War in Ukraine: the EU agrees on a progressive embargo of Russian oil

Europe 1 with AFP 06:39, May 31, 2022

THE ESSENTIAL

kyiv has won the battle for the European oil embargo, which is supposed to dry up funding for Moscow's "war machine", but Russian forces continued to concentrate in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, particularly around the city - key to Severodonetsk, in the Donbass.

The 27 member countries of the European Union agreed overnight from Monday to Tuesday on a gradual embargo.

It will initially concern oil transported by boat, ie two-thirds of European purchases of Russian black gold.

A temporary exemption has been provided for oil transported by pipeline, in order to lift Budapest's veto.

"This will cut off a huge source of funding for Russia's war machine," European Council President Charles Michel tweeted.

The extension of the embargo to deliveries by pipeline will then be discussed "as soon as possible" and, in total, 90% of Russian oil exports to the EU will be stopped by the end of the year, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier challenged the Europeans on their need to stand up to Moscow, in a video message broadcast during the extraordinary summit in Brussels.

The main information: 

- Russian forces continue to concentrate in eastern Ukraine, particularly around the key city of Severodonetsk in the Donbass.

- The 27 member countries of the European Union agreed overnight from Monday to Tuesday on a gradual embargo on Russian oil.

It will first concern oil transported by boat, ie two-thirds of European purchases.

"This will cut off a huge source of funding for Russia's war machine," European Council President Charles Michel tweeted.

- 90% of Russian oil exports to the EU will be stopped by the end of the year, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron.

- Ukraine and Western countries accuse Moscow of blocking Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which Russian officials deny. 

energy weapon

"The key point of course is oil. Europe will have to give up Russian oil. Because the very independence of Europeans from the Russian energy weapon is at stake", he said. he commented on Monday evening in his daily address to his compatriots, even before the news from Brussels broke.

This sixth package of European sanctions also includes the exclusion of three Russian banks from the Swift international financial system, including Sberbank, the country's main establishment.

Disruptions are beginning to be felt in the Russian economy, despite the impression given of resisting the sanctions.

The price of spare parts for foreign cars has thus jumped by 30% or more.

>> READ ALSO - 

Embargo on Russian oil: despite its reluctance, "Hungary is in a negotiating position"

Inflation, nearly 18% annually in April, is at its highest in 20 years.

Signs like McDonald's or Starbucks are withdrawing definitively, as is the car manufacturer Renault.

From the airline Ural Airlines to the factories of Avtovaz, the country's leading car producer, shut down for lack of spare parts, tens of thousands of people are on short-time work or on forced leave.

 The food crisis on the menu Tuesday

European leaders also approved on Monday evening the granting of 9 billion euros to the Ukrainian government to cover its immediate cash needs to keep its economy running.

The two-day summit must also address on Tuesday the continent's energy transition to do without Russian gas, and the food crisis linked to the war in Ukraine which threatens the African continent in particular.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a telephone conversation on Monday that Russia was ready to work with Turkey on the free movement of goods in the Black Sea, including "the export of grain from Ukrainian ports," according to a Kremlin statement.

Ukraine and Western countries accuse Moscow of blocking Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which Russian officials deny.

Russian forces are advancing in the east of the country.

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.

>> Find Europe Matin in replay and podcast here

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 Volodymyr Zelensky admitted that the Ukrainian army was in difficulty.

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

Russian forces aim to control this mining basin, which pro-Russian separatist forces backed by Moscow took partial control in 2014. It was in this area that a French journalist, Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, who worked for the BFMTV channel.

The reality of war 

He "was in Ukraine to show the reality of the war. On board a humanitarian bus, alongside civilians forced to flee to escape Russian bombs, he was fatally injured," French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Twitter .

Ukrainian forces have nevertheless claimed to regain ground in the south, particularly in the region around Kherson, a city near Crimea which came under Russian control in early March.

"The enemy left the village of Mykolaivka, in the north of the Kherson region", says a bulletin from the Ukrainian army published overnight from Monday to Tuesday, referring to the departure in "panic" of "demoralized" Russian soldiers ".