NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880/AP) -- The U.N. General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from its Human Rights Council over allegations Russian soldiers killed civilians while retreating from the region around Kyiv. As Russia’s invasion enters its seventh week Thursday, Ukraine told residents in the country’s east to leave while they still can and urged Western nations to send “weapons, weapons and weapons” as Russian forces regrouped for an offensive in the Donbas.
THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2022
4:30 p.m.- EU nations approve new sanctions on Russia
European Union nations have approved new sanctions against Russia, including an EU embargo on coal imports in the wake of evidence of torture and killings emerging from war zones outside Kyiv.
The ban on coal imports will be the first EU sanctions targeting Russia’s lucrative energy industry over its war in Ukraine, said an official on condition of anonymity because the official announcement had not yet been made.
The EU ban on coal is estimated to be worth 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion) per year. In the meantime, the EU has already started working on additional sanctions, including on oil imports.
4 p.m. - Nations to release millions of barrels of oil amid war in Ukraine
The International Energy Agency says its member countries are releasing 60 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves on top of previous U.S. pledges to take aim at energy prices that have soared since Russia invaded Ukraine.
The Paris-based organization said Thursday that the new commitments made by its 31 member nations, which include the United States and much of Europe, amount to a total of 120 million barrels over six months. It’s the largest release in the group’s history.
Half of that will come from the U.S. as part of the larger release from its strategic petroleum reserve that President Joe Biden announced last week.
The IEA agreed last Friday to add to the amount of oil hitting the global market. It comes on top of the 62.7 million barrels that the agency’s members said they would release last month to ease shortages.
2 p.m. - Congress votes to suspend Russia trade status, enact oil ban
Congress voted overwhelmingly Thursday to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and ban the importation of its oil, ratcheting up the U.S. response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine amid reports of atrocities.
House action came after the Senate approved the two bills with 100-0 votes. The measures now go to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.
Lawmakers overwhelmingly support the substance of the two bills, but they had languished for weeks in the Senate as lawmakers worked to hammer out the final details.
Biden has already taken executive action to ban Russian oil, liquefied natural gas and coal to the United States. The legislation puts the effort into law.
The bill to end normal trade relations with Russia paves the way for Biden to enact higher tariffs on various imports, such as certain steel and aluminum products, further weakening the Russian economy under President Vladimir Putin. It also ensures Belarus receives less favorable tariff treatment.
11:55 a.m. - UN General Assembly votes to suspend Russia from Human Rights Council
The U.N. General Assembly voted to suspend Russia from its Human Rights Council over allegations Russian soldiers killed civilians in Ukraine.
The vote at the U.N. headquarters in Manhattan was 93 members in favor and 24 against the resolution. Another 58 abstained from the vote.
Among those opposed was Russia and its allies Belarus, China, Iran and Syria.
Before the vote, the representative for Russia called the move "theatrics" by the West. He said it was an "attempt by the United States to maintain its dominant position and total control."
Russia is only the second country ever suspended from the U.N. Human Rights Council. Libya was suspended in 2011, when upheaval in the North African country brought down longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi.
Thursday’s vote was significantly lower that votes on two resolutions the assembly adopted last month demanding an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine, withdrawal of all Russian troops and protection for civilians. Both resolutions were approved by at least 140 nations.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield launched the campaign to suspend Russia from its seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council in the wake of videos and photos of streets in the Ukrainian town of Bucha strewn with corpses of what appeared to be civilians after Russian soldiers retreated.
11 a.m. - UN to vote on suspending Russia from Human Rights Council
The U.N. General Assembly is voting Thursday on a U.S.-initiated resolution to suspend Russia from the world organization’s leading human rights body over allegations of atrocities by Russian soldiers in the region around Kyiv.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield made the call for Russia to be stripped of its seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council in the wake of videos and photos of streets in the town of Bucha strewn with corpses of what appeared to be civilians.
“We believe that the members of the Russian forces committed war crimes in Ukraine, and we believe that Russia needs to be held accountable,” Thomas-Greenfield said Monday. “Russia’s participation on the Human Rights Council is a farce.”
General Assembly spokeswoman Paulina Kubiak said the assembly’s emergency special session on Ukraine would resume Thursday morning, when the resolution “to suspend the rights of membership in the Human Rights Council of the Russian Federation” will be put to a vote.
Russia said the attempt to expel it from the Human Rights Council is political and being supported by countries that want to preserve their dominant position and control over the world. Those nations want to continue “the politics of neo-colonialism of human rights” in international relations, it said, saying that Russia's priority is to promote and defend human rights, including multilaterally in the Human Rights Council.
Russia’s ambassador in Geneva, Gennady Gatilov, called the U.S. action “unfounded and purely emotional bravado that looks good on camera -- just how the U.S. likes it.”
10:30 a.m. - Russia ‘will definitely respond’ to US sanctions on Putin’s daughters
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia intends to respond to U.S. sanctions against President Vladimir Putin’s daughters as it sees fit.
“Russia will definitely respond, and will do it as it sees fit,” Peskov said Thursday.
The U.S. on Wednesday announced that it is sanctioning Putin’s two adult daughters as part of a new batch of penalties on the country’s political and economic systems in retaliation for its alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
Peskov told a conference call with reporters that the sanctions “add to a completely frantic line of various restrictions” and the fact that the restrictions target family members “speaks for itself.”
“This is something that is difficult to understand and explain. But, unfortunately, we have to deal with such opponents,” Peskov said.
10 a.m. - Russia believes it’s ‘invincible,’ Zelenskyy says in plea for more military help
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country needs anti-aircraft defense systems, artillery systems, munitions and armored vehicles to hold Russia’s invasion at bay.
“The sooner Ukraine receives this help, the more lives we can save in Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in an address to Greek parliament Thursday.
Zelenskyy emphasized the destruction wrought on the southern port city of Mariupol, home to a sizeable Greek-Ukrainian community, and urged Greece to help prevent the same fate befalling Odesa, another Ukrainian port city with deep ties to Greece.
The Ukrainian president called for sanctions on all Russian banks and a ban on Russian ships from entering ports as a way of hindering Russia’s ability to finance the war.
“Russia is absolutely confident in its invincibility and that they could do whatever they want without going unpunished. We have to stop it. We must bring Russia to justice,” Zelenskyy said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba appealed to NATO to provide his war-torn country with weapons to help avoid further atrocities like those reported in the town of Bucha this week.
Arriving at NATO headquarters Thursday for talks with the military organization’s foreign ministers, Kuleba said: “My agenda is very simple… it’s weapons, weapons and weapons.”
9:30 a.m. - Russia focuses on offensive operations in eastern Ukraine with bombardments
Britain’s defense ministry said Russia is bombarding infrastructure targets to wear down Ukraine’s government and military as it prepares for a renewed assault on the country’s east.
The ministry said in an intelligence update Thursday that “progressing offensive operations in eastern Ukraine is the main focus of Russian military forces.”
It said Russia is targeting the “line of control” between Ukrainian-held areas in the Donbas and those held by Russia-supporting separatists with artillery and airstrikes.
The Russian military is also targeting infrastructure in the Ukrainian interior “to degrade the ability of the Ukrainian military to resupply and increase pressure on the Ukrainian government.”
Even so, the U.K. said that “Russian forces are likely to continue facing morale issues and shortages of supplies and personnel.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister said Russian forces have agreed on 10 humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians in three eastern regions of Ukraine on Thursday.
9 a.m. - Senate to vote on revoking Russia's trade status, oil ban
The U.S. Senate will take up legislation Thursday to end normal trade relations with Russia and to ban the importation of its oil.
Both bills have been bogged down in the Senate, frustrating lawmakers who want to ratchet up the U.S. response to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to be held accountable for what Schumer said were war crimes against Ukraine.
The trade suspension measure paves the way for President Joe Biden to enact higher tariffs on certain Russian imports.
The bill banning Russian oil would codify restrictions Biden has already put in place through executive action.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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