LVIV: Russian artillery bombarded Ukrainian cities on Wednesday, as Ukraine’s president urged the West to act decisively in imposing new, tougher restrictions on trade with Russia in response to civilian killings widely condemned as war crimes.
The United States announced new sanctions, including onRussian President Vladimir Putin’s daughters, days after grimimages emerged of the bodies of civilians shot at close range in the town of Bucha when it was retaken from Russian forces.
Pope Francis, without apportioning blame, described thekillings as a “massacre” and Ukrainian President VolodymyrZelenskiy said the West needed to do more to rein in Russia.
“I can’t tolerate any indecisiveness after everything thatRussian troops have done,” Zelenskiy told Irish lawmakers byvideolink.
Some Western leaders “still think that war and war crimesare not something as horrific as financial losses”, he added.
Western policymakers have denounced the killings in Bucha as a war crime, and Ukrainian officials say a mass grave by achurch there contained between 150 and 300 bodies. Satelliteimages taken weeks ago in the town, situated north of thecapital Kyiv, show bodies of civilians on a street, a privateU.S. company said.
Moscow denied targeting civilians there or elsewhere.Russia’s foreign ministry said that images of dead bodies inBucha were staged to justify more sanctions against Moscow and derail peace talks with Kyiv.
Russia refers to its Feb. 24 invasion as a “special militaryoperation” designed to demilitarise and “denazify” Ukraine.Ukraine and Western governments reject that as a false pretext to invade a democratic country.
Russia forces regrouping to attack south, Ukraine president warns
The war has killed thousands, turned entire cities intorubble and left a quarter of Ukraine’s population homeless. Asit heads into its seventh week, the risk that it could escalateinto a broader conflict remains a concern.
Reflecting such fears, the EU executive said it had begun astockpiling operation to boost its defences against chemical,nuclear and biological threats.
Beseiged city
A siege of the southern port of Mariupol continued onWednesday, trapping tens of thousands of residents without food, water or power.
“The humanitarian situation in the city is worsening,”British military intelligence said, while Ukrainian Deputy PrimeMinister Iryna Vereshchuk said people trying to flee would have to use their own vehicles..
Reuters could not immediately verify the British report.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said its teamhad successfully led a convoy of buses and private cars withmore than 500 Mariupol residents to nearby Zaporizhzhia after the civilians fled on their own.
Vereshchuk said authorities would try to evacuate civilianstrapped elsewhere through 11 humanitarian corridors.
The United States believes Russia has completed itswithdrawal from around Kyiv and is refitting its troops for anexpected redeployment, a senior U.S. defence official said.
Ukraine’s military said Russian forces were continuingpreparations for an eastern offensive in order to take fullcontrol of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Biden says ‘butcher’ Putin ‘cannot remain in power’
It said the main focus of current hostilities was Donetsk, where Russian troops were still trying to seize all of Mariupol.
Ten high-rise buildings were on fire in the eastern town ofSievierodonetsk after Russian shelling on Wednesday, theregion’s governor said in an online post.
New sanctions
The United States announced a new round of sanctionstargeting Russian banks and Kremlin officials and banningAmericans from investing in Russia.
The sanctions hit Russia’s Sberbank, which holdsone-third of Russia’s total banking assets, and Alfabank, thecountry’s fourth largest financial institution, U.S. officialssaid. But energy transactions were exempted from the latestmeasures, the officials said.
The United States is also sanctioning Putin’s two adultdaughters, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s wife anddaughter, and members of Russia’s security council.
“I made clear that Russia would pay a severe and immediateprice for its atrocities in Bucha,” President Joe Biden said onTwitter.
Britain also froze Sberbank’s assets, and said it would banimports of Russian coal by the end of the year.
The head of the European Commission signalled further moves - including examining energy imports - on top of sanctions unveiled by the bloc on Tuesday.
But a crack in a unified EU front emerged, with HungarianPrime Minister Viktor Orban saying his government was prepared to accede to Russia’s demand to pay in roubles for Russian gas.
Russia supplies around 40% of the EU’s natural gas consumption. The EU also gets a third of its oil imports fromRussia, about $700 million per day.
Moscow last week demanded payments for gas in roubles from countries it deemed “unfriendly”, but Brussels said those with euro or dollar contracts should stick to them.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy which relies on Russiangas for much of its energy needs, warned that while it supported ending Russian energy imports as soon as possible it could not do it overnight.
Russia edged closer to a potential default on its international debt as it paid dollar bondholders in roubles and said it would continue to do so as long as its foreign exchange reserves were blocked by sanctions.
Hungary’s Orban said he had spoken with Putin and asked him to announce an immediate ceasefire.
He said he had invited Putin for talks in Hungary to be heldwith the Ukrainian and French presidents as well as the German chancellor. Putin’s response was “positive”, he said, but added the Russian leader said there would be conditions.