Once a day, NU.nl gives you an overview of the situation in Ukraine. This time: Ukrainian authorities in Mariupol have so far found at least 16,000 civilian bodies in mass graves near the southern port city. Meanwhile, the European Union continues to argue over the oil boycott.
It was said that the mass graves were placed so that the bodies were separated from each other only by an iron plate. Mariupol’s town hall says that the Russians want to give the impression that these are individual graves.
Thousands of corpses are believed to remain under the rubble of collapsed buildings. Local crematoria and cemeteries are said to have been filled with war dead for centuries.
Citing Mayor Vadym Boychenko in the Ukrainian media, the city government fears the death toll could exceed 22,000.
Russian troops withdrew to Severodonetsk. inside
Russian forces invaded the crucial city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine for the first time. The largest city in the Donets Basin, which Ukraine still controls.
Violent clashes have been going on in the neighborhood for days. Governor Serhiy Gaidai reported that Russian troops were moving from the suburbs to the center of the city.
“We have disappointing news: the enemy has occupied the city,” Gaidai said in a televised speech. He pointed out that the nearby city of Lysychansk is still wholly in Ukrainian hands.
One million people in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region are without water, Gaidai said Monday. According to him, there is also no more gas in the city of Severodonetsk. According to him, the conflict means that there is no way to guarantee that civilians will receive water and gas.
The Netherlands does not buy gas from Gazprom
The Russian gas company Gazprom will stop supplying gas to the Dutch GasTerra on Tuesday. The gas trader, which is owned by Shell, Esso Nederland and the Dutch state, refuses to pay its bills in rubles. GasTerra does not expect any problems as the trader has already purchased gas from elsewhere.
Russia announced at the end of March that gas payments must now be made in rubles. The country did this in response to Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February.
The US does not supply missile systems that can hit targets in Russia
The United States will not supply Ukraine with long-range missiles that can hit deep targets in Russia. President Joe Biden denied it on Monday, despite repeated requests from the Kiev government for such weapons.
US media said in recent days that Washington is preparing the delivery, dubbed the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS). Several rocket launchers of this type can hit targets up to 300 kilometers away, but the Americans consider the risk of direct involvement in combat too great.
EU discusses oil boycott
After weeks of discussions about a possible boycott of Russian oil imports, it also seems unlikely that a special EU summit will reach an agreement. The EU leaders who arrived at the summit were pessimistic about the so-called embargo aimed at hitting the Russians in the pocket.
Negotiations have been going on at the European level for weeks to end Russian oil imports. But behind the scenes, be it EU leaders or ambassadors, they cannot understand. The sleeper has been the same for centuries: Hungary. The country is heavily dependent on Russian oil.
The proposal was also unexpectedly criticized. Prime Minister Mark Rutte emphasized that the Netherlands also had an interest in coming to the top. While other countries still use Russian oil through their pipelines, they want to prevent ports from being supplied with Russian oil.
Source: NU
Jason Jack is an experienced technology journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in computer science and engineering, he has a deep understanding of the latest technology trends and developments. He writes about a wide range of technology topics, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, software development, and cybersecurity.
