United States imposes new sanctions on senior Kremlin officials and Russian oligarchs
\nLVIV
\nConflict raged northwest of Kyiv on Saturday and other cities were encircled, with Ukrainian officials saying heavy shelling and threats of Russian air attacks were endangering attempted evacuations.
\nDeputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk had said the government planned to use agreed humanitarian corridors out of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol as well as towns and villages in the regions of Kyiv, Sumy and some other areas.
\nBut the governor of the Kyiv region said fighting and threats of Russian air attacks were continuing during evacuation attempts and the Donetsk region\u2019s governor said constant shelling was complicating bringing aid into Mariupol.
\nAir raid sirens blared across most Ukrainian cities on Saturday morning urging people to seek shelters, local media reported.
\nThe bombardment has trapped thousands of people in besieged cities and sent 2.5 million Ukrainians fleeing to neighbouring countries.
\nThe exhausted-looking governor of Chernihiv, around 150 km northeast of Kyiv, gave a video update in front of the ruins of its Ukraine Hotel, which he said had been hit on Saturday.
\n\u201cThere is no such hotel anymore,\u201d Viacheslav Chaus said, wiping tears from his eyes. \u201cBut Ukraine itself still exists, and it will prevail.\u201d
\nRussian rocket attacks destroyed a Ukrainian airbase and hit an ammunition depot near the town of Vasylkiv in the Kyiv region on Saturday morning, Interfax Ukraine quoted Vasylkiv Mayor Natalia Balasynovych as saying.
\nMoscow has denied targeting civilians what it calls a special operation to demilitarise Ukraine and unseat leaders it refers to as neo-Nazis. It has not responded to Ukrainian challenges to provide evidence.
\nUkraine said it expected a new wave of attacks on the regions around the capital Kyiv, the country\u2019s second city Kharkiv and Donbass in the east, where Russian-backed separatists have expanded their control.
\nBritain\u2019s defence ministry said on Friday that Russian forces could launch an offensive on the capital Kyiv in a few days. In an update on Saturday, it said fighting northwest of the capital continued, with the bulk of Russian ground forces 25 km (16 miles) from the centre.
\nThe cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol remained encircled under heavy Russian shelling, it said.
\nSanctions
\nEfforts to isolate Russia economically have stepped up, with the United States imposing new sanctions on senior Kremlin officials and Russian oligarchs on Friday.
\nEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU would on Saturday suspend Moscow\u2019s privileged trade and economic treatment, crack down on its use of crypto-assets, and ban the import of iron and steel goods from Russia, as well as the export of luxury goods in the other direction.
\nMoscow said on Saturday the European Union would end up paying at least three times more for oil, gas and electricity.
\n\u201cI believe the European Union would not benefit from this – we have more durable supplies and stronger nerves,\u201d Russian foreign ministry official Nikolai Kobrinets told Interfax.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United States imposes new sanctions on senior Kremlin officials and Russian oligarchs LVIV Conflict raged northwest of Kyiv on Saturday and other cities were encircled, with Ukrainian officials saying heavy shelling and threats of Russian air attacks were endangering attempted evacuations. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk had said the government planned to use agreed humanitarian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4904,4905,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-249160","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-fighting-rages","9":"tag-kyiv","10":"tag-russia"},"yoast_head":"\n