EU imposes 10th package of Ukraine-war sanctions on Russia

The European Union vowed to increase pressure on Moscow “until Ukraine is liberated” as it adopted a 10th package of sanctions on Russia on Saturday, a day after the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.

DIPLOMACY AND SANCTIONS

* Russia’s senior diplomat to the United Nations accused the West on Sunday of “cowboy” methods and “arm twisting” of some countries during last week’s United Nations General Assembly vote that demanding Moscow withdraw its troops from Ukraine.

* Finance chiefs of the world’s largest economies strongly condemned Moscow on Saturday for its war on Ukraine, with only China and Russia itself declining to sign a joint statement.

* French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday he will visit China in early April, in part to seek Chinese help with ending Russia’s invasion.

* The United States marked the anniversary of the invasion with $2 billion in weaponry for Kyiv and new sanctions against Russia aimed at undermining Moscow’s ability to wage war.

* Belarus, a small Russian ally bordering Ukraine, has as many as 1.5 million potential military personnel outside its armed forces, a senior official was quoted as saying on Saturday.

FIGHTING

* Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said forces of his Wagner group had captured the village of Yahidne, just north of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine on Saturday. Reuters could not independently confirm the claim.

* Ukrainian military reports suggested that villages near the key town remained under Kyiv’s control.

* Reuters could not verify the battlefield accounts.

OIL

* Russia has halted supplies of oil to Poland via the Druzhba pipeline, Daniel Obajtek, chief executive officer of Polish refiner PKN Orlen PKN.WA, said on Saturday.

* Ukraine plans no more outages to ration electricity if there are no new Russian strikes and has been able to amass some power reserves, the energy minister said on Saturday, after months of interruptions caused by bombings.

ANNIVERSARY

* Ukrainians honoured their dead and vowed to fight on, while Russia said it was making battlefield gains in the east as its invasion entered a second year on Friday.

* In Moscow, there was a mixture of defiance and some sadness but no major public events to mark the anniversary.