EU sanctions target Russian oil giants, as Moscow threatens to close airspace

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Ukraine says that despite ceasefire their positions are still under attack
Vladimir Putin is 'sucking the blood' out of Ukraine, Kiev PM warns
Claim that Moscow wants to return Kiev to Russian sphere of influence
Ukraine's president visits key city of Mariupol in symbolic show of strength
Says to crowd: 'This is our Ukrainian land and we'll never give it up to anyone. This city was, is, and will be Ukrainian'
Petro Poroshenko says 1,200 prisoners have been released by rebels
Martial law to be imposed on streets of Ukraine if ceasefire does not hold

Published: 08:27 EST, 8 September 2014 | Updated: 18:57 EST, 8 September 2014

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The EU was today imposing new sanctions on Russian energy giants in a move which is expected to provoke a strong response from the Kremlin.

Leaks suggested that giants Rosneft, Gazpromneft and Transneft were all hit in a bid to change Vladimir Putin's policies on Ukraine.

The companies are more than 50 per cent state owned.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko sings the National anthem during his visit to the Mariupol Metallurgic Plant in the eastern Ukrainian city Mariupol

Warning: Ukraine's Yatsenyuk, right, says that President Putin wants his country to remain under Russian influence

The tough new measures against Russia will be unveiled as Ukraine today accused pro-Moscow rebels of waging fresh attacks in eastern Ukraine despite a ceasefire imposed on Friday.

The sanctions are expected to prevent them raising funds for periods longer than 30 days, effectively shutting them off from EU capital markets.

Action is also expected against two dozen senior Russian names including those in Mr Putin's circle.

Tough new sanctions against Russia have been unveiled by the EU, with some set to target associates of President Vladimir Putin (left) and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (right)

Rosneft, an oil monolith, is run by Mr Putin's close associate Igor Sechin. Gazpromneft is an oil-production and refining subsidiary of OAO Gazprom, while Transeft is involved in oil transportation.

Military linked companies Oboronprom, United Aircraft Corp. and Uralvagonzavod are also expected to be prevented from fundraising in the EU.

Formal approval of the measures was expected later on Monday. They are expected to come into effect on Tuesday.

It came as Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko made a surprise trip to the key southeastern city of Mariupol - a symbolic show of strength in a strategic government-held area that has come under rebel fire in recent days.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko made a surprise trip to Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine as a cease-fire between Russian-backed rebels and Ukrainian troops appeared to be largely holding

Mr Poroshenko addressed hundreds of workers in hard hats at a metal plant in the embattled coastal city, and then tweeted: 'I just arrived in Mariupol. This is our Ukrainian land and we'll never give it up to anyone. This city was, is, and will be Ukrainian.' The president spoke from a stage decorated with Ukraine's blue-and-yellow colours after leading the room in singing the national anthem.

The president added that Ukraine had secured the release of 1,200 'prisoners' who had been taken captive by pro-Russian rebels during their five-month separatist uprising.

Mr Poroshenko's trip to the strategic port, just days after it faced sustained rebel fire, underscored that Kiev is unlikely to willingly loosen what remains of its grip on Ukraine's rebellious east. It also came as a tenuous cease-fire appeared to be holding Monday between the Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops in eastern Ukraine.

A defence spokesman earlier said that Ukrainian positions were still coming under sporadic attack despite the ceasefire.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (in dark green shirt) greets workers during his visit to the Ilich Iron and Steel Works in the southern coastal town of Mariupol, Ukraine

Ukrainian military Special Forces at the International Mariupol Airport during the visit of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko earlier today

Spot inspection: Soldiers from the Ukrainian Azov battalion check travellers in the coastal town of Mariupol

Russia has placed 64 tanks and 100 armoured vehicles at the border of Crimea and Kherson region, said National Security and Defence Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko.

He claimed that near the town of Chernomorsk in annexed Crimea a field hospital had been set up, and that seven large assault landing ships are located in the Black Sea.

NUCLEAR TREATY UNDER THREAT AHEAD OF US-RUSSIAN TALKS

Russian and U.S. officials will meet in Moscow on Thursday to discuss a nuclear arms treaty whose future is in doubt.

Washington and Moscow have questioned each other's commitment to the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty and their relationship has deteriorated over the Ukraine crisis.

Interfax new agency quoted Mikhail Ulyanov, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's non-proliferation and arms control department, as saying talks would take place this week involving Rose Gottemoeller, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.

The INF treaty eliminated nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with a range of 300-3,400 miles near the end of the Cold War.

The U.S. says Russia has violated the treaty by testing a ground-launched cruise missile that is banned under the accord. Meanwhile Russia has questioned Washington's observation of the treaty, saying U.S. use of armed drones amounted to a violation of its terms.

He also alleged that Russia had massed military hardware at Sloviyanoserbsk in Lugansk region.

After representatives of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) left a roadblock of the Ukrainian National Guard there, it was surrounded by four T-72 Russian tanks, two airborne combat vehicles, two armoured infantry vehicles, four mechanized infantry combat vehicles and about 70 soldiers.

EU President Herman Van Rompuy said the new sanctions due to be approved on Monday could be reviewed if the ceasefire was 'durable'.

'We have noted that Russia only consented with difficulty to serious negotiations. The ceasefire is an important step, but it is only a step,' he said.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has vowed to respond to any new sanctions, hinting that Western air companies would be barred from using Siberian airspace for flights between Europe and Asia.

If the Russian energy and financial industries are hit, then 'we will have to respond asymmetrically - for example, with restrictions in the transport sphere.'

If European airlines are forced to fly around Russian airspace - for example on routes to and from Asia on which they overfly Siberia - it could threaten their viability, he said.

'It may lead to bankruptcy of many airlines that are teetering on the brink of survival,' he said.

'We would just like our partners to realise that', he said.

And in a further development, there were new fears for the Ukraine ceasefire today as premier Arseniy Yatsenyuk accused Vladimir Putin of sucking his country's blood while warning Kiev would impose martial law.

Fragile ceasefire: Ukrainian soldiers guard a checkpoint as the tense truce entered its third day

The premier alleged Mr Putin's plan remained unchanged - to dismember Ukraine as a country - despite a truce which is already under strain three days after it was signed.

He said that If the ceasefire breaks, Ukraine would impose martial law despite Western objections.

'This means that the entire country will be running on entirely military lines, starting from civil defence and ending with the military command having full power on Ukrainian territory,' he said in an interview on Kiev's One Plus One TV.

People take advantage of a break in fighting to queue for food outside a Red Cross building in Mariupol

'This is war. We have one now. It has not been legally declared. But it's war.'

He forecast the West would object because martial law would close off talks on a peace plan and resolving the crisis by non-military methods, but he questioned Mr Putin's sincerity over Ukraine.

'Do I believe the Russian Federation and its president? Categorically, no,' he said.

'Has President Putin changed his plans? Under no circumstances.

'His plan is to return Ukraine to the Russian sphere of influence by any means - by conquering it militarily or politically, or by destroying the state as such.'

The port city of Mariupol, above, has been hit by shelling in recent days despite the ongoing ceasefire

President Putin's aim was to turn eastern Ukraine into 'unrecognised republics' like Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia or Transnistria in Moldova, where Russia holds sway, and grave damage has been done already to Lugansk and Donetsk, he said.

'He wants to control and via his mercenaries suck Ukraine's blood,' he said.

'All the infrastructure is destroyed. We've reached the point where we have problems with coal, because they targeted mines with their rockets and tanks. They have blown up railways. They destroyed the energy sector as such.'

Stating that Ukraine would end its dependence on Russian gas in five years as it turns towards the West, he said there could be no return to 'business as usual' with Moscow.

'The world does not have the right to forget about Russian aggression. Russia must pay the price. Yes, we are for making peace. But we are also for ensuring that those who breached the peace, who violated the UN charter, violated all possible and impossible bilateral and multilateral agreements, pay the price. And that is the Russian Federation.'

He claimed the ceasefire was necessary now 'in order to save lives', allow troops to regroup.

But he appeared to doubt that the conditions exist for a lasting truce, amid fighting in three cities since it came into operation.

He added that the conditions were that 'the shooting stops. Second, Mr Putin withdraws his mercenaries, his army and his hardware. Third, Ukraine fully restores control over the state border.'