[The Epoch Times, 5 dicembre 2022](Full report by Epoch Times reporter Li Yan) Group of Seven (G7) ships to Russiaoillimit priceEffective Monday (December 5). Ukraine said Russia launched a new round of missile strikes on the same day. The West is trying to limit Moscow’s ability to support its war in Ukraine through price caps. But Russia has said it will not comply with the measure even if it cuts production.
Airborne sirens sounded across Ukraine on Monday amid a new wave of rocket attacks on the country since Russia invaded the country on Feb. 24. Ukrainian officials have urged civilians to seek asylum.
“Don’t ignore the alarm,” said Andriy Yermak, Ukraine’s chief of staff for the presidency.
“The missiles have been launched,” said Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. But Ukrainian media quoted officials as saying explosions could be heard from above in some areas as the aid defense system kicked in.
In recent weeks, Russian forces have increasingly targeted Ukrainian energy facilities as they face further battlefield setbacks, Reuters reported. As winter approaches, it causes major power outages in Ukraine.
Russia said the attacks were aimed at weakening the Ukrainian military. Ukraine said the attacks clearly targeted civilians and therefore constituted war crimes.
The G7’s price of $60 a barrel for seaborne Russian crudelimit priceEffective Monday. The price cap was endorsed by the G7 and Australia on Friday (December 2) after EU member Poland withdrew its opposition. Poland wants a lower price ceiling. Russia is the second largest in the worldoilcountry of export.
The deal allows Russian oil to be shipped to third countries using G7 and EU tankers, insurers and lenders, but only if it trades at or below this price cap.
Moscow said it would not comply even if it were to cut production, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said $60 was too high to deter a Russian attack.
“You wouldn’t think it was a serious decision to set such a cap on Russian prices, which is quite comfortable for the budget of a terrorist state,” Zelensky said.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak called it a crass intervention that violated the rules of free trade and would further destabilize the markets.
“We will only sell oil and petroleum products to countries that cooperate with us on market terms, even if we have to reduce production a bit.”
The oil price cap came into effect as both Russia and Ukraine reported casualties in attacks on an industrial enterprise and another site in southern Ukraine, as well as state-run housing complexes in Russian-controlled territory in the East.
Three dormitories of Donbass State College in the region were hit by a Ukrainian fire early Monday, killing nine people, the Russian-appointed governor of the eastern Luhansk region and Russia’s state news agency TASS said.
Pro-Russian governor Leonid Pasechnik said the dormitories were being used to house refugees and construction workers.
In Kryvyi Rih, one of southern Ukraine’s largest cities, Russian rockets killed 12 people shortly after midnight, Dnipropetrovsk region governor Valentyn Reznichenko said: one died and three were injured.
“They targeted an industrial company,” Reznichenko said on messaging app Telegram, without giving details.
Russian shelling has killed two people in the past 24 hours, Ukrainian governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said, as Russian troops were forced to retreat into the southern Kherson region across the Dnieper River.
In Russia, three people were killed and six others were injured on Monday when a tanker truck exploded at a Russian airport near the city of Ryazan, southeast of Moscow, RIA Novosti reported, without giving reasons.
The Epoch Times could not independently verify the reports.
Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were holding positions along the front, including in the east near Bakhmut, which is seen as the next target for Russia’s advance into the Donetsk region.
About 16 settlements, including Bakhmut and nearby Avdiivka, were hit by tanks, mortars, gun barrels and rockets, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its troops conducted successful operations around Bakhmut and repulsed a Ukrainian attack on the city of Donetsk. Russian officials said Ukraine fired at least 10 Grad rockets there. No word on casualties.
Fighting in Ukraine is still ongoing, but at a “slower pace” as both sides prepare for a post-winter military push, the head of the US intelligence community said on Saturday.
The United States and its allies have imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia and provided billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine since the February 24 Russian invasion.
However, French President Emmanuel Macron received criticism from Ukraine and its Baltic allies over the weekend. The reason was his suggestion that the West should consider Russia’s need for security guarantees if Russia agreed to a negotiated end to the war.
Zelensky’s aide Mykhailo Podolyak said the world needs Russian security guarantees, not the other way around.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday warned against creating a new cold war by dividing the world into different blocs. It was yet another sign of Western unease over the stalemate that has created an energy and refugee crisis in Europe.
Responsible Editor: Li Huanyu#
