The European Union has approved new sanctions against Russia, including an embargo on coal imports.
It comes in the wake of the US saying there is evidence of Russian troops engaging in torture and killings in war zones outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
The ban on coal imports will be the first EU sanctions targeting Russia’s energy industry over its war in Ukraine, an official said on condition of anonymity because the official announcement had not yet been made.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Russia was responsible for war crimes in a wide-ranging interview with Sky News.
He rejected suggestions that Vladimir Putin would appear in a war crimes court, saying: “We don’t see any possibility for that, we don’t consider it to be realistic.” But, he admitted that the “significant losses of troops” is a “huge tragedy for us.”
