* Russian troops are preparing for a major assault on Slavyansk, the main base for Ukrainian troops in the Donbas, according to the Ukrainian General Staff.

Russian troops are moving units to prepare for attacks on Slavyansk from Russian-held Izium and Lyman in eastern Ukraine, the General Staff daily situation report said on Monday.

* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj acknowledged that Russian troops have now reached maximum fighting strength in the Donbas region.

Russia has concentrated its military might in eastern Ukraine for weeks. Despite the strong Ukrainian opposition, Russia is slowly gaining ground.

* Russian troops have moved quarter by quarter to Sevierodonetsk as they battle the streets intensely with Ukrainian troops.

Sievjerodonetsk Mayor Oleksandr Striuk said the city was completely destroyed. Artillery has destroyed critical infrastructure and 90 percent of buildings, while electricity and communications have been largely cut off.

Striuk said the death toll was increasing every hour, but it was impossible to count it amid street fights. He said that between 12,000 and 13,000 people were left in dungeons and bunkers in a city that before the war had 100,000 inhabitants.

* At a summit in Brussels, the EU agreed to a ban on Russia’s oil exports to the EU, which account for more than two-thirds of Russia’s oil imports.

The agreement is the result of a compromise with Hungary and therefore requires exemption from sanctions, meaning that a third of Russia’s oil exports to the EU remain unaffected by the embargo.

However, during the year, Germany and Poland will, on a voluntary basis, stop imports of oil they receive via pipeline from Russia, so that a total of 90 percent of Russia’s oil exports to the EU can be stopped.

The EU’s sixth sanctions package also includes a ban on entry for more Russians, a crackdown on three new Russian TV channels and the severance of Russia’s biggest bank Sberbank from global payments system Swift.

* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj said the Russian blockade prevented the country from exporting 22 million tonnes of grain.

In his speech last night, Zelensky said that the result of the blockade is the danger of famine in wheat-dependent countries, which could lead to a new migration crisis.

– This is something the Russian leader clearly wants, he said and accused Russia of creating problems with full intent so that the whole of Europe gets into trouble and Ukraine loses billions in lost exports.

“Russia continued to block grain exports from Ukrainian ports, but they themselves started importing grain from occupied Kherson,” said Kirill Stremoussov, who is one of the leaders of the region’s military administration.

According to Stremoussov, the goal is to make room in the grain barn for this year’s harvest. This should be the reason why Ukrainian farmers are now selling grain to Russia.

Ukraine, one of the world’s biggest grain exporters, has repeatedly accused Russia of stealing grain from the occupied territories.