EU, UK halting import of Russian coal

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EU, UK halting import of Russian coal

As of August 10th, the EU and UK are halting the import of Russian coal as part of the sanctions against Russia put in place since the beginning of its war against Ukraine. Russia is one-fifth of Russia's coal exports, and is one of the biggest coal suppliers in Europe, having exported 48.7 million tons of coal to the EU in 2021.

Russian oil deliveries through the southern Druzhba pipeline servicing Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have been stopped since August 4, according to Transneft, according to Politico.eu. The EU financial sanctions, which resulted in Transneft's regular payment for transit across Ukraine, bouncing on July 28th, resulted in a problem with the company. The price of oil went up by 1% on world markets, but it remained below USD 100 a barrel of crude Brent oil.

Russian forces occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southeast Ukraine are preparing to connect the plant to Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, and are damaging it by reorienting its electricity production, according to Ukrainian operator Energoatom, as quoted by The Guardian. Moscow called for a UN Security Council meeting over the Ukrainian strike against Zaporizhzhia NPP, the Russian TASS reports.

The Russian army subjected Ukrainian towns to intense shelling through the night as retribution for the spectacular multiple explosions at Saki airfield in Russia-occupied Crimea, UNIAN says. The Russian authorities don't give any more information about the explosions caused by the detonation of aviation ammunition. According to Ukrainians, the air base was either hit by long-range missiles or was caused by local partisans.