EU eyes Russian oil import ban amid new bid to evacuate Mariupol

Contact lost with troops inside Azovstal steel plant says Mariupol mayor

More than a hundred people have been evacuated from the Azovstal steelworks in Ukraine's battered city of Mariupol

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed a ban within the year on Russian oil imports in its toughest move yet over the invasion of Ukraine, as Moscow said it was offering a new ceasefire to evacuate a steel plant in devastated Mariupol.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc would "phase out Russian supply of crude oil within six months, and refined products by the end of the year".