Russian authorities have rejected the price limit on the oil production of the country that was set by the country’s Western supporters and threatened to cease supplying countries that have endorsed the plan.
Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, the United States and the 27-nation European Union agreed Friday to restrict the price they spend on Russian oil at $60 per barrel. The cap is scheduled to begin on Monday, as well as an EU embargo against Russian oil that is shipped via ships.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia needed to study the situation prior to making a decision on a action, but it will not be able to accept the price limit. Moscow’s representative permanent to the international organisations located in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, warned that the limit’s European supporters could regret their decision.
“From the beginning of this year Europe can live with out Russian energy,” Ulyanov tweeted. “Moscow has declared the fact that they will never provide oil to countries who support market price caps. In a few days, the EU will be accusing Russia for using its oil supply as an instrument.”
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The official office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, requested an lower price cap, saying that the cap adopted by the EU as well as the Group of Seven leading economies was not enough.
“It will be essential to reduce it to $30 to destroy the economy of the enemy more quickly,” Andriy Yermak, the director of Zelenskyy’s Office, wrote on Telegram in which he outlined the same position that is also popular with Poland as a major opponent of Russian Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s conflict in Ukraine.
According to Friday’s agreements insurance companies and other companies that need to transport oil would only be able deal with Russian crude oil if it is priced below or at the ceiling. The majority of insurers are within the EU and in the United Kingdom and could be required to comply with the cap.
The Russian crude is currently trading at around $60 per barrel, a massive discount from the benchmark international Brent that closed on the day at $85.42 each barrel.
The Russian Embassy in Washington insists it was certain that Russian oil “will remain demanded” and criticised the price cap as “reshaping the fundamental principles that govern the free market system.”
A message on the Embassy’s Telegram channel suggested that the cap per barrel could result in “a large increase in uncertainty as well as higher prices for those who purchase basic materials.”
“What transpires in China will determine how the cap on price is able to have claws,” said Jim Burkhard analyst for oil markets at IHS Markit. He noted that the sluggish demand from China is the reason that most Russian exports of crude are selling for less than $60.
The price cap was designed to put a financial squeeze over Russia and further limit its capacity to finance a war which has killed a staggering number of fighters and civilians as well as driven millions of Ukrainians out of their homes, and put pressure on the world economy for over nine months.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces stated that as of Friday, Russian forces launched five missiles and conducted 27 air strikes and conducted 44 shelling strikes against Ukraine’s military installations as well as civilian infrastructure.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko who is the vice president of the office, has said that the attack caused the deaths of one civilian and injured four others in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. In the words of the U.K. Defense Ministry, Russian forces “continue to spend a substantial part of their total military effort and firepower” in the region around the tiny Donestsk town of Bakhmut that they have been trying for weeks to take down.
In Ukraine’s southern Kherson province, where the capital city bears similar name has been taken over by Ukrainian forces just three weeks ago after an Russian retreat, the governor. Yaroslav Yanushkevich declared that the evacuation of people trapped in Russian-controlled territories bordering the Dnieper River would resume temporarily.
Russian forces retreated towards the river’s eastern bank in the month of June. Yanushkevich declared that a prohibition on crossing the river was extended during the daylight hours of three days to Ukrainian residents with disabilities who “did not have enough time to leave the temporarily-occupied area.” His announcement also mentioned the “possible increase in hostilities in this region.”
Kherson is among the the four regions which Putin illegally acquired in September and promised to defend it as Russian territory. From their new areas, Russian troops have regularly bombarded Kherson city and the surrounding infrastructure in recent times and left many people without electricity. The water supply was still not working throughout the city. one person was seen squeezing water from a muddy pool.
The city was still suffering massive shelling on Saturday, leaving many residents in confusion, fell power lines and tossed torn tree branches along the roads.
“When we begin to fix (electricity networks) then the shelling begins right away,” said Oleksandr Kravchenko who is the director of high-voltage systems in Kherson. “We only repair electric lines and the following day, we need to fix lines once more.”
Ukrainian authorities have also reported fighting that was intense in Luhansk as well as Russian shelling of Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, where Russian soldiers mostly retreated from in September.
The mayor of Kharkiv, the city of Kharkiv that was under Ukrainian control throughout Russia’s occupation of other regions within the city, claimed around 500 apartment buildings were destroyed beyond repair as well as over 220 kindergartens and schools were destroyed or damaged. The mayor estimated the total cost of the damages to be $9 billion.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu met Saturday in Minsk with Belarus’ Defense Minister and president of Belarus which hosts Russian artillery and troops. Belarus has declared that its forces aren’t participating in the conflict however Ukrainian officials have often expressed their concern that they could be persuaded to enter the northern part of Ukraine.
Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said at the meeting that his troops as well as Russian forces train together. “We prepare ourselves as a group, one army. Everyone is aware of it. We weren’t hiding this,” he was quoted from the agency for news Interfax.
