Six killed in attacks on Ukraine as EU extends sanctions against Russians | russia-ukraine war news

The European Union has kept up the pressure after criticising the US for lifting sanctions on Russian oil exports amid fears of war in the Middle East.

The European Union has voted to renew sanctions against individuals and entities supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine, as Russian forces continued to target Ukrainian energy infrastructure, killing six people in the Zaporizhia and Kyiv regions.

The EU Council announced that the bloc’s 27 member states on Saturday agreed to extend sanctions imposed on about 2,600 individuals and entities through September 15 with measures such as travel bans and asset freezes, breaking an earlier impasse over Hungary and Slovakia’s opposition to the move.

The extension of sanctions came a day after EU Council chief Antonio Costa criticised the United States for lifting sanctions on Russian oil exports, saying on Thursday that weakening sanctions would increase “Russian resources to wage an aggressive war against Ukraine”, with implications for European security.

The measure was announced after Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles and drones on Saturday, killing five and wounding 15 in the Kyiv region around the capital, according to regional military administrator Mykola Kalashnik.

The city of Zaporizhia was also hit by Russian-guided bombs, killing one person and injuring three, said Ivan Fedorov, the governor of the southeastern region. Pictures posted online showed parts of buildings reduced to debris.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia’s main target was energy infrastructure outside the capital, Kyiv, but the Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipro and Mykolaiv regions were also targeted in an attack that included about 430 drones and 68 missiles, most of which were shot down by air defence.

Russia’s winter offensive on Ukraine has left parts of major cities without electricity or heating, as Moscow’s troops continue their offensive amid demands to hand Kiev more territory in the east. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said Saturday that consumers in six regions were without power.

Ukrainian forces have targeted Russian strategic infrastructure such as oil refineries, depots and terminals in long-range strikes. On Saturday, Ukraine’s military said it had attacked the Afipsky oil refinery and Port Kavkaz in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region.

Putin is ‘taking advantage’ of Middle East distraction

Saturday’s fighting comes as the Iran conflict has diverted international attention from US-backed peace efforts in a four-year war that Moscow has no interest in ending.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever on Saturday called on the European Union to force its member states to negotiate with Russia as it became clear the US is easing pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin amid rising oil prices due to the Iran war.

“Since we are unable to threaten Putin by sending weapons to Ukraine, and we cannot suppress him economically without the support of the United States, there is only one way left: making a deal,” he told Belgian newspaper L’Echo.

The EU’s chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, has said in the past that the bloc must first reach an agreement on what is expected of Russia before approaching Putin directly and formulating its “maximalist demands”.

However, recent EU Council deliberations on extending sanctions highlighted the bloc’s inability to reach a common position.

Hungary and Slovakia, which are in a dispute with Ukraine over blocking Russian oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline, had previously opposed the extension of sanctions, reportedly calling for the removal of some Russian oligarchs from the list of offenders.

Reacting to rising oil prices due to the war in Iran earlier this week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged the European Union to suspend sanctions on Russian energy.

“Russia will try to take advantage of the war in the Middle East to wreak even more destruction here in Europe, in Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a post on Twitter.