EU bans most Russian oil; Zelenskiy calls Donbas situation ‘extremely difficult’

KYIV/LVIV, May 30 (Reuters) – EU leaders agreed on Monday to ban most imports of Russian oil to the 27-nation bloc as Ukrainian and Russian forces battled on the outskirts of Sievierodonetsk, the last city still held by Kyiv in Ukraine’s strategic Luhansk province.

European Council President Charles Michel said on Twitter the ban, agreed at an EU summit in Brussels, would immediately cover more than two thirds of oil imports from Russia “cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine.” read more

EU leaders meeting in Brussels also agreed to cut off the largest Russian bank, Sberbank, from the SWIFT system and to ban three more Russian state-owned broadcasters, Michel added.

The leaders said they had agreed to cut 90% of oil imports from Russia by the end of this year, resolving an impasse over the bloc’s toughest sanction yet on Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine three months ago. read more

They agreed that the oil embargo would include exemptions for Hungary – a landlocked country that relies heavily on crude piped from Russia and which had been the main obstacle to a deal – and others concerned about the economic impact of the move.

Shortly before the announcement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the situation remained “extremely difficult” in the Donbas region, where Russia has focus of its military effort after failing to capture Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, in March.

Zelenskiy had called the EU too soft on Moscow when it appeared leaders would not reach an agreement on the oil ban. read more

Earlier, in Washington, President Joe Biden said the United States would not send Ukraine rocket systems that can reach into Russia, a decision Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev called “rational.” read more

Russia has been seeking to seize the entire Donbas region, consisting of Luhansk and Donetsk, another province Moscow claims on behalf of separatist proxies.

Capturing Sievierodonetsk and its twin city Lysychansk on the opposite bank of the Siverskyi Donets river would give Moscow effective control of Luhansk and allow the Kremlin to declare some form of victory after more than three months of death and destruction in Ukraine.

But by focusing on a battle for the single small city, Russia could leave other territory open to Ukrainian counterstrikes.

In his nightly address, Zelenskiy said the Donbas situation “remains extremely difficult” and said the Russian army was “trying to gather a superior force to put more and more pressure on our defenders.”

“The Russian army has now gathered there the maximum combat power,” he said of Donbas as a whole.

Kyiv said that in recent days, its forces pushed back Russian troops to defensive positions in Andriyivka, Lozove and Bilohorka, villages on the south bank of the Inhulets River that forms the border of Kherson province, where Moscow is trying to consolidate control.

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