Unequivocal condemnation.
While the city of Mariupol, a strategic lock on the Sea of Azov, is 80% destroyed after the relentless pioneering of the Russian army, the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell explained this Monday morning that "what is happening in Mariupol is a major war crime.
The indiscriminate bombardments are devastating the city and killing everyone”.
He was speaking ahead of a new meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers to discuss new sanctions against Moscow.
VIDEO.
“A 6-year-old girl died of thirst”: the hell of Mariupol told by its deputy mayor
“These are clearly and unequivocally war crimes,” German Minister Annalena Baerbock also declared on her arrival.
Ukraine on Monday rejected the Kremlin's ultimatum demanding Mariupol's surrender.
This strategic port on the coast of the Sea of Azov, in the south-east, has been besieged and bombarded since the beginning of the conflict.
Its inhabitants are deprived of electricity, water and gas, the streets of the city are strewn with corpses, and according to local authorities, Russian soldiers forcibly transported nearly 1,000 inhabitants to Russia, depriving them of their Ukrainian passport.
The question of Russian oil
Several European ministers spoke out on Monday for a new wave of economic sanctions to isolate Russia and its President Vladimir Putin.
“Given the extent of the destruction in Ukraine right now, it is very difficult, in my opinion, to argue that we should not intervene in the energy sector and stop the purchases of oil and coal,” said backed Irish Minister Simon Coveney.
Read alsoWar in Ukraine: an embargo on Russian oil would have “adverse” consequences in Europe, warns the Kremlin
“Oil represents the most important source of revenue for the Russian budget and it is easily replaceable,” underlined his Lithuanian counterpart Gabrielius Landsbergis.
“We will gradually, at an accelerated speed, free ourselves from dependence on Russia for fossil fuels.
We are saying clearly that we are going to cut off all transport routes” in order to “isolate the Russian government”, assured Ms. Baerbock.