The European Union's chief executive has proposed a phased oil embargo on Russia, as well as sanctions on its top bank and a ban on Russian broadcasters, in its toughest measures yet to punish Moscow for its war in Ukraine.
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OIL, GRAIN, DEBT
* Oil prices jumped as the EU, the world's largest trading bloc, outlined plans to phase out imports of Russian oil, offsetting demand worries in top importer China.
* A Czech minister said the planned Russian oil ban did not include mechanisms for sharing the burden, describing this as a problem.
* An EU source told Reuters Hungary and Slovakia would be able to continue buying Russian crude oil until the end of 2023 under existing contracts.
* Hungary said it saw no plans or guarantees in the European Union's oil sanctions proposals on how a transition period could be managed.
* Russian parliamentarian Vladimir Dzhabarov was quoted as saying Europe would continue buying Russian oil via third countries once it introduces an embargo.
* Ukraine's grain exports fall to around 923,000 tonnes in April from 2.8 million tonnes in the same month in 2021 due to the Russian invasion, analyst APK-Inform said.
* Russia was set to avoid a debt default after overdue payments on two of its sovereign Eurobonds were sent to creditors, four sources told Reuters.
FIGHTING
* The armed forces of Belarus began sudden large-scale drills to test their combat readiness, the defence ministry of Ukraine's neighbour said.
* Russia's defence ministry said it had disabled six railway stations in Ukraine used to supply Ukrainian forces with Western-made weapons in the country's east.
* Russia has deployed 22 battalion tactical groups near Ukraine's eastern city of Izium in an apparent effort to advance along the northern axis of the Donbas region and capture the cities of Kramatorsk and Severodonetsk, Britain said.
* A convoy of buses left Mariupol in a new attempt by Ukraine, the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross to evacuate civilians from the southern Ukrainian city, the regional governor said.
* Andriy Sadoviy, the mayor of the western city of Lviv near the Polish border, said late on Tuesday that air strikes had damaged power stations, cutting off electricity in some districts.
Reuters could not immediately verify reports of battlefield developments.
* The European Union is considering additional military support to Ukraine's western neighbour Moldova, EU Council President Charles Michel said on a visit to Chisinau on Wednesday.
QUOTES
* "We are still studying it, but it is a problem for me," Czech minister Sikela said of the planned EU ban on Russian oil.
* "We had said goodbye to life, we didn't think anyone knew we were there," said Valentina Sytnykova, 70, who said she sheltered in the Azovstal steel works for two months with her son and 10-year-old granddaughter.
Australian Associated Press
