• 4:45 a.m .: Russia increases pressure in Donbass

Russian forces advance in eastern Ukraine.

They confront the Ukrainian forces in the heart of Severodonetsk, which with Lyssytchansk is a key city in the parts of Donbass still under Ukrainian control.

The Russian army has been trying to encircle Severodonetsk and take control of it for several weeks, in an offensive that has intensified in recent days, in the face of which President Zelensky admitted that the Ukrainian army was in difficulty.

"The situation in Donbass remains extremely difficult. The Russian army is trying to concentrate its forces there to put more and more pressure on our defenders," the Ukrainian president said Monday evening.

Russian forces aim to control this mining basin, which pro-Russian separatist forces backed by Moscow took partial control of in 2014.

  • 1:15 am: EU excludes leading Russian bank from Swift

The EU has agreed to exclude the main Russian bank, Sberbank, from the international financial system Swift, as part of its sixth package of sanctions against Moscow, European leaders announced Monday evening at a summit in Brussels.

"This sanctions package includes hard-hitting measures such as Swift's withdrawal from Russia's largest bank, Sberbank," Council Chairman Charles Michel said.

So far, seven Russian institutions have been deprived of access to Swift, a secure messaging platform allowing crucial operations such as funds transfer orders between banks.

  • 12:22 a.m .: EU grants 9 billion euros to Ukraine for its immediate liquidity needs

The leaders of the 27 EU member countries meeting in Brussels on Monday approved the granting of 9 billion euros to the Ukrainian government to cover its immediate cash needs to make its economy work, announced the President of the Council. Charles Michel.

kyiv has quantified its needs at 5 billion dollars per month.

European financing will take the form of "long-maturity loans" with subsidized interest rates, a European source said.

  • 11:52 p.m .: EU agrees to cut Russian oil imports by more than "two thirds"

The European Union has agreed to ban more than two-thirds of Russian oil imports as part of a new set of sanctions against Russia following the offensive in Ukraine, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.

With AFP

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