KYIV/BRUSSELS—The European Union proposed its toughest sanctions yet against Russia on Wednesday, including a phased oil embargo, as Kyiv said Moscow was intensifying an offensive in eastern Ukraine and close Russian ally Belarus announced large-scale army drills.
Russia was intensifying its assault, Ukraine’s defense ministry said, with nearly 50 air strikes carried out on Tuesday alone.
Russia also stepped up strikes on targets in western Ukraine, saying it was disrupting Western arms deliveries.
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 and where Moscow said remaining Ukrainian forces remained tightly blockaded.
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