European Union leaders have reached a compromise deal to ban more than two-thirds of Russian oil imports, punishment for its invasion of Ukraine three months ago. Meanwhile, Moscow's forces push ahead with their offensive in the eastern Donbas region.
Agreed late Monday, the deal is designed to cut "a huge source of financing for its war machine," European Council chief Charles Michel tweeted.
"Maximum pressure on Russia to end the war," he said.
Leaders of the 27-nation bloc had met to negotiate the long-sought deal earlier Monday in Brussels, amid concerns raised by Hungary and other neighboring countries reliant on Russian fuel.
The compromise exempts deliveries by pipeline from the oil import ban, after Hungarian President Victor Orban warned halting supplies would wreck the country's economy.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the ban "will effectively cut around 90 percent of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year".
Hours earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had called an oil embargo the "key point" to any sanctions package.
'Weaponised' energy
"I believe that Europe will have to give up Russian oil and oil products in any case, because this is about the independence of Europeans themselves from (weaponised) Russian energy," he said in his daily address to the nation.
The Netherlands and Denmark on Tuesday were expected to join the growing list of European countries who have seen their gas shipments halted after refusing to pay Russian giant Gazprom in rubles, a demand meant to sidestep crippling Western sanctions.
Russia has previously halted deliveries to Finland, Bulgaria and Poland, a move blasted by the EU as "blackmail".
Monday's agreement also includes plans for the EU to send €9 billion ($9.7 billion) in "immediate liquidity" to Kyiv, Michel announced.
Michel said the sanctions also involved disconnecting Russia's biggest bank, Sberbank, from the global SWIFT system, banning three state broadcasters and blacklisting individuals blamed for war crimes.
Continuous bombardment
On the ground, Russian forces were making incremental gains in the Donbas region, including the industrial city of Severodonetsk, where they were edging closer to the city centre.
"The situation in Severodonetsk is as complicated as possible," Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said on Telegram, saying the entire region was under continuous bombardment -- "air bombs, and artillery, and tanks. Everything".
But Ukrainian forces are pushing back in the southern region of Kherson, the country's military leadership has said.
On Monday, Ukraine's southern command centre said they had driven Russian troops from the village of Mykolayivka.
A day earlier, the army claimed to have pushed Russian forces into "unfavourable positions" around the villages of Andriyivka, Lozovo and Bilohorka, forcing Moscow to send reserves to the area.
Foreign ministers visit Kyiv
Meanwhile, new US ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink -- filling a position vacant since 2019 -- and French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna both arrived in Kyiv on Monday.
France will "continue to reinforce arms deliveries," Colonna said at a news conference with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.
The highest-ranking French official to visit the capital since Russia's invasion began 24 February, Colonna also visited Bucha, near Kyiv, where Russian troops have been accused of committing war crimes against civilians.
"This should never have happened," Colonna told reporters after visiting an Orthodox church in the town. "It must never happen again."
Her visit came as a French journalist Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff was killed while covering humanitarian evacuations in Ukraine.
(with wires)
