Zelensky calls for complete energy embargo on oil and gas

Dusseldorf, New York The US Department of Defense Pentagon sees indications that the Russian armed forces are regrouping. On the one hand, this applies to the city of Kharkiv, on the border of which additional Russian soldiers are said to have been massed. The number of tactical battalions near the Russian city of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border has also increased from 30 to 40 now, a senior official said on Friday.

He did not give an exact number of the additional troops, but such battalions typically consist of around 600 to 1,000 soldiers. The Russian military is concentrating its forces there to focus its efforts on conquering eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region, the official said. The embattled metropolis of Kharkiv is close to the Russian border.

After heavy losses in the north, the Russian armed forces are apparently trying to rebuild their units with new material and soldiers. There are reports that the units now to be deployed in eastern Ukraine will be reinforced by mobilizing “tens of thousands of reservists,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Friday.

Some of the Russian units that recently withdrew over Belarus were “almost completely destroyed,” Kirby said. It was therefore unclear whether they could be deployed again or would have to be merged with other associations that had lost fewer “personnel, equipment, vehicles”. It is also still unclear how quickly the Russians will be able to strengthen their troops again for deployment in eastern Ukraine, said Kirby.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke to his people again during the night via video. After the attack on the train station in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, he addressed the international community. “We expect a determined, worldwide response to this war crime,” Zelensky said in his daily video message on Friday evening.

Selenski criticized the hesitant course of the federal government

According to Ukrainian sources, 52 people were killed and 109 injured in a rocket attack on the Kramatorsk train station in the east of the country on Friday. Several thousand people had gathered there, wanting to leave the city for fear of fighting. Kyiv blamed Russia for the incident. Moscow denied any responsibility.

Zelenski also criticized the German government’s hesitant course in the Ukraine crisis. In an interview with “Bild Live” on Friday evening, Selenski praised the coal embargo in the new EU sanctions package against Russia, but at the same time criticized that it didn’t go far enough. “Countries, including Germany, are against an oil and gas embargo. I am glad that the 5th package (of EU sanctions) includes the coal and wood embargo,” Zelenskiy said.

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In his video message, he again demanded: “A complete energy embargo must be imposed: on oil, on natural gas.” It is energy exports that make up the lion’s share of Russia’s profits. They also led the Russian leadership to believe that the world would ignore the Russian army’s “war crimes”. The Russian banks would also have to be completely decoupled from the global financial system. “Not some of them, but all, the entire banking system of Russia.”

The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday with a view to the question of whether further import bans will be imposed on Russian oil or gas, for example: “That’s the big elephant in the room.” The topic will be discussed at the meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday table lying.

In an interview with “Bild Live”, Ukraine’s head of state again called for more help. “Germany did not support us with weapons. Germany has spoken openly about not being a member of NATO. But if we remain honest: Germany’s rhetoric has changed. Germany is conservative and cold – but the train has moved,” said Selenski. The people in Germany are “absolutely not cold”. He praised the large demonstrations for Ukraine: “There was a lot of support. There I saw the face of the Germans.”

Donor conference planned in Warsaw with von der Leyen

Zelensky also again offered direct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Today Ukraine has no other choice but to sit down at the negotiating table. In Russia, no one else has the power to stop this war,” adds Zelensky. “Only he alone decides when this war ends.”

Zelensky also announced that he wanted to speed up Ukraine’s efforts to join the EU. The country wants to answer a questionnaire from the European Union within a week. “Our government will prepare the answers qualitatively and very quickly. I think within a week,” said the Ukrainian President.

On Friday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen handed over a questionnaire during her visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, which is intended to form the basis for talks on EU accession. Kyiv applied for EU membership shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

A donor conference is planned for Saturday in Warsaw. The meeting was convened by von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is to be connected online. Money is to be collected for the millions of refugees and displaced persons from the Ukraine war. Poland’s President Andrzej Duda will also take part.

Meanwhile, more than 6,500 people have been evacuated from contested regions. This was announced by Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Wereshchuk on Friday evening in a video message published on Facebook. More than 1,600 people came from the besieged port city of Mariupol, and more than 3,500 were residents of the Zaporizhia region. Around 1,500 other people were able to be evacuated from the Luhansk region.

In the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol, Russian units have been holding eight evacuation buses for 24 hours, Wereshchuk said. Negotiations are underway to return the buses to evacuate people as planned.

US paves the way for higher tariffs on Russian goods

While another package of sanctions came into force in the EU on Friday, the USA are also continuing their course of sanctions. In the future, the US government can levy higher tariffs on imported goods from Russia and Belarus. US President Joe Biden signed into law a law passed by Congress on Friday that suspended normal trade relations with the two countries. Biden also signed a law banning the import of Russian oil. Because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, Biden had previously ordered this step via an injunction. Both laws were passed in the House of Representatives and Senate a few days ago with a non-partisan majority.

The Trade Relations Act is about World Trade Organization (WTO) concessions that are being rescinded. Russia and Belarus will be stripped of “most favored nation” status. This principle stipulates that countries in the WTO should be treated equally when it comes to tariffs and other regulatory measures. Moscow and Minsk could challenge this measure before the WTO Dispute Settlement Committee. Russia was only 26th in the ranking of the largest US trading partners in 2019.

Russia’s neighbor Belarus is supporting Moscow in the war against Ukraine without taking part directly militarily. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russian military used Belarus as a staging area against Ukraine.

With agency material.

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