More Ukrainian evacuees leave ruined Mariupol as EU targets Russian oil, banks

Ukraine's general staff said the Russian assault on Azovstal was continuing

A convoy of buses attempted to evacuate more civilians from the devastated port city of Mariupol on Wednesday as Russian forces pounded targets across eastern Ukraine and tried to advance westwards against heavy Ukrainian resistance, Qazet.az reports.

In a worrying development for Ukraine, the armed forces of Belarus, its northern neighbour and ally of Russia, began large-scale drills to test their combat readiness. Some Russian forces entered Ukraine via Belarus when the invasion began on Feb. 24.

Piling Western economic pressure on Russia, the European Commission proposed a new package of sanctions targeting Russian oil exports, banks, state broadcasters and army officers. The ban on oil exports - a big blow to Russia's struggling $1.8 trillion economy - would be implemented over a six-month period.

The convoy leaving Mariupol, organised by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, was heading for the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

He did not say how many buses were in the convoy or whether any more civilians had been evacuated from the vast Azovstal steel works, where the city's last defenders are holding out against Russian forces that have occupied Mariupol.

The first evacuees from Azovstal arrived by bus in Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday after cowering for weeks in bunkers beneath the sprawling Soviet-era steel works.

"We had said goodbye to life. We didn't think anyone knew we were there," said Valentina Sytnykova, 70, who said she sheltered in the plant for two months with her son and 10-year-old granddaughter.