Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

(Reuters) – In a major shift, Germany said it was prepared to back an immediate European Union embargo on Russian oil, possibly paving the way of imposing such a ban within days, while efforts to evacuate civilians from devastated Ukrainian port city of Mariupol ran into delays.

FIGHTING

* A Russian rocket strike hit a strategically important bridge across the Dniester estuary in the Odesa region of southwest Ukraine, authorities said.

* Russia’s defence ministry said it had carried out a missile strike on a military airfield near the port of Odesa, destroying a runway and a hangar with Western-supplied weapons and ammunition.

* Ukraine has formally closed its four Black and Azov sea ports, which Russian forces have captured “until the restoration of control”, the Ukrainian agriculture ministry said.

* A Ukrainian Bayraktar drone destroyed two Russian Raptor-class patrol ships in the Black Sea, Ukraine’s military chief said.

* The U.N. human rights office said the civilian death toll in Ukraine since the Feb. 24 start of the Russian invasion had exceeded 3,000 people.

Reuters could not immediately verify reports of battlefield developments.

DIPLOMACY, CIVILIANS

* Buses seeking to evacuate more civilians from Mariupol have not yet reached the agreed pickup point, the city council said, contradicting an earlier report that they had left.

* Cowering in the labyrinth of Soviet-era bunkers far beneath the vast Azovstal steel works, Natalia Usmanova felt her heart would stop she was so terrified as Russian bombs rained down on Mariupol. She spoke to Reuters after being evacuated from the plant.

* Israel lambasted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for claiming that Adolf Hitler had Jewish origins, calling it an “unforgivable” falsehood.

* Britain’s Foreign Office said Russia is using a troll factory to spread disinformation about the war on social media and target politicians across a number of countries including Britain and South Africa.

* Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre cancelled, without giving a reason, a series of shows this week by directors who have spoken out against the war in Ukraine.

BUSINESS AND THE ECONOMY

* Two German ministers said Berlin would be ready to back an immediate EU ban on Russian oil imports, and that Europe’s biggest economy could weather shortages and price hikes.

* To keep the bloc united, the EU executive may offer Hungary and Slovakia exemptions or transition periods and phase in the ban by the year-end. [L2N2WU0G9]

QUOTES

* ​”I don’t even want to speak about what’s happening with the people living in Popasna, Rubizhne and Novotoshkivske right now,” said Luhansk regional Governor Serhiy Gaidai. “These cities simply don’t exist anymore. They have completely destroyed them.”

(Compiled by Nick Macfie and Tomasz Janowski)