Russian forces pound Ukraine cities as the US tells of tougher sanctions

Russian artillery pounded key cities in Ukraine on Wednesday, as President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the West to hit Moscow with tougher sanctions in response to civilian killings widely condemned as war crimes.

The US announced a new round of sanctions targeting Russian banks as well as Kremlin officials and their family members. The head of the European Commission signalled further moves, including examining energy imports, on top of sanctions unveiled by the bloc on Tuesday.

The measures include banning new investment in Russia, sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adult children and foreign minister Segei Lavrov’s family members.

A senior administration official told reporters that if Putin changed course in Ukraine, sanctions could slow and possibly reverse.

Western sanctions over Russia’s invasion gained new impetus this week after the bodies of civilians shot at close range were found in the town of Bucha when it was retaken from Russian forces.

Pope Francis, without apportioning blame, described the killings as a “massacre”. Zelensky said the West had to act decisively, taking “more rigid” steps against Russia, which is claiming that the Bucha killings were staged.

“I can’t tolerate any indecisiveness after everything that Russian troops have done,” Zelensky told Irish MPs by video link. Some Western leaders “still think that war and war crimes are not something as horrific as financial losses”, he said.

But a crack in a unified EU front emerged, with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban saying his government was prepared to accede to Russia’s demand to pay in roubles for Russian gas.

Moscow last week demanded payments for gas in roubles from countries it deemed “unfriendly”, but Brussels said those with euro or dollar contracts should stick to them.

Germany, Europe’s largest economy which relies on Russian gas for much of its energy needs, warned that while it supported ending Russian energy imports as soon as possible it could not do it overnight.

Ukraine’s foreign minister said that the war could be halted only by an embargo on sales of gas and oil that provide billions of dollars to Russia every week and cutting all Russian banks off from the global financial system.

“It will take a gas/oil embargo and de-SWIFTing of all Russian banks to stop Putin. Difficult times require difficult decisions,” Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter, referring to the international SWIFT network for bank transfers.

The new sanctions may increase economic hardship for Russians without denting Russia’s energy revenues that much, say US sanctions analysts.

Russia supplies about 40% of the EU’s natural gas consumption. The EU also gets a third of its imported oil from Russia, for about $700m a day.

“We are at the point where we have to take some pain,” said Benn Steil of the Council on Foreign Relations think-tank in New York. “The initial batches of sanctions were crafted as much to not hurt us in the West as much as they were to hurt Russia.”

Hungary’s Orban said he had spoken with Putin and asked him to announce an immediate ceasefire. He said he invited Putin for talks in Hungary with the Ukrainian and French presidents and the German chancellor. Putin’s response was “positive”, he said, but the Russian leader said there would be conditions.

Since pulling back from outside Kyiv last week, Russian forces have shifted their assault towards Ukraine’s south and east.

Ukraine’s general staff said the northeastern city of Kharkiv remained under attack. Authorities in the eastern region of Luhansk urged residents to leave an area it expects to be the target of a new offensive.

Ten high-rise buildings were on fire in the eastern town of Sievierodonetsk after Russian shelling on Wednesday, said the region’s governor.

Reuters