The EU looks set to impose a total ban on importing Russian oil and gas over Vladimir Putin's brutal war on Ukraine, Ursula von der Leyen has said.
European Union countries will stop importing Russian oil within six months and refined products by the end of 2022, the head of the bloc's European Commission said in Strasbourg on Wednesday.
She also proposed that Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, and two other major banks be disconnected from the Swift international banking payment system.
The proposals, to be included as part of a six round of sanctions against Moscow, would require approval from all 27 member states.
"We will phase out Russian supply of crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of the year," Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament, prompting applause from lawmakers.
"This will be a complete import ban on all Russian oil, seaborne and pipeline, crude and refined."
"It will not be easy. Some member states are strongly dependent on Russian oil. But we simply have to work on it," Ms von der Leyen said of the proposal."
It came as Ukrainian officials and the United Nations say they hope to arrange more evacuations from the bombed-out steel mill in Mariupol.
Their comments came as scores of civilians reached relative safety after enduring weeks of shelling that targeted the city’s last pocket of resistance.
While the evacuees savoured hot food, clean clothing and other comforts that were denied to them while underground, Russian forces on Tuesday began storming the plant, where some Ukrainian fighters were still holed up.
Thanks to the evacuation effort over the weekend, 101 people — including women, the elderly, and 17 children, the youngest six months old — emerged from the bunkers under the Azovstal steelworks to “see the daylight after two months”, said Osnat Lubrani, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine.
