European leaders vow support for Ukraine

European leaders vowed on Tuesday not to abandon Ukraine as Russia's invasion entered a fifth year, though divisions among Kyiv's partners overshadowed commemorations of the outbreak of the continent's largest war in decades. It was reported by Reuters. Tuesday's anniversary of the start of the conflict, which has killed hundreds of thousands and ravaged swathes of Ukraine, comes a day after Hungary vetoed new EU sanctions ⁠against Russia and a 90 billion euro ($105 billion) loan critical to Ukraine's survival.

Hungary, which maintains close ties with Moscow, and neighbouring Slovakia accuse Kyiv of deliberately blocking supplies of Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline, which Ukraine says it is trying to repair after a Russian strike last month, observed Reuters. President Volodymyr Zelensky, facing mounting US pressure to secure a peace deal, has repeatedly urged Kyiv's allies to tighten sanctions on Moscow and send more weapons as Russian President Vladimir Putin shows no signs of ending his war.

Kyiv has made no official announcement about resuming deliveries via the pipeline, a Ukrainian energy source told Reuters. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned Russia for damaging the pipeline but said the EU has asked Ukraine to speed up repairs. Officials including von der Leyen, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Danish ⁠Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen travelled to Kyiv for the anniversary, but were not joined by heads of major Western governments.

Leaders present in Kyiv met as the "Coalition of the Willing". British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, taking part by video link, said Ukraine's allies would have to "do the hard yards" of helping Kyiv and pressuring Russia. Britain on Tuesday sanctioned the oil pipeline giant Transneft among nearly 300 other Russian targets, in what it called its largest package of measures since the early months of the war.

Transneft, an oil pipeline monopoly, cut crude intake into its system by some 250,000 barrels per day after a Ukrainian drone attack on a key pumping station on Monday, said two sources familiar with the situation. "We know that when it comes to talks, there's one person standing in the way of progress in those talks, and that is Putin, and nobody but Putin," Starmer said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, also joining remotely, said it was critical to "dry up Russia's war funding" by pushing through a 20th package of sanctions. "We must be very clear. This war will only end when Putin realises that he cannot win," he said.

Brussels plans to submit a legal proposal to ban Russian oil imports permanently on April 15, three days after a parliamentary election seen as the main obstacle to Hungarian agreement, according to EU officials and a document seen by Reuters.

And in Kyiv, von der ⁠Leyen said the EU would deliver on its 90 billion euro loan for Ukraine, "one way or the other".

Russian forces are grinding forward with minor gains on the battlefield while attacking Ukrainian cities and towns with missiles and drones that have devastated the energy system. In televised comments, Putin accused Ukraine of trying to torpedo the peace process, which is stalled over the issues of territory and control of Europe's largest nuclear plant.Separately, Russia's foreign intelligence service said on Tuesday that Britain and France were "actively working" with Ukraine to help it obtain nuclear weapons to secure more favourable terms in a peace deal. It provided no evidence for its claim, which was swiftly denied by Kyiv, London and Paris.

Russia has insisted that Ukraine must cede the final 20% of the industrialised and heavily fortified eastern region of Donetsk - while Kyiv is adamant it will not relinquish land that thousands have died to defend.