Austrian chancellor confronts Putin over Ukraine war crimes

Russia said on Monday that it had destroyed air defence systems in Ukraine over the weekend, in what appeared to be a renewed push to gain air superiority and take out weapons Kyiv has described as crucial, before a broad new offensive in the east.

The bloc, which imports 27% of its oil from Russia, is likely to argue over the phaseout period. Germany has pledged to phase out Russian coal and oil by the end of the year, but said ending dependence on Russian gas would take until at least 2024.

The US, which has been pressing Berlin to sever Russian energy ties, is expected to make the same argument to India later on Monday. India has not imposed sanctions on Russia. Taking advantage of low prices, India has bought 13m barrels of Russian crude oil since the invasion of Ukraine began, compared with 16m barrels in all of 2021, according to Reuters.

As western sanctions continue to bite, a Kremlin spokesperson said there were no objective grounds for a Russian debt default and that such an outcome would occur only if engineered by others.