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Ukraine said yesterday it was seeking another round of European Union sanctions against Moscow and more military aid from its allies as it braces for a major Russian offensive in the east of the country.
Russia has failed to take any major cities since it launched its invasion on February 24 but Ukraine says it has been gathering its forces in the east for a major assault and has urged people to flee.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter he had spoken on the phone with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about additional sanctions as well as more defence and financial support for his country. Zelensky also discussed with Ukrainian officials Kyiv's proposals for a new package of EU sanctions, his office said.
In a video address late on Saturday, Zelensky renewed his appeal for a total ban on Russian energy products and more weapons for Ukraine.
The EU on Friday banned Russian coal imports among other products, but has yet to touch oil and gas imports from Russia.
Mounting civilian casualties have triggered widespread international condemnation and new sanctions, in particular over hundreds of deaths in the town of Bucha, to the northwest of Kyiv that until just over a week ago was occupied by Russian forces, reports Reuters.
A grave with at least two civilian bodies has been found in Buzova village near Kyiv, a Ukrainian official said, the latest such reported discovery since the Russian withdrawal from areas north of the capital.
Russia is seeking to establish a land corridor from Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and the eastern Donbas region that is partly held by Moscow-backed separatists, Britain's defence ministry has said.
Satellite images released by private US firm Maxar dated April 8 showed armoured vehicles and trucks in a military convoy moving south toward Donbas through a town some 100 kilometres (62 miles) east of Kharkiv.
US President Joe Biden will meet virtually with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, weeks after Biden said India has been "shaky" in its response to the invasion of Ukraine, reports AFP.
Biden will use the talks to continue "close consultations on the consequences of Russia's brutal war against Ukraine and mitigating its destabilizing impact on global food supply and commodity markets," his spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said in a statement yesterday.
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