April 14 (Reuters) – The flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, the Moskva missile cruiser, was badly damaged when ammunition on board blew up, Interfax news agency quoted the defence ministry as saying on Thursday.
Interfax said the crew had been evacuated. It blamed the blast on a fire and said the cause was being investigated.
A Ukrainian official earlier said the Moskva had been hit by two missiles but did not give any evidence.
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The 12,500 tonne ship has a crew of around 500. Russian news agencies said the Moskva was armed with 16 anti-ship “Vulkan” cruise missiles, which have a range of at least 700 km (440 miles).
“As the result of a fire on the Moskva missile cruiser, ammunition detonated. The ship was seriously damaged,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. “The crew was completely evacuated.”
Interfax did not give more details.
Maksym Marchenko, governor of the region around the Black Sea port of Odesa, earlier said in an online post that two anti-ship missiles had hit the cruiser, but did not provide evidence.
Last month Ukraine said it had destroyed a large Russian landing support ship, the Orsk, on the smaller Sea of Azov to the northeast of the Black Sea. Moscow has not commented on what had happened to the ship.
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Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Stephen Coates and Neil Fullick
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Hundreds of Ukrainian marines surrender in Mariupol, Russia says
Fall of industrial district would give Russians control of port
Thousands believed killed under near-seven week siege
Leaders of Poland, Baltic states, in Kyiv for talks
LVIV, Ukraine, April 13 (Reuters) – More than 1,000 Ukrainian marines have surrendered in the besieged port of Mariupol, Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday of Moscow’s main target in the eastern Donbas region which it has yet to bring under its control.
If the Russians take the Azovstal industrial district, where the marines have been holed up, they would be in full control of Mariupol, Ukraine’s main Sea of Azov port, which would allow Russia to reinforce a land corridor between separatist-held eastern areas and the Crimea region that it seized and annexed in 2014. read more
Surrounded by Russian troops for weeks and the focus of some of the fiercest fighting of the war, Mariupol would be the first major city to fall since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. The battle for the industrial heartland of Donbas is likely to define the course of the war. read more
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Russia’s defence ministry said that 1,026 soldiers of Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade surrendered, including 162 officers.
Ukraine’s general staff said Russian forces were proceeding with attacks on Azovstal and the port, but a defence ministry spokesman said he had no information about any surrender. read more
Reuters journalists accompanying Russian-backed separatists saw flames billowing from the Azovstal district on Tuesday.
On Monday, the 36th Marine Brigade said it was preparing for a final battle in Mariupol that would end in death or capture as its troops had run out of ammunition.
Thousands of people are believed to have been killed in Mariupol and Russia has been massing thousands of troops in the area for a new assault, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
Ukraine says tens of thousands of civilians have been trapped inside the city with no way to bring in food or water, and accuses Russia of blocking aid convoys.
CHEMICAL WEAPONS WARNING
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, an ardent supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, urged remaining Ukrainians holed up in Azovstal to surrender.
“Within Azovstal at the moment there are about 200 wounded who cannot receive any medical assistance,” Kadyrov said in a Telegram post. “For them and all the rest it would be better to end this pointless resistance and go home to their families.”
Russian television showed pictures of what it said were marines giving themselves up at Illich Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol on Tuesday, many of them wounded.
It showed what it said were Ukrainian soldiers being marched down a road with their hands in the air. One of the soldiers was shown holding a Ukrainian passport.
Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar has said there was a high risk of Russia using chemical weapons, echoing earlier warnings by Zelenskiy, who on Wednesday told the Estonian parliament by videolink Russia was using phosphorus bombs to terrorise civilians. read more
He did not provide evidence and Reuters has not been able to independently verify his assertion.
Service members of pro-Russian troops ride an armoured vehicle during fighting in Ukraine-Russia conflict near a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works company in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 12, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
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Chemical weapons production, use and stockpiling is banned under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention. White phosphorous, although condemned by human rights groups, is not banned. read more
Russia denies using chemical weapons, saying it had destroyed its last chemical stockpiles in 2017.
Moscow’s incursion into Ukraine, the biggest attack on a European state since 1945, has seen more than 4.6 million people flee abroad, killed or wounded thousands and left Russia increasingly isolated on the world stage.
The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said 191 children had been killed and 349 wounded since the start of the invasion.
The Kremlin says it launched a “special military operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies reject that as a false pretext for an unprovoked attack.
FOUR PRESIDENTS IN KYIV
The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday to meet Zelenskiy, the Polish leader’s office said. Estonia’s President Alar Karis had earlier tweeted that they were offering political support and military aid. read more
The four join a growing number of European politicians to visit the Ukrainian capital since Russian forces were driven away from the country’s north earlier this month.
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine amounted to genocide, as Putin said Russia would “rhythmically and calmly” continue its operation and achieve its goals.
Russia has denied targeting civilians and has said Ukrainian and Western allegations of war crimes are fabricated.
Many towns Russia has retreated from in northern Ukraine were littered with the bodies of civilians killed in what Kyiv says was a campaign of murder, torture and rape.
Interfax Ukraine news agency on Wednesday quoted the Kyiv district police chief saying 720 bodies had been found in the region around the capital, with more than 200 people missing.
The General Headquarters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Russian forces were maintaining attacks on civilian infrastructure in the Kharkiv region in the northeast and the Zaporizhzhia region in central Ukraine.
At least seven people were killed and 22 wounded in Kharkiv over the past 24 hours, Governor Oleh Synegubov said. A 2-year-old boy was among those killed in the 53 artillery or rocket strikes Russian forces had carried out in the region, he said in an online post.
Reuters could not independently verify the information.
Russia denies targeting civilians. Putin on Tuesday used his first public comments on the conflict in more than a week to express confidence his goals would be achieved.
Zelenskiy mocked Putin in an early morning address: “How could a plan that provides for the death of tens of thousands of their own soldiers in a little more than a month of war come about?”
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Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Michael Perry and Nick Macfie; Editing by Stephen Coates, Simon Cameron-Moore and Alex Richardson
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A view shows Russian rouble coins in this illustration picture taken March 25, 2021. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Illustration/File Photo
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April 11 (Reuters) – The rouble weakened sharply on Monday, reversing some of the previous week’s gains, after Russia relaxed temporary capital control measures aimed at limiting a drop in the currency.
Shares in Rosbank (ROSB.MM), a Russian subsidiary of French bank Societe Generale, jumped 40% after SocGen said it would quit Russia and take a 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) income hit from selling Rosbank to Interros Capital, a firm linked to Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin. read more
By 1500 GMT, the rouble had lost more than 4% of its value in jittery trade, sliding to 79.45 to the dollar , and was down 4.5% to 86.45 against the euro .
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During the trading session on Moscow Exchange, the rouble fell to 82.0950 against the dollar, from the 71 roubles hit on Friday which was its strongest since Nov. 11. read more
Late on Friday the central bank said it would scrap a 12% commission for buying foreign currency through brokerages from April 11 and lift a temporary ban on selling foreign exchange cash to individuals from April 18. read more
“The central bank gave markets a unequivocal signal that a further rouble strengthening was undesirable,” said Vladimir Evstifeev, an analyst at Zenit Bank.
The decision to scrap the 12% commission on FX operations means speculators will be able to trade again, Alor Brokerage said, adding market players were tending to lock in even small profits.
The rouble retains support from the obligatory conversion of 80% of FX revenues by export-focused companies as well as from high interest rates, even though the central bank unexpectedly cut its key rate from 20% to 17% last week. read more
ITI Capital analysts said Russia receives about $1.4 billion a day in export revenues and the rouble could firm further, given Russian capital controls and shrinking imports.
The central bank’s cut supported Russian OFZ government bonds. The finance ministry said at the weekend that it wouldn’t borrow on local or foreign debt markets this year.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov also said Russia would take legal action if the West tried to force it to default on its sovereign debt. read more
Yields on 10-year OFZs, which move inversely with their prices, fell to 10.45% on Monday . That was their lowest since Feb. 21, three days before Russia started what it calls “a special military operation” in Ukraine, triggering unprecedented Western sanctions against Russia.
On the stock market, the dollar-denominated RTS index (.IRTS) fell 5.8% to 1,017.4 points and the rouble-based MOEX Russian index (.IMOEX) shed 1% to 2,566.6 points, with losses limited by the rouble’s slide.
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Editing by David Goodman and Mark Potter
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Austria’s Nehammer to meet Putin in Moscow on Monday
World Bank forecasts 45% drop in Ukraine GDP output
LVIV, Ukraine, April 11 (Reuters) – Ukrainian troops have repulsed several Russian assaults in the country’s east, the focus of a new offensive by the invading forces, British intelligence said on Monday, while President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said this week will be crucial to the course of the war.
Austrian leader Karl Nehammer planned to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday and will call for an end to the conflict. It would be Putin’s first face-to-face meeting with a European Union leader since Russia’s invasion started on Feb. 24. read more
Russian forces were also pushing their offensive to establish control over the southern port city of Mariupol, a key target whose capture would link up areas of Russian control to the west and east.
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The Russian invasion has left a trail of death of destruction that has drawn condemnation from Western countries and triggered concern about Putin’s broader ambitions.
About a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million population have been forced from their homes, cities turned into rubble, and thousands of people have been killed or injured – many of them civilians.
Russian forces have abandoned their attempt to capture the capital Kyiv but are redoubling their efforts in Ukraine’s east. Britain’s defence ministry said Russian shelling continued in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Ukrainian forces had beaten back several assaults and destroyed Russian tanks, vehicles and artillery equipment, it said in its regular intelligence bulletin.
The report also said Russia’s continued reliance on unguided bombs greatly increased the risk of further civilian casualties.
Powerful explosions rocked cities in the south and east and air raid sirens blared out across Ukraine early on Monday.
“IT MUST STOP”
President Zelenskiy kept up his tireless campaign to generate international support and rally his countrymen, warning the coming week would be important and tense.
“Russian troops will move to even larger operations in the east of our state. They may use even more missiles against us, even more air bombs. But we are preparing for their actions. We will answer.” he said in a late night video address.
He was due to address South Korea’s parliament by videolink on Monday.
The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said it was likely the Russians would try to disrupt supply lines and strike at transport infrastructure.
Russia’s defence ministry said high-precision missiles had destroyed the headquarters of Ukraine’s Dnipro battalion in the town of Zvonetsky. read more
Reuters could not immediately confirm the reports.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said he would meet Putin on Monday in Moscow.
“We are militarily neutral, but (have) a clear position on the Russian war of aggression against #Ukraine,” Nehammer wrote on Twitter. “It must stop! It needs humanitarian corridors, ceasefire & full investigation of war crimes.”
Since Russia invaded, Zelenskiy has appealed to Western powers to provide more defence help, and to punish Moscow with tougher sanctions including embargoes on its energy exports.
Zelenskiy said he had confidence in his own armed forces but “unfortunately I don’t have the confidence that we will be receiving everything we need” from the United States.
CIVILIAN TOLL
Mounting civilian casualties have triggered widespread international condemnation and new sanctions.
Ludmila Zabaluk, head of the Dmytriv Village Department, north of Kyiv, said dozens of civilian bodies were found in the area.
“There were more than 50 dead people. They shot them from close distance. There’s a car where a 17-year-old child was burned, only bones left. A woman had half her head blown off. A bit farther, a man lying near his car was burned alive.”
Reuters could not immediately confirm the reports.
Moscow has rejected accusations of war crimes by Ukraine and Western countries. It has repeatedly denied targeting civilians in what it calls a “special operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” its southern neighbour. Ukraine and Western nations have dismissed this as a baseless pretext for war.
ECONOMIC COST
French bank Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) became the latest company to retreat from Russia, agreeing to sell its stake in Rosbank and the Russian lender’s insurance subsidiaries to Interros Capital, a firm linked to billionaire Vladimir Potanin.
The Russian invasion has triggered a barrage of financial sanctions from the United States, Europe and Britain, prompting Western companies to sell their Russian assets.
SocGen had faced mounting pressure to cut ties with Russia and end its more than 15-year investment in Rosbank.
The World Bank on Sunday forecast the war would cause Ukraine’s economic output to collapse by 45% this year, with half of its businesses shuttered, grain exports mostly cut off by Russia’s naval blockade and destruction rendering economic activity impossible in many areas. read more
The bank forecast Russia’s GDP would contract by 11.2% this year due to punishing Western sanctions.
(This story was refiled to correct dateline.)
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Reporting by Reuters bureaus and Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Writing by Lincoln Feast and Angus MacSwan, Editing by Stephen Coates and Nick Macfie
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WASHINGTON, April 10 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s economic output will likely contract by a staggering 45.1% this year as Russia’s invasion has shuttered businesses, slashed exports and rendered economic activity impossible in large swaths of the country, the World Bank said on Sunday.
The World Bank also forecast Russia’s 2022 GDP output to fall 11.2% due to punishing financial sanctions imposed by the United States and its Western allies on Russia’s banks, state-owned enterprises and other institutions.
The World Bank’s “War in the Region” economic update said the Eastern Europe region, comprising Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, is forecast to show a GDP contraction of 30.7% this year, due to shocks from the war and disruption of trade.
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Growth in 2022 in the Central Europe region, comprising Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Romania, will be cut to 3.5% from 4.7% previously due to the influx of refugees, higher commodity prices and deteriorating confidence hurting demand.
For Ukraine, the World Bank report estimates that over half of the country’s businesses are closed, while others are operating at well under normal capacity. The closure of Black Sea shipping from Ukraine has cut off some 90% of the country’s grain exports and half of its total exports.
The World Bank said the war has rendered economic activity impossible in many areas, and is disrupting agricultural planting and harvest operations.
Estimates of infrastructure damage exceeding $100 billion by early March – about two-thirds of Ukraine’s 2019 GDP – are well out of date “as the war has raged on and caused further damage.”
The bank said the 45.1% contraction estimate excludes the impact of physical infrastructure destruction, but said this would scar future economic output, along with the outflow of Ukrainian refugees to other countries.
The World Bank said the magnitude of Ukraine’s contraction is “subject to a high degree of uncertainty” over the war’s duration and intensity.
A downside scenario in the report, reflecting further commodity price shocks and a loss of financial market confidence triggered by an escalation of the war, could result in a 75% contraction in Ukraine’s GDP and a 20% contraction in Russia’s output.
This scenario would lead to a 9% contraction in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia region of emerging market and developing economies – more than double the drop in the baseline forecast.
“The Russian invasion is delivering a massive blow to Ukraine’s economy and it has inflicted enormous damage to infrastructure,” Anna Bjerde, the World Bank’s vice president for Europe and Central Asia, said in a statement.
“Ukraine needs massive financial support immediately as it struggles to keep its economy going and the government running to support Ukrainian citizens who are suffering and coping with an extreme situation.”
The World Bank has already marshaled about $923 million in loans and grants for Ukraine, and is preparing a further support package of more than $2 billion. read more
“Rapid IMF and World Bank assistance has allowed Ukraine fiscal space to pay salaries for civilians, soldiers, doctors, and nurses, while also meeting its external debt obligations,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who oversees the U.S. controlling share in the World Bank, told U.S. lawmakers during a hearing last week.
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Reporting by David Lawder in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Stephen Coates
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HANOVER/FRANKFURT, April 10 (Reuters) – Pro-Russians on Sunday staged demonstrations in the German cities of of Frankfurt and Hanover, where they were far outnumbered by supporters of Ukraine, local police said.
Around 600 pro-Russian protesters in a motorcade of 400 cars flying Russian flags drove through Hanover in northern Germany, while around 3,500 Ukraine supporters gathered in the city centre, the police said.
Fences were put up to separate the pro-Russian protesters from the rival demonstration, they said, adding that the atmosphere was heated at times, but both protests were broadly peaceful.
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Around 235,000 Russian citizens live in Germany, according to government statistics from late 2020. About 135,000 Ukrainians lived in Germany before Russia’s invasion, based on the statistics, but around an additional 300,000 have arrived since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
In Frankfurt, around 800 pro-Russian protesters gathered for a march through the city centre after local authorities refused to allow a motorcade, with some chanting “Russia” and holding a banner reading: “Truth and diversity instead of propaganda”.
Around 2,500 pro-Ukrainian demonstrators assembled in two other locations in Frankfurt, holding “Stop War” banners and with Ukrainian flags painted on their faces.
Ahead of Sunday’s rallies, authorities had said protesters had a right to assemble, but Russian war propaganda or endorsements of Russian aggression would not be tolerated, local media reported.
Police reprimanded some protesters in Frankfurt for chanting “Donbas belongs to Russia”, referring to the eastern part of Ukraine that borders Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his troops into Ukraine on what he calls a “special military operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” Ukraine. Ukraine and the West say Putin launched an unprovoked war of aggression.
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Reporting by Fabian Bimmer and Erol Dogrudogan in Hanover, Kai Pfaffenbach, Andreas Burger and Frank Simon in Frankfurt, Victoria Waldersee in Berlin. Editing by Jane Merriman and Barbara Lewis
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Nine trains laid on for evacuation in east, governor says
BUZOVA, Ukraine, April 10 (Reuters) – A grave with at least two civilian bodies has been found in Buzova village near Kyiv, a Ukrainian official said, the latest reported grave discovered after Russian forces withdrew from areas north of the capital to focus their assault on the east.
Taras Didych, head of the Dmytrivka community that includes Buzova, told Ukrainian television earlier that a grave with dozens of bodies had been found in a ditch near a petrol station.
“Right now, as we are speaking, we are digging out two bodies of villagers, who were killed. Other details I cannot disclose,” Didych told Reuters by telephone.
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“There are other people who we cannot find. They could be in different places, but this doesn’t lessen the pain of the loss of loved ones.”
Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the report.
Mounting civilian casualties have triggered widespread international condemnation and new sanctions, in particular over hundreds of deaths in the town of Bucha, to the northwest of Kyiv that until just over a week ago was occupied by Russian forces.
Moscow has rejected accusations of war crimes by Ukraine and Western countries. It has denied targeting civilians in what it calls a “special operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” its southern neighbour. Ukraine and Western nations have dismissed this as a baseless pretext for war.
Russia has failed to take any major cities since invading on Feb. 24 but Ukraine says Russia is gathering its forces in the east for a major assault and has urged people to flee.
Russia is seeking to establish a land corridor from Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and the eastern Donbas region, which is partly held by Moscow-backed separatists, Britain’s defence ministry said.
Russian armed forces are also looking to strengthen troop numbers with personnel discharged from military service since 2012, it said in a regular intelligence update on Sunday.
Satellite images released by private U.S. firm Maxar dated April 8 showed armoured vehicles and trucks in a military convoy moving south toward Donbas through a town some 100 kilometres (62 miles) east of Kharkiv.
Some cities in the east are under heavy shelling with tens of thousands of people unable to evacuate.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an address late on Saturday Russia’s use of force was “a catastrophe that will inevitably hit everyone.”
Natalia Titova, 62, reacts as she shows her house, which was destroyed by Russian shelling, amid Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine in Chernihiv, Ukraine April 9, 2022. Natalia and her family were staying in the basement, “When the rocket hit our house, we ran into the street, it was very scary” she said. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
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Ukraine was ready to fight for victory while looking for a diplomatic end to the war, he said, and renewed his appeal to Western allies for a total ban on Russian energy products and more weapons for Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Saturday and pledged armoured vehicles and anti-ship missile systems, alongside support for World Bank loans and Britain’s commitment to move away from using Russian fossil fuels. read more
The European Union, which on Friday banned Russian coal imports among other products, has yet to touch oil and gas imports from Russia. read more
Ukraine itself late on Saturday announced a full ban on imports from Russia, its key trading partner before the war with some $6 billion in annual imports.
“The enemy’s budget will not receive these funds, which will reduce its potential to finance the war,” Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on Facebook.
Johnson was the latest foreign leader to visit Kyiv after Russian forces pulled back from the area, marking a return to some degree of normality for the capital. Italy said it planned to re-open its embassy this month.
NINE TRAINS
But in the east, calls by Ukrainian officials for civilians to flee gained more urgency after a missile struck a train station in the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, packed with women, children and the elderly trying to get out.
Ukrainian officials said more than 50 people were killed in Friday’s strike.
Russia has denied responsibility, saying the missiles used in the attack were only used by Ukraine’s military. The United States says it believes Russian forces were responsible.
Reuters was unable to verify the details of attack.
Residents of the region of Luhansk would have nine trains on Sunday to get out on, the region’s governor, Serhiy Gaidai, wrote on the Telegram message service.
Russia’s invasion has forced about a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people from their homes, with more than 4 million fleeing abroad, turned cities into rubble and killed or injured thousands.
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Ukraine seeks more weapons, harsher sanctions on Russia
U.S., EU and Britain condemn railway station attack
West imposes more trade restrictions on Russia
LVIV, Ukraine, April 9 (Reuters) – Britain’s defence ministry said on Saturday that Russian forces were targeting civilians, a day after a missile attack on a train station crowded with women, children and the elderly killed at least 52 people, according to Ukrainian officials.
Russia was focusing its offensive, which included cruise missiles launched by its naval forces, on the eastern Donbas region, the British ministry said in a daily briefing.
It said it expected air attacks would increase in the south and east as Russia seeks to establish a land bridge between Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and the Donbas but Ukrainian forces were thwarting the advance.
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Ukrainian officials said shelling had increased in the region in recent days as more Russian forces arrived.
“The occupiers continue to prepare for the offensive in the east of our country in order to establish full control over the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” the General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the strike on the train station in Kramatorsk, in the eastern region of Donetsk, a deliberate attack on civilians. The city’s mayor estimated 4,000 people were gathered there at the time.
Regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the station was hit by a Tochka U short-range ballistic missile containing cluster munitions, which explode in mid-air, spraying bomblets over a wider area. read more
Reuters was unable to verify what happened in Kramatorsk.
Cluster munitions are banned under a 2008 convention. Russia has not signed it but has previously denied using such armaments in Ukraine. read more
The United States, the European Union and Britain condemned the incident which took place on the same day European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Kyiv to show solidarity and accelerate Ukraine’s membership process.
“We expect a firm global response to this war crime,” Zelenskiy said in a video posted late on Friday.
“Any delay in providing … weapons to Ukraine, any refusals, can only mean the politicians in question want to help the Russian leadership more than us,” he said, calling for an energy embargo and all Russian banks to be cut off from the global system.
Russia’s more than six-week long incursion has seen more than 4 million people flee abroad, killed or injured thousands, left a quarter of the population homeless and turned cities into rubble as it drags on for longer than Russia expected.
In Washington, a senior defence official said the United States was “not buying the denial by the Russians that they weren’t responsible”, and believed Russian forces had fired a short-range ballistic missile in the train station attack. read more
The Russian defence ministry was quoted by RIA news agency as saying the missiles said to have struck the station were used only by Ukraine’s military and that Russia’s armed forces had no targets assigned in Kramatorsk on Friday.
Russia has denied targeting civilians since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion on Feb. 24 in what he called a “special military operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” Russia’s southern neighbour.
Ukraine and its Western supporters call that a pretext for an unprovoked invasion.
The Kremlin said on Friday the “special operation” could end in the “foreseeable future” with its aims being achieved through work by the Russian military and peace negotiators.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has warned the war could last months or even years. read more
The White House said it would support attempts to investigate the attack in Kramatorsk, which Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson said showed “the depths to which Putin’s vaunted army has sunk”.
FORENSIC INVESTIGATION
Following a partial Russian pullback near Kyiv, a forensics team on Friday began exhuming a mass grave in the town of Bucha. Authorities say hundreds of dead civilians have been found there.
Russia has called allegations that its forces executed civilians in Bucha a “monstrous forgery” aimed at denigrating its army and justifying more sanctions.
Visiting the town on Friday, von der Leyen said it had witnessed the “unthinkable”.
She later handed Zelenskiy a questionnaire forming a starting point for the EU to decide on membership, telling him: “It will not as usual be a matter of years to form this opinion but I think a matter of weeks.” read more
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer is due to visit on Saturday for talks with Zelenskiy.
The bloc also overcame some divisions to adopt new sanctions, including bans on the import of coal, wood, chemicals and other products alongside the freezing of EU assets belonging to Putin’s daughters and more oligarchs.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the possibility of an oil ban would be discussed on Monday but called oil sanctions “a big elephant in the room” for a continent heavily reliant on Russian energy.
Ten humanitarian corridors to evacuate people from besieged regions have been agreed for Saturday, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
The planned corridors include one for people evacuating by private transport from the devastated southeastern city of Mariupol.
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Additional reporting by James Mackenzie in Yahidne, Ukraine, and Reuters bureaus; Writing by Costas Pitas, Michael Perry; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Robert Birsel
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KYIV, April 8 (Reuters) – European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the civilian deaths in the Ukrainian town of Bucha showed the “cruel face” of Russia’s army and pledged to try to speed Ukraine’s bid to become a member of the European Union.
During a visit to Bucha, where forensic investigators started to exhume bodies from a mass grave, von der Leyen looked visibly moved by what she saw in the town northwest of Kyiv where Ukrainian officials say hundreds of civilians were killed by Russian forces. read more
Russia denies targeting civilians and has called the allegations that Russian forces executed civilians in Bucha while they occupied the town a “monstrous forgery” aimed at denigrating the Russian army.
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As EU officials were about to arrive in Kyiv, at least 50 people were killed and many more wounded in a missile strike at a railway station packed with civilians fleeing the threat of a major Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine. read more
At a news conference, von der Leyen condemned what she called “the cynical behaviour” of those who wrote “for our children” on the weapons found near the scene.
The mayor of the town of Kramatorsk in the eastern region of Donetsk estimated that about 4,000 people were gathered at the station at the time. Reuters was unable to verify what happened in Kramatorsk.
Saying the EU could never match the sacrifice of Ukraine, von der Leyen offered it a speedier start to its bid for bloc membership.
Handing President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a questionnaire which will form a starting point for a decision on membership, she said: “It will not as usual be a matter of years to form this opinion but I think a matter of weeks.”
Zelenskiy told the same news conference he would come back with answers in a week.
“Russia will descend into economic, financial and technological decay, while Ukraine is marching towards the European future, this is what I see,” von der Leyen said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen departs Poland for Kyiv in Przemysl, Poland, April 8, 2022. REUTERS/Janis Laizans
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Earlier in Bucha, she told reporters that “the unthinkable has happened here”.
“We have seen the cruel face of Putin’s army. We have seen the recklessness and the cold-heartedness with which they have been occupying the city,” she said.
The images from Bucha, which was retaken along with other towns north of the capital as Russian forces withdrew to focus efforts on the east of the country, have prompted a renewed effort by Western nations to punish Moscow for the Feb. 24 invasion.
MORAL SUPPORT
Von der Leyen’s trip to Kyiv was aimed at offering Zelenskiy moral and some financial support.
She pledged her support for Ukraine to “emerge from the war as a democratic country”, something, she said, the European Union and other donors would help with.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s chief diplomat, said he hoped the EU could allocate a further 500 million euros ($543 million) to Ukraine for arms purchases in a couple of days.
Zelenskiy says the war is a direct attack on not only Ukraine’s existence, but the security of Europe as a whole.
Russia calls its action a “special military operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” its neighbour. Before the invasion, Putin had presented Ukraine’s tilt in recent years to the West – including its aspiration to join NATO – as a threat to Russia’s security.
Zelenskiy has urged Brussels to do more to punish Russia, including banning purchases of Russian oil and gas, and has called on the EU to accept Ukraine as a full member.
Earlier, Borrell said oil sanctions were “a big elephant in the room”, with some concerns that a move to cut out Russian crude could cause a spike in prices that would be painful to European economies. He said a decision on exports would be raised on Monday in Brussels.
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Reporting by Janis Laizans; Writing by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Frances Kerry and Grant McCool
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
EU bans Russian coal in first hit to energy imports
Existing coal contracts must be terminated by start of August
EU also bans imports of Russian chemicals, vodka, caviar
Exports of technology, jet fuel to Russia banned
More oligarchs, Putin’s daughters face asset freezes
April 8 (Reuters) – The European Union on Friday formally adopted new sweeping sanctions against Russia, including bans on the import of coal, wood, chemicals and other products which were estimated to slash at least 10% of total imports from Moscow.
The measures also prevent many Russian vessels and trucks from accessing the EU, further crippling trade, and will ban all transactions with four Russian banks, including VTB. (VTBR.MM)
The ban on coal, the first the EU has so far imposed on any energy import from Russia, will be fully effective from the second week of August. No new contracts can be signed from Friday.
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Existing contracts will have to be terminated by the second week of August, meaning that Russia can continue to receive payments from the EU on coal exports until then. read more
“These latest sanctions were adopted following the atrocities committed by Russian armed forces in Bucha and other places under Russian occupation,” EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said in a statement.
The Kremlin has said that Western allegations Russian forces committed war crimes by executing civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha were a “monstrous forgery” aimed at denigrating the Russian army.
The coal ban alone is estimated by the Commission to be worth 8 billion euros a year in lost revenues for Russia. That is twice as big as the EU Commission’s head Ursula von der Leyen had said on Tuesday read more .
Oil and gas imports from Russia, which remain so far untouched, are together worth about 100 billion euros a year.
In addition to coal, the new EU sanctions ban imports from Russia of many other commodities and products, including wood, rubber, cement, fertilisers, high-end seafood, such as caviar, and spirits, such as vodka, for a total additional value estimated in 5.5 billion euros ($5.9 billion) a year.
An EU official said that the combined import bans were worth at least 10% of what the EU buys from Russia in a year. That comes in addition to previous import bans that hit the steel and iron sectors. In total, up to a fifth of all imports from Russia by value are expected to be cut because of direct sanctions.
The EU also restricted export to Russia of a number of products, including jet fuel, quantum computers, advanced semiconductors, high-end electronics, software, sensitive machinery and transportation equipment, for a total value of 10 billion euros a year.
Adding previous export bans on other technology, the EU has blocked so far about a quarter of its total exports by value to Russia, one EU official said.
The sanctions also forbid Russian companies from participating in public procurement in the EU and extend prohibitions in the use of crypto-currencies that are considered a potential means to circumvent sanctions read more .
BLACKLIST
The Commission said that another 217 people were added to the EU blacklist as part of the new sanctions package, meaning their assets in the EU will be frozen and they will be subject to travel bans in the EU.
Most of them are political leaders of the separatist regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, but the sanctions also hit top businessmen, politicians military staff close to the Kremlin and even two daughters of Vladimir Putin.
This brings close to 900 the number of people sanctioned by the EU since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” the country.
Another 18 entities have also been hit by asset freezes, including four banks and military firms, nearly doubling the number of companies blacklisted by the EU since the start of the war.
The sanctioned banks are VTB (VTBR.MM), one of Russia’s largest, Sovkombank, Novikombank and Otkritie. All of them had been already excluded from the SWIFT messaging system, in what was a big blow to their ability to transfer money.
However, EU officials said by freezing their assets the EU is now blocking all transactions with these banks in what it considers the harshest possible measure against lenders.
Top Russian banks which handle energy transactions, notably Sberbank (SBER.MM) and Gazprombank, were again spared, although Sberbank’s boss Herman Gref was hit by an asset freeze.
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Reporting by Francesco Guarascio and Bart Meijer; editing by Philip Blenkinsop, Andrew Heavens, Nick Macfie and Raissa Kasolowsky
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.