Joseph Campbell, Alessandra Prentice

ZAPORIZHZHIA (Ukraine) – On Wednesday, the European Union will announce oil sanctions against Moscow after Russian forces pounded targets across eastern Ukraine. The rockets were launched at a steel plant, which is the only remaining resistance point in Mariupol.

After weeks of hiding in the bunkers below the Azovstal steel factory, scores of evacuatees were able to escape the city.

After fleeing their homes in Ukraine’s southeastern Ukraine, Russia claimed control of them, weary looking evacuees including the elderly, began to climb onto buses.

We had to say goodbye to our lives. Valentina Sytnykova 70 said that she didn’t know anyone was there.

Russia targets Mariupol because it wants to seize control of Ukraine’s Black Sea coast and make connections with Russian-controlled areas in the South and East. Before President Vladimir Putin’s February 24th invasion, Russian-backed separatists held parts of eastern Donetsk and Luhansk.

Mariupol Mayor Vadym Bichevenko stated that there are more than 200 people still living in the plant. The city also has 100,000 civilians.

You go to some place and are chased away… What’s the best way for me to get there? They should blow me up,” a 67year-old woman in New York told Reuters as she boiled water while cooking on an open flame amid the debris of an apartment building that was destroyed.

Russia is being slapped with Western sanctions. The EU now has new sanctions against Russia that will target the oil and banking industry. This would be a significant step forward for European countries which heavily rely on Russian energy.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission is set to outline the new sanctions proposed on Wednesday. This includes a ban on Russian oil imports by the end this year.

Moscow didn’t show signs of resigning nearly 10 years into what it called a “specially military operation,” which saw thousands killed, cities destroyed and 5 million Ukrainians forced to flee the country. Russia’s economy, worth $1.8 trillion, is about to experience its largest decline since 1991.

Putin made it more difficult for Kyiv’s Western backingers to make economic decisions by declaring plans to prevent exports of essential raw materials.

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After failing to capture Kyiv (the capital) in the first weeks of war, Russia’s forces turned on the heaviest firepower against Ukraine’s south and east.

Also, on Tuesday there were more attacks against the west. Lviv mayor said that Russian misile attacks had caused damage to electricity and water lines in Lviv’s western region, near the Polish frontier. These are the main routes through which flow Western arms for Ukraine.

Olesksandr kamyshin (head of Ukraine’s railways) said that Russian forces struck six other stations on the western and central sides of Ukraine. On Twitter, Olesksandr Kamyshin stated that no civilians were injured.

Russian terrorist attacks on Donetsk in the eastern region killed 21 civilians Tuesday and left 27 others injured, Pavlo Kyrylenko, regional governor of Donetsk. According to him, this was the most recent daily death in the area since the beginning of last month.

Luhansk saw an increase in shelling, and the worst area was Popasna. It proved impossible to organize evacuations there, Serhiy Hadida, the regional governor, stated.

Telegram said that “there are no safe places in Luhansk Region.”

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, stated that Russia’s military had “reacted today to our successes with great anger.”

In an address to the nation, he stated that “the sheer magnitude of today’s bombardment clearly doesn’t indicate Russia has any particular military goal.”

Russia stated that it attacked a military base near Odesa, Black Sea, with missiles. This destroyed all drones, ammunition, and weapons supplied by the West. Ukraine claimed that three missiles had been launched at Odesa and were all intercepted.

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Mariupol (a city of over 400,000 people before the invasion) has endured weeks of bombardment and siege.

Unbrokered evacuations were ordered by the U.N., but a ceasefire failed to be reached.

Telegram video of the steel plant from Captain Sviatoslav Palmar, of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment stated that Russia had bombarded Azovstal using artillery and aerial strikes Monday night. Reuters was unable to independently confirm his story.

Russia was accused by Zelenskiy of violating ceasefires that were meant to permit civilians escape.

“They are still fighting. Zelenskiy spoke via video link during a Wall Street Journal conference. We need to take a break.”

U.S. President Joe Biden made a trip to Afghanistan for a Lockheed Martin (NYSE:) Defence plant presses U.S. Congress for approval of his $33 billion aid package to Ukraine. It includes over $20 billion in military assistance.

Biden said to the workers of Alabama that if you do not stand up for dictators, history will show us.

Britain has announced additional aid of 300 million pounds (375 million).