EU Plans Russian Oil Ban; Ukraine Reports Heavy Eastern Assault

•  The European Union proposed its toughest sanctions yet against Russia on Wednesday, including a phased oil embargo, as Moscow pressed an offensive in eastern Ukraine and close Russian ally, Belarus announced large-scale army drills. 
• Nearly 10 weeks into a war that has killed thousands of people and flattened Ukrainian cities, Russia was intensifying its assault, Ukraine's defence ministry said, with attacks reported on railway stations used to transport Western arms. 
• A new convoy of buses began evacuating more civilians from the ravaged southeastern port city of Mariupol, which has seen the heaviest fighting of the war so far. Moscow pledged to halt some military operations this week to allow more evacuations. 
• Piling pressure on Russia's already battered $1.8 trillion economy, Brussels proposed phasing out imports of Russian crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of this year. 
• The plan, if agreed by all 27 EU governments, would follow U.S. and British oil bans and be a watershed for the world's largest trading bloc, which remains dependent on Russian energy and must find alternative supplies.

(Source: Reuters)