U.S. lawmakers moved to revoke Russia’s normal trade status and ban its oil and gas, and the E.U. approved a phased-in ban on Russian coal. NATO met to discuss military aid to Ukraine.
pic: Carrying the body of a man from his home in Bucha on Thursday
BRUSSELS — Western nations on Thursday escalated their pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, with the European Union approving a ban on Russian coal and the United States moving to strip Russia’s trading privileges and prohibit its energy sales in the American market.
The new punishments came as the United Nations General Assembly took a symbolically important vote to penalize Russia by suspending it from the Human Rights Council, the 47-member U.N. body that can investigate rights abuses. Western diplomats called the suspension a barometer of global outrage over the war and the growing evidence of atrocities committed by Russian forces.