Congress to approve his proposed $33 billion assistance package for Ukraine, which includes more than $20 billion in military aid.
“If you don’t stand up to dictators, history has shown us, they keep coming, they keep coming,” Mr Biden told workers at the plant in Alabama.
Britain announced an additional £300 million in aid. – Reuters/AP