Russia-Ukraine live updates: U.S., Europe take aim at Russian oil and gas imports

Bursts of gunfire punctuate an otherwise calm scene of Romens’ka Street in Sumy, a city in northeastern Ukraine, according to a video verified by The Washington Post. The video, which was posted to Twitter on Tuesday, confirms shelling continued in the region as civilians tried to evacuate.

One humanitarian corridor, several miles from where this video was filmed, managed to open on Tuesday morning, said Dmytro Zhivitsky, the regional governor. In an update on the messaging app Telegram, Zhivitsky described a similar incident near a checkpoint along city’s outskirts in the “green corridor.”

He assured his followers the situation is calm, but cautioned that these examples prove “there is no hundred percent safety when it comes to moving out.”

Filmed from several stories above ground level, the footage reviewed by The Post shows a column of cars slowly moving down the street. Less than a second in, the first shots are clearly audible. Rapid gunfire continues as the person filming pans the camera, apparently searching for the sound’s origin.

“People are about to evacuate and he starts the fire!” the person filming says. Then, the camera zooms in to show several large vehicles beyond the tree line that are surrounded by a cloud of smoke. The person says a tank is shooting and “driving into town!" It is not immediately clear from the video if the vehicles in the distance were tanks.

The United States all-but declined an offer from Poland on Tuesday to deliver an unspecified number of MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine so that the warplanes could be used against invading Russian forces.

“We do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.

The unusual public offer, posted on the website of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, blindsided U.S. officials who said they were not consulted by the Polish government ahead of the proposal.

Poland has sought to equip Ukraine with aircraft to fight Russia even as Moscow has warned that any country hosting Ukraine’s military aircraft would be considered a party to the ongoing armed conflict there.

In its statement, Poland said it is “ready to deploy — immediately and free of charge — all their MiG-29 jets to the Ramstein Air Base and place them at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America.” Ramstein is an American military facility located in eastern Germany.

IRPIN, Ukraine — As thousands flee the besieged Kyiv suburb Irpin, allegations are emerging of Russian forces looting, hiding military equipment in residential areas, deploying snipers and cutting water and power as they seek to use the area as a potential launchpad to invade the capital.

In more than 20 interviews conducted over two days, residents who fled Irpin described a dire and volatile environment where the line between combatants and noncombatants is increasingly blurred. Their accounts were likely to be closely examined by Ukrainian officials compiling details for potential war crimes claims.

The Russians have cut off electricity, gas and water to the city, the residents claim, which could violate international humanitarian laws that ban destroying objects during wartime that are vital to the survival of civilians.

Russian military also are parking their tanks in residential areas, apparently using civilians as human shields, witnesses said.

While the reports cannot be independently confirmed, the testimonies of the residents fleeing Irpin are consistent in their accounts and reflect wider concerns across Ukraine that Russian forces are committing potential war crimes as civilian casualties mount.

Several major American food and beverage companies announced Tuesday that they would suspend their operations in Russia, a step that comes after days of mounting public pressure on the corporate world to sever ties with the country over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The group included McDonald’s, Starbucks, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, some of which had operated in Russia for decades and had faced heightened scrutiny in recent days as other companies elected to halt their business dealings there. A veritable naughty-or-nice list, compiled by a Yale University professor, generated headlines by highlighting the companies maintaining normal operations.

McDonald’s Chief Executive Chris Kempczinski said that the global fast food chain would temporarily close its 850 restaurants in the country.

“Our values mean we cannot ignore the needless human suffering unfolding in Ukraine,” he said.

In an exchange with reporters in Fort Worth, Biden acknowledged that gas prices in the United States are rising and said that the blame lies with Russia for invading Ukraine.

Biden made the remarks shortly before an event on veterans’ health.

Asked whether he had a message for Americans on gas prices, Biden told reporters that prices are “gonna go up.”

“Can’t do much right now,” he said. “Russia’s responsible.”

The average price of gasoline in the United States reached a record-breaking $4.17 per gallon Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, the Biden administration announced that it will ban imports of oil and natural gas from Russia. Britain and the European Commission also announced moves to curtail imports of Russian gas and oil.

Life continues with some normality in Odessa, though signs of the Russian invasion are ever present. The Ukrainian Navy Band played in front of the opera house amid sandbag barriers. Flags waved on street corners while people went about their shopping.

Elsewhere in the city, civilians participated in weapons training in preparation for a seemingly imminent invasion.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has driven more than 2 million people out of the country, the United Nations said Tuesday, equaling in less than two weeks the historic flow of mainly Syrian refugees into Europe in 2015 and 2016.

Half of the 2 million from Ukraine are children, according to UNICEF.

In historic crisis, 2 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of Russian invasion, U.N. says

BRUSSELS — The European Commission on Tuesday presented a plan to cut Russian gas imports by two-thirds this year, steeply reducing — but not severing — energy ties to Moscow.

The proposal, to be discussed by leaders at a summit in Paris this week, is a dramatic shift for a bloc that remains heavily reliant on relatively cheap and abundant Russian energy. But it falls short of the full-scale boycott that some have called for in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

There has been strong European pushback to the idea of a ban because of the potential impact on European economies and consumers. Europe imports about 40 percent of its gas and more than a quarter of its oil from Russia. The United States and Britain import far less.

Still, if the E.U. in fact meets the two-thirds goal, it could have a major impact. The proposal presented Tuesday presents the curbs to Russian imports as a first step toward full independence from fossil fuels “well before” 2030. To start, the E.U says it will find new gas suppliers, boost the production and import of biomethane and renewable hydrogen, as well as upgrade buildings to reduce energy consumption.