Office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Saturday called for a lower price cap russian oil That compared to the one agreed to by Ukraine’s Western supporters, while Russian officials criticized the $60-a-barrel cap as harmful to free, stable markets.
The head of Zelensky’s office, Andrey Yermak, wrote on social media that the price cap set by the European Union, Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan and the United States on Friday was not sufficient. The cap is due to take effect on Monday, along with an EU ban on Russian oil shipped by sea.
“It would be necessary to reduce it to $30 in order to rapidly destroy the enemy’s economy,” Yermak wrote on a telegram, espousing a position supported by Poland – a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin’s War in Ukraine.
EU countries say seaborne Russian oil will cost US$60 a barrel
read more
The Russian embassy in Washington insisted that Russian oil “will remain in demand” and criticized the price cap as “reshaping the basic principles of the functioning of free markets”. A post on the embassy’s Telegram channel predicted that the barrel cap would lead to “a vast increase in uncertainty and higher costs for consumers of crude”.
The price cap aims to put economic pressure on Russia and further reduce its ability to finance a war that has killed countless civilians and combatants, driven millions of Ukrainians from their homes and for more than nine months put pressure on the world economy.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said since Friday Russian forces had launched five missiles, 27 airstrikes and 44 rounds of fire against Ukrainian military targets and civilian infrastructure.
One civilian was killed and four others were wounded in the attacks in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, deputy head of the presidential office Kirylo Tymoshenko said. According to Britain’s Ministry of Defence, Russian forces continue to invest “a substantial part of their overall military effort and firepower” around the small Donetsk town of Bakhmut, which they have spent weeks trying to capture.
In southern Ukraine’s Kherson province, whose capital city of the same name was liberated by Ukrainian forces three weeks ago after the Russian army retreated, Governor Yaroslav Yanushkevich said the evacuation of civilians trapped in Russian-held territory across the Dnieper River Temporarily restarted.
Russian forces withdrew to the east bank of the river last month. Yanushkevich said that the ban on crossing the waterway during daylight hours would be lifted for three days for Ukrainian citizens who “did not have time to leave the temporarily occupied territory.” His announcement cited “a potential intensification of hostilities in the region”.
Read more: Low US diesel inventory ‘troubled’ as winter looms. Will Canada be affected?
Kherson is one of four regions that Putin illegally annexed in September and has vowed to defend as Russian territory. From their new bases, Russian troops have regularly shelled the city of Kherson and surrounding infrastructure in recent days, leaving many residents powerless. Running water remained unavailable in most parts of the city.
Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia are other regions engaged in violations of international law.
Ukrainian officials also reported intense fighting in Luhansk and Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, which Russian troops mostly withdrew in September.
The mayor of the northeastern city of Kharkiv said about 500 apartment buildings were damaged beyond repair, and about 220 schools and kindergartens were damaged or destroyed. He estimated the cost of the damage at $9 billion.
© 2022 The Associated Press