Ukraine applauds EU ban on most Russian oil imports; fighting rages in strategic Donbas city – CNBC

Other updates in the war in Ukraine:

The European Union urged its international partners to avoid placing trade barriers on farm products as concerns about a global food crisis grows.

Ukraine has said Russia is blocking the export of 22 million tons of its grain to Africa. The EU is trying to help get food out by road and rail.

The chair of the African Union, Senegal’s President Macky Sall, has told European Union leaders that Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s ports is paving the way for a “catastrophic scenario” of widespread shortages and price hikes across his continent.

In an address to leaders gathered in Brussels for a summit focused on helping Ukraine, Sall said that the EU is exploring alternative sea routes for Ukraine’s grain and fertilizer exports.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia’s invasion of his country has damaged “more than 1,800 educational institutions” and that Ukrainians will not stop fighting until they have cleared the Russian threat.

Ukraine applauded the European Union for striking an agreement on a new package of sanctions against Russia that includes an embargo on most Russian oil imports. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry attributed Hungary’s resistance to the oil embargo to its good relations with Putin.

The European Union has banned 75% of Russian oil imports since Russia invaded Ukraine. A temporary exception covers crude oil delivered by pipeline.

Russia has suggested it will find other importers for its oil following the EU’s decision to impose a partial embargo.

Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled energy giant, has cut off supplies to Dutch gas trader GasTerra over a gas-for-rubles payment dispute. GasTerra said it would not adapt to Gazprom’s “one-sided payment requirements”.

Other happenings:

The head of Sievierodonetsk says fighting has split the city in half. The Kremlin claims to have seized control of one-third of the city.

The U.K. Ministry of Defense says Russian forces have achieved greater local successes and are accepting risk elsewhere in occupied territory, including the key city of Kramatorsk and the M04 Dnipro-Donetsk main road.

A Ukrainian court sentenced two captured Russian soldiers to 11 and a half years in jail for shelling a town in eastern Ukraine. Both pleaded guilty last week.

European Union leaders are split over whether to target Russia’s gas imports in their next set of economic measures against the Kremlin.

Russian forces have seized control of one-third of Sievierodonetsk, a key eastern city in Ukraine’s Donbas region. Fighting is still raging in an urban area.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says 32 media workers have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Among them is Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, a French journalist with BFM TV.

Abramovich put the Chelsea team up for sale a week after the invasion. The new owner will lift the sanctions.

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