(AFP) – The European Union will discuss tougher sanctions against Russia on Monday as it accuses Moscow of using the continent’s largest nuclear power plant to store weapons and launch missiles into Ukraine’s southern regions.
Petr Kotin, head of the Atomic Energy Agency of Ukraine, stated that the situation at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is “extremely tense”, adding that the Russians have placed rocket launchers and used the facility to bombard the Dnipro region.
Regional governor Valentin Reznichenko said on Saturday that Grad rockets had set fire to residential areas, describing the “firestorm”.
“Rescuers found two dead under the rubble,” he said in the coastal town of Nikopol.
As the conflict escalates into a global energy and food crisis, EU foreign ministers are considering banning gold purchases from Russia, in line with the sanctions already imposed by G7 partners.
Other Russian figures may also be blacklisted by the EU.
“Moscow must continue to pay a high price for its aggression,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, after presenting the proposed measures.
A senior EU official said Brussels is expected to hold preliminary talks on the sanctions on Monday, but will not make a decision on the same day.
Russians use the captured nuclear power plant as a base for artillery fire: Kyiv https://t.co/lJcpoMh2VO
– Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) 16 July 2022
More than 20 weeks after Russia invaded a neighboring country, killed thousands and evacuated millions of Ukrainians, Moscow announced on Saturday that it would step up its military operations.
According to the Ministry of Defense, Minister Sergei Shoigu “has given the necessary instructions to further increase” the military pressure.
The president of the war-torn country, Volodymyr Zelensky, accused Russia of trying to inflict maximum damage, but promised that Ukraine would “survive”.
In his speech on Saturday night, Zelenskiy said Ukraine had “endured the brutal blows of Russia” and was able to regain some of the territories it had lost since the beginning of the war, eventually regaining more of the occupied territory.
“We will be patient. Let’s win,” he said, and “let’s rebuild our lives.”
While the most violent clashes continued in the Donbass industrial zone in the east and near Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkov, in the northeast, the bombings have accelerated and intensified in recent days.
Russian rocket fire in the city of Chuguev over the weekend killed three people and destroyed a residential building and a local school.
“Why me? Just because I was born in Ukraine?” Raisa resident Kuwal asked as he sat on the rubble.
“We parted peacefully and separated from parents, child from mother, brother from sister… It was unbearable.”
EU considers block-wide gas ration as public says price increase https://t.co/mTporEcZ7P
– Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) 15 July 2022
A two-day meeting of finance ministers from 20 major economic groups sought to resolve the food and energy crises caused by the war, but the meeting ended Saturday in Indonesia without a joint statement.Conflict has divided the global forum.
The failure to issue a joint statement is expected to hinder a coordinated effort to address rising inflation and food shortages in developing countries that could put millions of people at risk of starvation.
A joint statement could not be reached a week after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov left the G20 talks in Bali for criticizing Moscow.
Canada generally described Moscow’s participation in the meeting as “ridiculous”, and Bali’s Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Russia’s presence was “like inviting an arsonist to a firefighter’s meeting”.
Trump acquitted: Germany prepares for ‘chaotic conditions’ ahead of Russia’s fear of gas loss https://t.co/CV9t5KSp6t
– Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 3, 2022
In the war-torn Donbass, pathetic trench battles and artillery duels have turned into a war of attrition.
Moscow-backed separatists said on Friday they were close to their next target, Seversk, after taking control of the twin cities of Lisichansk and Severodonetsk, about 30 kilometers to the east.
Daniil Versonov, the official representative of the Donetsk separatists, said that militants “cleared” the eastern areas of Seversk in small groups.
Hundreds of kilometers from the front line, rocket attacks caused heavy civilian casualties in central Vinnitsa, where the death toll rose to 24 on Saturday.
The governor of Vinnytsia region, Sergei Borzov, stated that 68 people, including four children, continue to be treated, and said, “A woman died in the hospital today, 85 percent of them burned.”
In the face of international condemnation, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that it plans to hold a meeting in Vinnitsa “with representatives of foreign arms suppliers of the Ukrainian Air Force command.”
But a senior U.S. defense official said there was “no indication” of a military target nearby, on condition of anonymity.
The Global Food Crisis: EU ‘Emergency Planning’ for the Great Influx of Migrants – Commissionerhttps://t.co/mEu32bwNZH
– Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) 14 July 2022
Source: Breitbart
