Ukraine Latest: EU Readies Oil Sanctions as Moscow Tightens Grip

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(Bloomberg) — The European Union is set Wednesday to propose a gradual ban on Russian oil by the end of the year in its sixth round of sanctions as Russia continue to press on in Ukraine. 

Moscow is focused on cementing both military and political control over the territory it has taken so far nearly 10 weeks into the war and after troops have made only marginal gains in the east. 

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s forces aren’t retreating and are even gaining some ground. But Russia also expanded the reach of its missile strikes, targeting Ukraine’s westernmost region. 

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Key Developments

Russia Seeks to Annex Occupied Ukraine as Invasion Goals ShiftU.S. Allowed to Seize Megayacht With Disputed Russian OwnerIndia Wants Russia to Discount Its Oil to Less Than $70 a BarrelTank-Busting Javelins Win Biden Praise on Tour of Alabama PlantRussia Dodges Default for Now as Investors Get Dollar Funds 

All times CET: 

Europe Stuck Pursuing Long-Term Gas Contracts (7:04 a.m.)

Europe is finding it next to impossible to put an end to the decades-long natural gas supply contracts it has opposed for years. The war in Ukraine is driving Europe’s energy firms to sign long-term deals to secure alternatives to Russian gas. The continent needs such agreements to fill the gap of losing supplies from Russia, its biggest provider of the fuel.

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Read more: War Forces Europe to Keep Long-Term Gas Deals It Once Resisted

Europe’s Jobs Market Slows Amid War (6:30 a.m.)

There were fewer help-wanted advertisements in Europe on jobs-search website Indeed in the week to April 22 than there would have been had the pre-war growth trend continued. The survey adds to evidence that the war is weighing on the region’s economic recovery.

Oil Rebounds Toward $104 as Investors Weigh Inventory (6:07 a.m.)

Oil rose as industry data pointed to a drop in U.S. stockpiles and traders monitored possible European Union curbs on Russian crude.

The U.S. and U.K. have already moved to ban Russian crude, and there’s pressure for the European Union to follow suit, especially after Moscow choked off natural gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria. Officials in the bloc are in the process of framing a fresh package of sanctions against Moscow.

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Asia’s key coal price extended gains as earlier moves by the European Union and Japan to ban Russian cargoes have tightened the market

Australia Imposes Sanctions on Separatists in Ukraine, Russian Lawmakers (3:22 a.m.)

Australia expanded targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on a further 110 people, including Ukrainian separatists and Russian members of parliament. The measures target 34 senior members of the Russian-led movements in Donetsk and Luhansk and 76 lawmakers of the state Duma. 

Zelenskiy Reports on Mariupol Evacuation (1:01 a.m.)

In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy discussed the evacuation from the besieged steel works in Mariupol. “We finally have the result, the first result, of our evacuation operation,” he said. “It took a lot of effort, long negotiations and various mediations. Today 156 people arrived in Zaporizhzhia.”

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Russia Intends to Annex Occupied Parts of Ukraine (11:14 p.m.) 

The Kremlin is installing occupation governments, ordering locals to use rubles for transactions and, according to three people involved in the efforts, planning hastily organized referendums in some areas to open the way for full annexation. The people spoke on condition of anonymity given the risk of retribution discussing sensitive information. The Kremlin did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Though far short of President Vladimir Putin’s original aims of ousting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and installing a pro-Russian regime in most of Ukraine, the latest efforts pose a new obstacle for already-stalled peace talks, in which Kyiv has insisted Russia give up the ground it has taken since invading on Feb. 24. Zelenskiy’s military, backed by infusions of heavy weapons from the U.S. and its allies, plans a push to retake territory.

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Biden Praises Impact of Javelins on War Effort (9:47 p.m.)

President Joe Biden pressed Congress to quickly approve his request for $33 billion in additional aid for Ukraine during visit to a Lockheed Martin Corp. factory that makes Javelin anti-tank missiles. 

“We need more money to make sure the United States can continue to send weapons directly to the front lines of freedom in Ukraine,” Biden said during a tour of the Troy, Alabama, factory. Biden praised the anti-tank systems as “some of the best, most effective weapons in our arsenal.”

“You’re making a gigantic difference for these poor sons of guns under such enormous crushing firepower,” Biden said.

Russia Dodges Default for Now as Investors Get Dollar Funds (9:40 p.m.)

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Russia’s closely watched dollar payments on two bonds are trickling through to investors after the country dipped into its local holdings of the U.S. currency and sidestepped its first foreign default in a century. The transfer of the $650 million had got tangled up in the wide-ranging sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine. 

Three investors said their custodian banks had received payments, asking not to be identified discussing private transactions. Major international clearinghouses have received and processed payments for the eurobonds due in 2022 and 2042, according to people familiar with the situation.

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