European leaders were poised to make concessions to Hungary as they sought an elusive deal on sanctioning Russian oil on Monday, on the first day of a summit in Brussels devoted to the fallout from the war in Ukraine.
After diplomats failed to reach an eleventh-hour agreement before the summit, European Union presidents and prime ministers will discuss a possible compromise in which an embargo covers only oil deliveries by sea, exempting pipelines such as the 4,000-kilometre Druzhba network.
The 27 leaders will seek a political agreement at Monday's talks, an EU official said, settling on an outline that could then be finalised at a technical level.
Diplomatic sources said concessions on pipeline oil, and temporary exemptions for certain import-reliant countries such as Slovakia and the Czech Republic, would be revisited as soon as possible once an embargo is agreed.
The concessions were offered after Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban refused to support a blanket oil ban and said the effect of such an embargo would be like dropping a nuclear bomb on his country.
Agreement at the level of EU ambassadors remained elusive despite talks stretching late into Sunday and resuming on Monday morning, leaving the bloc’s sixth sanctions package in limbo almost a month after it was put forward. The initial proposal covered all Russian oil exports to the EU.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told French television the discussions had been tough but that “in the end, there will be an agreement”.
Leaders are under pressure to free their economies from Russian fossil fuels in order to stop financing the invasion of Ukraine. They will discuss proposals in Brussels for a wider revamp of EU power grids.
Oil prices rose to two-month highs on Monday as traders waited for a decision. Brent crude futures were up 0.4 per cent at $119.89 a barrel.
Mr Orban suggested in a letter before the summit that EU heads of state avoid discussing oil sanctions altogether this week and leave the subject to technical negotiations among diplomats.
Germany, which supports the oil ban, after initially opposing it, has sided with Mr Orban in arguing that the European Council summit should show unity rather than being overtaken by squabbling about energy.
But Mr Borrell said he hoped a deal could be presented to EU heads of state and government on Monday afternoon.
Fellow landlocked countries Slovakia and the Czech Republic have asked for grace periods to impose any oil embargo but have not taken Mr Orban’s outspoken tone against the package.
A final sanctions package must be approved by all 27 member states. Countries such as Hungary can receive special treatment, if other nations are willing to go along with it.
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Rescuers carry the body of civilian from a residential building damaged by shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, is feeling the strain after coming under heavy Russian bombardment. Reuters -
Ukrainian troops help an elderly man out of a damaged apartment building after an air strike in the city of Slovyansk in Donbas region. AFP -
A school bus carrying Ukrainian refugees leaves Kharkiv. EPA -
The pain of war hits this woman hard shortly after her apartment building in Slovyansk was damaged by Russian shelling. AFP -
A crater scars the road surface in Slovyansk, Donbas. AFP -
A Russian soldier oversees the loading of steel on to a Russian ship at Mariupol port in Ukraine. AP -
European Council President Charles Michel, right, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, left, talk before the second day's session of an extraordinary meeting of EU leaders to discuss Ukraine, energy and food security, in Brussels. AP -
Rescuers extinguish a fire at a meat factory, amid fighting in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
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Ukrainians cross a makeshift bridge built next to a destroyed structure, in the Kharkiv region. EPA -
A destroyed tank in Mariupol. AFP -
People charge electronic devices outside a theatre building, in Mariupol. Reuters -
Pensioner Gennady Ivanov, 83, sits outside a residential building heavily damaged by shelling, in Mariupol. Reuters -
Ukrainian firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a house that was hit by Russian strikes, in Kharkiv. AP -
Russian Navy sailors of the Black Sea Fleet prepare to raise a sunken Ukrainian warship at the sea port, in Mariupol. AP -
A Ukrainian soldier in the city of Lysytsansk, in the eastern region of Donbas. AFP -
A boy, Yarik, plays in a playground in front a building destroyed during attacks, in Irpin. AP -
Two Ukrainian soldiers enjoy a tender off-duty moment near the village of Stoyanka, Kyiv region. GettyImages -
A girl in Kyiv looks at Russian weapons used in the attack on Ukraine. Reuters -
Children play on a destroyed car in a residential area of Mariupol. AFP -
Demonstrators hold Ukrainian flags at a charity telethon in support of Ukraine, in Berlin. Reuters -
Ukrainian servicemen near Zaytseve village in Donetsk, Ukraine. EPA -
A shell hole near a destroyed building in Zaytseve village. EPA -
In the Saltivka district of Kharkiv, writing on the vans reads "warning, shelling" and "warning, passing by for civilians is prohibited". AFP -
A heavily damaged residential building in the Saltivka district of Kharkiv. AFP -
Ukrainian servicemen inspect a Russian amphibious vehicle near Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine. AP -
A rocket launcher belonging to a "Donetsk People's Republic" militia is fired from its position not far from Panteleimonivka, eastern Ukraine. AP -
The damaged building of the economics department of Karazin National University in Kharkiv. AFP -
Karazin National University in Kharkiv came under heavy Russian bombardment. AFP -
Ukrainian troops approach a destroyed military vehicle in the village of Rus'ka Lozova, north of Kharkiv. AFP -
A bridge is a destroyed near Rus'ka Lozova, north of Kharkiv. AFP -
A building after a Russian military strike in the town of Marinka, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Donetsk region. Reuters -
An employee mows the lawn near a destroyed warehouse refrigerator, belonging to the Chanta factory, in Novi Petrivtsi, near Kyiv. AFP -
Defiant Ukrainian service members ride on top of a military vehicle, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, on the road connecting Kostiantynivka and Bakhmut, in Donetsk region. Reuters -
Vladimir Mihailovich, a solar plant manager, surveys a crater after the business in Merefa on the outskirts of Kharkiv was hit by Russian shelling. Reuters -
A KA-52 helicopter gunship fires rockets on a mission at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. AP -
Locals walk past a road damaged by shelling in a residential area in Kharkiv. EPA -
Diana, on the train, waves to her mother Viktoriya and sister Kseniya as she leaves Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine. AP -
Yana Skakova and her son Yehor, who fled from Lysychansk, sit in an evacuation train in Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine. AP
A German government source said it was hard to imagine Hungary being completely exempt from an oil ban, but Mr Orban’s government has sought to work around it by focusing the embargo on sea trade instead of pipelines.
Hungary gets about 65 per cent of its oil from Russia, and European refineries set up to handle Russian crude cannot be converted overnight. The Druzhba pipeline serves Poland, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia, among others.
The EU agreed a ban on Russian coal in the fifth round of sanctions. A possible gas embargo, sought by Ukraine and some member states, has not yet been proposed.
Russia has demanded that the sanctions be lifted in exchange for unblocking food exports to ease an emerging global hunger crisis, a ploy described as blackmail by Ukraine.
