Ammunition boxes are seen in a window used to defend the central train station that was used as a Russian base on March 30 2022 in Trostyanets, Ukraine. Picture: GETTY IMAGES/CHRIS MCGRATH
The irresponsible sanctions by Brussels are already negatively affecting the daily lives of ordinary EuropeansRussia will respond to European Union sanctions, the RIA news agency quoted a senior foreign ministry official on Friday. The energy showdown has huge ramifications for Europe as US officials circle the globe to keep pressure on Putin to stop an invasion that has uprooted a quarter of Ukraine's 44-million people.
At talks this week, Moscow said it would reduce offensives near the capital Kyiv and in the north as a goodwill gesture and focus on “liberating" the southeastern Donbas region. Video footage from Irpin, on the western fringe of Kyiv, showed destroyed Russian tanks amid bombed out buildings and Ukrainian authorities removing victims in body bags.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 45 buses sent to evacuate people from Mariupol had been stopped on Thursday by Russian forces outside Berdyansk, about 75km to the west.