Austrian leader sees more sanctions on Russia

Austrias leader says he expects more European Union sanctions against Russia but is defending his countrys opposition so far to cutting off deliveries of Russian gas.Chancellor Karl Nehammer spoke Saturday after becoming the latest of several European leaders to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.Nehammer said at a news conference that we will continue to ratchet up sanctions inside the European Union until the war stops and that a package of sanctions imposed this week wont be the last one.

Austria's leader says he expects more European Union sanctions against Russia but is defending his country's opposition so far to cut off deliveries of Russian gas.

Chancellor Karl Nehammer spoke Saturday after becoming the latest of several European leaders to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

Nehammer said at a news conference that "we will continue to ratchet up sanctions inside the European Union until the war stops" and that a package of sanctions imposed this week "won't be the last one". He acknowledged that "as long as people are dying, every sanction is still insufficient." Austria, which gets most of its gas from Russia, is one of the countries that have been resisting a halt to deliveries. Questioned about that Saturday, Nehammer said that EU sanctions are becoming increasingly "accurate" but that "sanctions are effective when they hit those they are directed against and don't weaken those imposing sanctions against the one who is conducting war." Austria is militarily neutral and not a member of NATO.

___ London: Britain's Ministry of Defence says Russian naval forces are launching cruise missiles into Ukraine to support military operations in the eastern Donbas region and around the cities of Mariupol and Mykolaiv.

In its Saturday morning briefing, the ministry said Russia's air forces are expected to increase activity in the south and east of Ukraine to further support these operations.

The ministry said these actions come as attempts to establish a land corridor between Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and Russian-controlled parts of the Donbas region "continue to be thwarted by Ukrainian resistance." UK officials also say Russia is continuing to attack non-combatants, such as those killed at the Kramatorsk railway station in a rocket strike on Friday.

___ Kyiv: Ukraine's railway operator says operations are halted at the train station in Kramatorsk, which was damaged in a missile strike Friday, but evacuations of civilians will continue through other stations in eastern Ukraine.

The company said Saturday that evacuations will continue from the stations in Slovyansk and Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region and Novozolotarivka in the Luhansk region.

The statement on the messaging app Telegram said that "the railways do not stop the task of taking everyone to safety."