Russian forces launch a tank and infantry attack on the Azovstal steel complex, the last enclave where Ukrainian soldiers are holed up, in the southeastern city of Mariupol. Meanwhile, the European Union unveiled proposed new sanctions against Moscow that would deprive it of oil revenues.
And the United Nations announced on Tuesday that it had succeeded in evacuating more than 100 civilians from Azovstal, where they had taken refuge in the huge basements of this large complex of metallurgical industries.
Al-Jazeera correspondent monitored the arrival of these civilians - mostly women and children - to Zaporizhia, the city controlled by Ukrainian forces, 230 km northwest of Mariupol.
Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kirlinko said on Wednesday that more evacuation buses had left Mariupol towards Zaporozhye.
Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk had said that a new evacuation was scheduled for Wednesday "if the security situation permits."
On Tuesday, the Russian forces announced that the planes and artillery of the Russian army and the "Donetsk People's Republic" - a separatist region loyal to Russia - began the attack on Azovstal by destroying the firing positions, after weeks of intense siege and bombardment.
Russian forces control all parts of Mariupol (the strategic city overlooking the Sea of Azov in southeastern Ukraine), except for the Azovstal complex, where the fighters of the Ukrainian Azov Battalion are holed up.
Attempts to take down forces
"A violent attack on the territory of Azovstal is currently taking place with the support of armored vehicles and tanks, with attempts to land troops with the help of boats and a large number of infantrymen," Svyatoslav Balamar, deputy commander of the Azov battalion, said in a video recording via the Telegram application.
Russian forces are still concentrating their attacks in eastern Ukraine around the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the Donbass region, after stopping their attack on the capital, Kyiv, at the end of last March.
Russia-backed separatists were already in control of parts of the two regions before the start of the Russian war on Ukraine on February 24.
The British Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update published on Twitter today, Wednesday, that Russia has deployed 22 tactical battalions near the town of Izyum, in an effort to advance along the northern axis of Donbass.
The ministry added that the Russian forces likely intend to advance beyond Izyum and capture Kramatorsk and Severodonetsk.
Fire in Makeyivka
Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera correspondent reported the burning of a large fuel depot in the city of Makeyivka, east of Donetsk.
The reporter quoted the Russian authorities in the city as saying that the fire was caused by Ukrainian bombing of the warehouse.
And the separatist Donetsk authorities announced that one person was killed and two wounded in the bombing of the fuel depot in Makeyivka.
Also, in the context of field developments, the Ukrainian armed forces called in a statement to destroy the Crimean bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula with the Russian territory.
She pointed out that the bridge is of strategic importance, and that its bombing will disrupt the logistics services of the Russian army in the entire southern Ukrainian region, including the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.
The bridge was inaugurated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, linking the Russian mainland with Crimea through the Kerch Strait between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Defense of Belarus (Moscow's ally) surprisingly announced that its forces began today, Wednesday, large-scale military exercises to test their combat readiness.
The ministry said that the exercises did not pose any threat to its neighbors or to European countries in general.
European sanctions
Politically, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced during a speech before the European Parliament in Strasbourg this morning, Wednesday, the features of the proposed sixth package of European sanctions against Russia due to its war on Ukraine.
Von der Leyen said that EU countries will gradually, within 6 months, stop buying Russian crude oil, as well as purchase refined oil products, by the end of the year.
"This will be a complete ban on the import of Russian oil, by sea and pipelines, crude and refined," she added, noting that it will not be easy because some member states "rely heavily on Russian oil."
The head of the European Commission said that Russian President Vladimir Putin must "pay a heavy price for the atrocities committed in Ukraine".
The proposed sanctions package would require the approval of all 27 EU member states to take effect.
The package also targets the Russian banking sector, as it proposes excluding more Russian banks from the SWIFT system for international financial transactions.
Meanwhile, diplomats said that Russia will boycott a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday with the European Union's Political and Security Committee, in a rare move by Moscow that indicates a further deterioration in relations between it and a number of its partners in the United Nations.
And the French press agency quoted a Russian diplomatic source as saying that Moscow's decision to boycott the meeting is related to the situation in Ukraine.
On the other hand, a Western diplomat told the agency that he did not remember that Russia had boycotted a meeting of the UN Security Council since the start of its war on Ukraine.