There is widespread doubt about the effect of the European ban on imports of Russian oil, which came into force today: “It is not clear how much Russian oil will disappear from the market,” said energy specialist Jilles van den Beukel of The Hague Center for Previous strategic studies. It’s also not clear what it means at the pump in the Netherlands. Diesel in particular is produced with oil from Russia.
‘Russia sees Europe disappearing as the biggest market for oil, but sees demand from China and India rising. Those countries ask for rebates and get them. The expectation is that economic activity will only grow thanks to the boycott,’ says Bosman.
Putin’s spider
Or this answer spider of the Kremlin or whether there is any truth to it is not clear. “But the situation is also very unclear,” Bosman says. “It’s all rather unpredictable. But today ex-president Medvedev indicated that the victim will be the European consumer and the Kremlin seems to want nothing more than to freeze the Europeans to death’. Medvedev wrote in Telegram that “Nothing good is coming for Europe, let’s stock up on quilts and boilers because winter is yet to come.”
The Kremlin has previously indicated that countries adhering to the price cap will no longer receive oil. «It looks like a bluff because Russia doesn’t have much left if it loses not only the European ones, but also the countries that won’t pay more than 60 dollars a barrel. But we will have to wait and see,’ underlined Bosman.
Explosions near Moscow
Aside from the price cap and the European boycott of Russian oil, locals see war approaching in Ukraine. After previous explosions and destruction in Crimea, today we saw explosions again in Russian-occupied Crimea. For example, according to Ukrainian media, several explosions were heard near the city of Dzhankoy.
There were also major explosions at two Russian airbases earlier in the day. According to Russian state media, three people were killed and six injured. It is unclear what happened or if the incidents are related to the war in Ukraine.
“As usual, Ukraine denies any involvement, but the Russians are shocked,” says Bosman. “This happened today deep inside Russia, 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. It’s getting more and more disturbing for Russians too.’
barrage
Russia today launched a new wave of missiles against Ukraine. Flak could have shot down part of them in flight, but the missiles hit Odessa and Zaporizhia, among others. The power has gone out in some parts of the country.
Air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine early Monday afternoon and civilians were called to shelter in bomb shelters. In Zaporizhia, according to the authorities, two people died as rockets destroyed several houses.
No electricity
In the northern region of Sumi, electricity went out after Russian airstrikes. Explosions were also heard in the southern Odessa region. According to reports on social media, the lights in people’s homes went out afterwards. In Mykolaiv, the city council itself turned off the power as a precaution to avoid fires. In nearby Moldova, new power outages have also affected the electricity grid.
The Ukrainian military believes that Russia has fired more than 150 missiles and that anti-aircraft defenses cannot fire everything from the air. The governor of the capital Kiev says that the air defenses are at least doing their job well, but he advises everyone to stay in bomb shelters for the time being.
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