Ukraine live: EU leaders agree to ban 90% of Russian oil by year-end

EU leaders agreed on Monday night to ban most Russian oil from the bloc's markets by the end of the year. The embargo will target only seaborne imports, however, and excludes supplies coming in by pipelines, after strong opposition by Hungary.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia's blockade of Ukrainian sea ports was preventing Kyiv from exporting 22 million tons of grain, and accused the country of deliberately creating this problem to cause suffering elsewhere.

Follow Tuesday's developments as they unfold in our live blog below.

Russian troops pushed deeper into a key eastern Ukrainian city Monday, fighting street by street with Kyiv's forces in a battle that has left Sievierodonetsk in ruins.

As Moscow's advance on Sievierodonetsk increased in intensity, Russian forces also shelled parts of Ukraine's northeast, and a struggle continued for control of a southern region.

Military analysts described the fight for Sievierodonetsk as part of a race against time for the Kremlin. The city is important to Russian efforts to quickly complete the capture of the eastern industrial region of the Donbas before more Western arms arrive to bolster Ukraine’s defence.

Moscow-backed separatists already held territory in the region and have been fighting Ukrainian troops for eight years.

“The Kremlin has reckoned that it can’t afford to waste time and should use the last chance to extend the separatist-controlled territory because the arrival of Western weapons in Ukraine could make it impossible," Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said.

(AP)

After several hours of face-to-face wrangling, and many weeks of back and forth discussions, EU leaders have agreed to ban most Russian oil from the bloc's markets by the end