Ukraine-Russia: European Union Cannot Agree on Russian Oil Embargo as New Death Toll Revealed

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said that since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24 it has recorded 3,153 civilian deaths in Ukraine, but warned that the real death toll is likely to be “considerably higher”.

Satellites have also identified mass burial sites near Mariupol containing around 200 graves, likely used to bury civilian bodies.

A meeting of EU energy ministers reached no conclusion Monday on a possible embargo on Russian oil, amid reports of division in the bloc on the issue. The next package of EU sanctions will be finalized on Tuesday.

At a press conference after the meeting, Barbara Pompili, France’s Minister for Ecological and Inclusive Transition, said the meeting had focused more on gas and that an oil embargo would only be discussed in the coming days. Reports have claimed that a waiver could be granted to countries such as Hungary, which has made it clear that it would block an embargo.

Germany, which previously seemed against the embargo, said on Monday it was not fully ready to block Russian gas but could handle a phased oil embargo. It was argued last month that the £840m being sent to Russia every day in the form of energy payments was 35 times more than the amount the EU had actually donated to Ukraine to help the country defend itself.

Meanwhile, the safe evacuation of civilians from the war-torn city of Mariupol has been hit by delays. The buses left the city on Monday morning to travel along humanitarian corridors to the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia. However, as of Monday night they had not reached their destination in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia.

The evacuation follows the safe departure of some civilians from the Azovstal steel plant over the weekend, where many had been sheltering for weeks in dire conditions.

Ukrainian authorities in Mariupol said more buses had left the city and would pick up people who had previously been evacuated to Russian-controlled villages along the way. Locals still living in other parts of the city, which has been nearly destroyed by heavy shelling, were also allowed to leave.

A video posted online Sunday by Ukrainian forces showed elderly women and mothers with young children climbing up a steep pile of rubble from the rubble of the Azovstal steel plant and eventually getting onto a bus. The evacuation was carried out in agreement with the United Nations and the International Red Cross.

People who left the plant reported it was the first time they had seen the light of day in two months and described the cramped conditions living in the plant’s shelters, where people were forced to use plastic bags as toilets. .

More than 100 civilians were expected to arrive in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday. He hailed the evacuation as the first time the “vital” humanitarian corridor had functioned.

Previous attempts have resulted in civilians reporting that their vehicles were attacked. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly accused Russian forces of shelling agreed evacuation routes.

Anastasiia Dembytska, who took advantage of the brief ceasefire surrounding the evacuation of civilians from the steel plant to leave with her daughter, nephew and dog, said her family survived by cooking on a makeshift stove and drinking well water.

He said he could see the steel plant from his window, when he dared to look.

“We could see the rockets flying and clouds of smoke over the plant,” he said.

The evacuation came as the port city of Odessa reported a missile attack that hit a religious building.

President Zelensky said on his Telegram channel: “Today we finally managed to start the evacuation of people from Azovstal, after many weeks of negotiations, after many attempts, different meetings, calls and proposals. There was not a single day that we did not try to find a solution that would save our people. Today, for the first time in all the days of the war, this vital corridor has begun to function. For the first time there were two days of real ceasefire.

“More than a hundred civilians, women and children fleeing hostilities there have already been evacuated. Given all the complexities of the process, the first evacuees will arrive tomorrow morning in Zaporizhzhia. Our team will meet them there. I hope that tomorrow all the necessary conditions will be given to continue the evacuation of people from Mariupol, we plan to start at 8 am”.

A Ukrainian defender of the steel plant urged groups such as the UN and the Red Cross to ensure the safety of the evacuees.

Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the Azov Regiment, said there should be guarantees from “a third party, politicians, world leaders, who will cooperate to negotiate with the Russians to get us out of here.”

Another of the plant’s defenders said Russian forces resumed shelling the facility on Sunday as soon as the evacuation of a group of civilians was completed.

Denys Shlega, commander of the 12th Operational Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard, said in a televised interview Sunday night that several hundred civilians remain trapped along with nearly 500 wounded soldiers and “numerous” bodies.

“Several dozen small children are still in the bunkers under the plant,” Shlega said.

UN humanitarian spokesman Saviano Abreu said civilians arriving in Zaporizhzhia, some 140 miles northwest of Mariupol, will receive immediate humanitarian support, including psychological services.

A Médecins Sans Frontières team was at a reception center for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, preparing for the arrival of the UN convoy.