Ukraine says oil price cap will sink Russian economy

Ukraine predicted on Saturday that the oil price cap would sink Russia, which flatly rejected such a measure, decided by Western powers.

The Ukrainian authorities for their part have invited the population to “endure” the privations imposed by the bombings against their energy plants.

“We always achieve our goal and the Russian economy will be destroyed and Russia will have to take responsibility for all its crimes,” said Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak.

The 27 European Union (EU) countries, the G7 of the most advanced economies and Australia agreed on Friday to impose a maximum price of 60 dollars per barrel of oil from Russia, second largest fuel exporter in the world.

The measure will go into effect on Monday, along with an EU embargo on Russian crude oilin a new twist on the sanctions applied since President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine on February 24.

The G7 (United States, Canada, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy and Japan) have ensured that they want to “prevent Russia from profiting from its war of aggression against Ukraine” and “support the stability of world markets in power”.

Russia categorically rejected those limits.

“We will not accept such a limit,” presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov said, adding that Moscow was “analyzing” the move.

endure the winter

Russian bombing of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in recent weeks has deprived millions of households of electricity, water and heating as temperatures drop dramatically due to the onset of the northern winter.

“We have to resist,” the governor of the southern Mykolaiv region, Vitaliy Kim, said on Telegram.

Putin deemed these bombings “necessary and inevitable in the face of provocative attacks from Kiev,” the Kremlin said on Friday.

According to Putin, Ukraine is responsible for the explosions that partially destroyed the Russian bridge in Crimea in early October, which would allow Russia to bomb energy infrastructure in the former Soviet republic.

Putin once again lamented in a conversation with German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz that Western financial and military support has allowed Ukraine to inflict humiliating defeats on Russia in Europe’s biggest conflict since the end of World War II.

hard fights

But the Ukrainian counteroffensive apparently stopped advancing as quickly.

The fighting is particularly “heavy” in the east, because “the Russians had time to prepare” after the recent setbacks, Lugansk region governor Sergei Gaidai said.

The situation is also “difficult” near Bakhmut, in the eastern region of Donetsk, says a report from the Ukrainian army. The Russians have been trying to take this city since the summer and taking it would be a success for Moscow after its recent withdrawals.

Donetsk is part of the Donbass Basin, which Russia annexed in early October although it has so far failed to fully conquer it.

Even so, Putin intends to visit the area “at the right time”, Peskov said on Saturday, reiterating that for Moscow it is “a region of the Russian Federation”.

US President Joe Biden said on Thursday he was “willing to talk” with Putin, but only if the Russian leader seeks “a way to end the war” and withdraw his troops from the country.

This was noted by Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov Russia rejected those terms. “The special military operation will continue,” he insisted, using Russia’s official terminology to refer to the offensive in Ukraine.

Ukraine refuses any negotiations with Putin if its territorial integrity is not respected, which includes the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Source: AFP

B. C