Washington - US President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a ban on Russian oil and other energy imports, a significant move in stepping up the international pressure on President Vladimir Putin to halt his devastating assault on Ukraine.
“Russia may continue to grind out its advance at a horrible price, but this much is already clear: Ukraine will never be a victory for Putin.
“Putin may be able to take a city, but he'll never be able to hold the country,” Biden told reporters at the White House.
On the ground in Ukraine, the Kyiv government accused Russian forces of shelling a humanitarian corridor that Moscow had promised to open to let residents flee the besieged port of Mariupol.
The civilian death toll in the conflict mounted. And with the war in its 13th day, the number of refugees who have fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries surged past two million.
Western sanctions imposed over the invasion have already cut off Russia from international trade and financial markets. Russia is the world's biggest exporter of oil and natural gas,and until now its energy exports had been exempted from the international sanctions.
“We're banning all imports of Russian oil and gas energy,” Biden said. “That means Russian oil will no longer be acceptable in US ports and the American people will deal another powerful blow to Putin's war machine.”
The United States is not a leading buyer of Russian oil, but Biden has been working with allies in Europe, who are far more dependent on Russian oil, to isolate Russia's energy-heavy economy and Putin.
Britain announced shortly before Biden's remarks that it would phase out the import of Russian oil and oil products by the end of 2022.
Reuters