World News for Students of English

09-05-2022 07:00

The EU acted with unprecedented speed and unity to sanction Russia; however, energy is the EU’s weak spot.

Before the war in Ukraine, Russia provided the EU with a huge percentage of its energy imports, 47% of its coal, 41% of its gas, and 27% of its oil. Thus, Russia supported transportation, heat, and electricity for households and big industries. Large economies like Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands especially depend on Russia.

The EU is now phasing out Russian coal by this summer, and it wants to reduce Russian gas by two thirds by the end of this year. Ukrainian president Volodimir Zelensky accused European countries of making money from blood, since Russia is using the money to buy weapons.

The EU has paid more than 46 billion euros to Russia for its energy since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Last month, US president Joe Biden promised to send more gas to Europe, and internally, Europe can also increase its nuclear energy production.

Difficult words: unprecedented (never done or known before), phase out (to gradually stop using something), internally (inside).

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