War in Ukraine | Germany ready for Russian oil embargo

While the number of civilian victims of the war in Ukraine has passed the 3,000 dead mark, the energy ministers of the European Union (EU) are trying to find a strategy to reduce their dependence on Russian fossil fuels. In this vein, Germany has declared itself ready for an embargo on the import of Russian oil.

Andre Duchesne
The Press

This change in attitude of Germany, a European country dependent on Russian oil and gas, was unveiled on Monday by the Ministers of Finance, Christian Lindner, and Economy, Robert Habeck, at a meeting of the Ministers of Energy held in Brussels.

“Germany is ready for further sanctions, including an embargo,” Minister Christian Lindner told CNN.

According to Charles Séguin, associate professor in the department of economics at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), this decision falls under the meaning of a gradation of German sanctions against Russia.

“It’s new, but the fact remains that from Germany’s point of view, oil is less critical than Russian gas. They go there with a gradation, he says. They started with charcoal, which hurt the least. We now seem to go through oil, and gas will come last, because that is what is most delicate for the German economy. The order seems to me respected in terms of what is most critical to this economy. »

Maintain a united front

The emergency meeting held on Monday in Brussels aims, among other things, to maintain a united front against Moscow, which is now demanding payment in rubles for the delivery of oil and gas products. Already, Poland and Bulgaria have seen Russian oil deliveries cut off in the face of both countries’ refusal to pay the bills in roubles. It is feared that the current EU common front will split in the face of this Russian demand.

3153 dead

Meanwhile, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights announced on Monday that the number of civilian war casualties since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24 had passed the 3,000 mark for to stop at 3153, an increase of 254 compared to the figures published on Friday. This branch of the UN recognizes that due to the difficulties of access on the ground, this count is below reality. In Mariupol alone, local authorities claim that more than 20,000 people were killed.

Odessa bombed

In Odessa, a Ukrainian port on the Black Sea, missile attacks were recorded during the day. The local governor, Maksym Marchenko, indicated on Telegram that a missile strike caused deaths and injuries, without giving details. The Suspilne News media agency reported that a religious building was hit, adding that a 15-year-old boy died as a result of the strike and that a young girl was also hospitalized.

Difficult evacuations in Mariupol

In Mariupol, the evacuation of civilians continues in precarious and uncertain conditions. The city’s mayor, Vadym Boichenko, said the process was “very difficult” and depended on the goodwill of Russian authorities. On Sunday, a hundred civilians were able to leave the tunnels built under the site of the Azovstal steelworks. Little is known about the evacuation of other civilians from the city, which was to resume Monday morning. An estimated 100,000 Ukrainians remain within the city limits.

Ukrainian military successes

In addition, the Ukrainian army claimed certain military successes on Monday, starting with the destruction of two Russian patrol boats near Serpents’ Island in the Black Sea. Valeri Zalouzhny, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, posted on Facebook the video of two missiles hitting Raptor-class patrol boats with the full force of 20 soldiers and three crew members. “Bayraktar works,” the commander added, a reference to Turkish combat drones used by the Ukrainians. The latter also claim the resumption of control of sectors to the north and east of Kharkiv, which will make it possible to stem the attacks of Russian missiles against the city.

Trudeau denounces Sergei Lavrov’s remarks

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday denounced the Russian foreign minister’s comments that Adolf Hitler had Jewish blood. Sergei Lavrov’s comments “are ridiculous and unacceptable,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau commented on the sidelines of an announcement for the auto industry in Ontario. He said he was not surprised by this new example of disinformation from Russia. “What the Russian Foreign Minister has just said is unbelievable,” he added. Canada, all reasonable countries around the world, Canadians and all those who oppose the horrors of the Holocaust and the extremely disturbing rise in hate crimes – be it anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or anti-Black racism – we must increasingly condemn Russia’s ridiculous and unacceptable positions while supporting Ukraine. »

With Mylène Crête, The PressReuters, CNN, The Associated Press, The GuardianAgence France-Presse and LN24 (Belgium)