EU is expected to sanction Russian oil as fighting in Ukraine continues

Tens of residents have managed to leave Marioupolis through an evacuation operation of the United Nations and the Red Cross, and on Tuesday have been sent to Zaporija, controlled by Ukraine. Civilians had been sheltered for weeks in bunkers under the steel factory, Azovstal.

Among the evac mostly were women and children who left Marioupolis through buses.

We had said goodbye to life. We didn't think anyone knew we were there”, said Valentina Sytnykova, 70, who had been sheltered in the factory for two months along with her son and her 10-year-old granddaughter.

Russia is attacking Marioupolis as it is demanding that it remove Ukraine from the Black Sea and connect the territory controlled by Russia to the south and east. Parts of the eastern Donjeck and Luhansk regions had been under the control of pro-Russian separatists, before President Vladimir Putin began firing Ukraine on 24 February.

More than 200 civilians continue to be at the Azovstal factory, Marioupol chairman Vadym Boichenko has said, as 100,000 civilians continue to be in the port city that has been reduced to rubble.

Hit by Western sanctions, Russia now faces new measures from the EU, which is expected to sanction banks and the oil industry. This is seen as a major step, as Western states depend heavily on Russian energy.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to submit the proposal for new sanctions Wednesday, which is expected to include stops of Russian oil imports starting late this year.

Moscow has shown no sign that it will withdraw even nearly ten weeks after it started, what it describes as the <x0-cypher military operation”, a war that has killed thousands of people, destroyed cities and forced 5 million Ukrainians to leave the country.

Russia's $1.8 trillion economy has been moving toward its largest contraction since the years after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Putin has also announced Russian plans to block first class exports to Kiev supporters.

Russian Strikes on Railways

Russian forces have concentrated their offensive on the east and south of Ukraine, having failed to take over the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.

New attacks west of Ukraine were also reported Tuesday. Lviv's chairman has said that Russian missiles have damaged electricity and water networks in this city bordering Poland and that it is being used to obtain weapons supplies that the West is sending to the Ukrainian Army.

Russian forces have also attacked six railway stations in central and western Ukraine, the head of railways, Olesandri Kamyshi, said. He said through a tweet that there are no civilians killed or injured.

In the east, Russian attacks in Donjeck have killed 21 civilians and another 27 have been wounded, said regional governor Pavlo Krylenko. He said this is the highest number of victims since last month.

Attacks and grants have intensified in Luhansk as well, and the hardest hit area is Pupina, where evacuation has been impossible to organise, said regional Governor Serhiy Haida.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodyr Zelensky said the Russian Army “has reacted today with great anger to our success”.

The high scale of today's promotions does not clearly indicate that Russia has any particular kind of military goal”, he said during an address to the nation Tuesday evening.

Russia has also rocketed a military airport in the vicinity of Odessa, destroying fears, weapons and ammunition supplies given to Ukraine by the West. Ukraine said three missile attacks, aimed at the Odessa region, have been hampered.