Russia got $98 billion from fuel exports in 100 days of war: Report

Russia has earned $98bn from fossil fuel exports during the first 100 days of its war in Ukraine, with the European Union being the top importer, according to new research.

The report was published on Monday the independent, Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) came as Russian forces continued making slow but steady progress in their campaign to fully capture eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, reported media organisaton Agence France-Presse.

According to the report, the EU took 61 per cent of Russia's fossil fuel exports during the war's first 100 days, worth about 57 billion euros.

The top importers were China at 12.6 billion euros, Germany at 12.1 billion euros and Italy at 7.8 billion euros.

The majority of Russia's fossil fuel revenues come from the sale of crude oil at 46 billion euros, followed by pipeline gas, oil products, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal.

Russia’s relentless shelling of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv with cluster munitions and scatterable land mines amounts to a war crime that indiscriminately killed hundreds of civilians, Amnesty International said on Monday. Ukraine has said 606 civilians were killed there and 600,000 evacuated.

Amnesty said that it had found during a 14-day investigation in April and early May evidence that Russia had used cluster munitions and scatterable mines in Kharkiv.

Day after day, Russia is pounding the Donbas region of Ukraine with relentless artillery and air raids, making slow but steady progress to seize the industrial heartland of its neighbour. With the conflict now in its fourth month, it’s a high-stakes campaign that could dictate the course of the entire war.

If Russia prevails in the battle of Donbas, it will mean that Ukraine loses not only land but perhaps the bulk of its most capable military forces, opening the way for Moscow to grab more territory and dictate its terms to Kyiv. A Russian failure could lay the grounds for a Ukrainian counteroffensive – and possibly lead to political upheaval for the Kremlin.