Berlin:
Western allies are preparing sweeping new sanctions against Russia, including banishing its key banks from the main global payments system, drawing thanks from Ukraine on Sunday as its forces battled advancing Russian troops.
Russia’s military pounded several cities with missiles overnight, setting an oil terminal ablaze in Vasylkiv, southwest of the capital Kyiv, the town’s mayor said. The blasts sent flames and smoke into the night sky, online posts showed.
There were reports of heavy fighting near the northeastern city of Kharkiv, where Russian troops blew up a natural gas pipeline, a Ukrainian state communications agency said.
“The enemy wants to destroy everything,” said the mayor of Vasylkiv, Natalia Balasinovich.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what he called a special military operation on Thursday, ignoring weeks of Western warnings and saying the “neo-Nazis” ruling Ukraine threatened Russia’s security – a charge Kyiv and Western governments say is baseless propaganda.
