Donald Trump is right that European countries should stop buying Russian oil and gas, one of the EU’s top officials has told Sky News.

Speaking on The World with Yalda Hakim, European Commission vice president Kaja Kallas said it was of “great regret” that this was still happening among some of the bloc’s member states.

The commission has proposed legislation to phase out Russian imports of its oil and gas by 1 January 2028, as Brussels tries to cut its decades-old energy relations with Moscow following Vladimir Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Most European countries stopped importing Russian crude oil in 2022 and Russian fuel in 2023, but crude imports by Hungary and Slovakia have continued.

Ms Kallas, who is the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said of Mr Trump‘s energy call: “Of course he has a point. I mean, we have been saying this for quite some time, that the dependency on Russian oil and gas is actually also fuelling the war.

“But you have to see that we have done a lot to diminish that, really, to get rid of Russian oil and gas. And there are a few countries who are still buying oil and also there America has leverage because they are also good friends of America.

“Neighbours around those countries have also proposed alternatives, so we can do this.”

Ms Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister, does not think NATO and EU members Hungary or Slovakia should be sanctioned, but instead they should “really build on the alternatives that neighbours are providing them to get rid of the Russian oil and gas like President Trump has asked”.

She added that “the neighbouring countries are providing or offering different alternative routes. The thing is that this oil and gas is just cheaper…”

She continued: “It is of great regret that we haven’t been able to put all these member states in the same position… getting rid of the Russian oil and gas.”

On Wednesday, Slovakia pushed back on pressure it is facing to cut back its purchases of Russian energy, saying it was ready to discuss the issue, but singled out some European states for increasing their gas purchases from Moscow.

Slovakian foreign minister Juraj Blanar said there was hypocrisy in criticising his country when liquefied natural gas purchases from Russia to Western Europe had increased by 30% over the last year.

“France, Spain, and the Netherlands… so can you see the picture is a little bit more colourful than black and white,” he said.

Read more from Sky News:
Zelenskyy’s UN speech was a warning and a plea
Trump is ‘racist, sexist and Islamophobic’, says London mayor

Donald Trump has said the US was prepared to impose energy sanctions against Russia – but only if all NATO countries stop buying Russian oil and implement similar measures.

“I am ready to do major sanctions on Russia when all NATO nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO nations stop buying oil from Russia,” the US president said on his Truth Social platform earlier this month.

And at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, he said: “In the event that Russia is not ready to make a deal to end the war, then the United States is fully prepared to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs, which would stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly.”

But for the measures to be effective, he said, “European nations, all of you gathered here, would have to join us in adopting the exact same measures.”

Energy revenues remain the Kremlin’s single most important source of cash to finance the war effort, making oil and gas exports a central target of Western sanctions.

But officials and analysts warn that aggressive curbs on Russian crude also risk driving up global oil prices, a prospect that could strain Western economies and weaken public support for the measures.

Since 2023, NATO member Turkey has been the third-largest buyer of Russian oil, after China and India, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

In the end, the damage wrought by typhoon Ragasa, on mainland China at least, was not as bad as many had feared, but its power still brought multiple megacities to an almost complete standstill.

The city of Zhuhai, just across the water from Macao, is one such example.

On our drive in, we passed street after street of shuttered businesses, debris littering the roads, and precious few other vehicles.

Typhoon, hurricane or cyclone – what’s the difference?

People here had either been evacuated or told to stay at home and, by and large, they listened.

And you can see why.

The wind and the rain were ferocious.

Even some time after the eye of the storm had passed, the gusts were still plenty strong enough to knock you off balance.

Read more on Sky News:
Kimmel back on air
Ukraine ‘can retake all lost land’
Iconic Italian actress dies

They are used to typhoons in this part of the world, and they are well prepared for them, but experts say the regularity and intensity of storms like this are increasing.

Indeed, Ragasa is the ninth typhoon to have hit Hong Kong this year and the annual average is normally six.

A growing problem for this hugely populous region.

Israel killed 22 people – including nine children – in strikes on Gaza City today, Palestinian officials have said.

Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal described the killings as a “horrific massacre”.

Video purportedly from the scene of the attack on the Souq Firas area of the city showed the bodies of children being pulled from rubble.

“We were sleeping in God’s care, there was nothing – they did not inform us, or not even give us a sign – it was a surprise,” said Sami Hajjaj.

“There are children and women, around 200 people maybe, six to seven families – this square is full of families.”

The Israeli military claimed the strike targeted Hamas militants and that its forces tried to reduce harm to civilians in the area.

A total of 51 people have been killed across Gaza today, according to hospital medics in the Hamas-run territory.

Israeli forces pushed towards the heart of Gaza City on Wednesday, placing at risk the lives of Palestinians who had stayed put in hopes that growing pressure on Israel for a ceasefire would mean they would not lose their homes.

“We moved to the western area near the beach, but many families didn’t have the time, tanks took them by surprise,” said Thaer, a 35-year-old father of one from Tel Al-Hawa.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the oxygen station at Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza had stopped operating “due to Israeli occupation forces firing at it”.

“Operations are currently being conducted using pre-filled oxygen cylinders, which are sufficient for only three days,” the group said.

“Occupation forces are currently stationed at the southern gate of the society’s Al-Quds Hospital in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City, preventing anyone from entering or leaving the hospital.”

The world’s leading authority on hunger crises said last month that Israel’s blockade and ongoing offensive had pushed Gaza City into famine.

More than 300,000 people have fled the city in recent weeks as Israel has ordered the population to move south, but UN agencies and aid groups say an estimated 700,000 remain.

More than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than half of them women and children.

Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

The current wave of violence began on 7 October, 2023, when Hamas-led militants carried out an attack inside Israel that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw around 250 people taken hostage.

Israel claims its operation in Gaza is aimed at pressuring Hamas to surrender and return the remaining 48 hostages. Israel believes around 20 of the captives are still alive.

Critics say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not interested in peace negotiations and wants to continue the war with a view to displacing Gaza’s population and expand Israeli settlements.

He has repeatedly rejected the possibility of a Palestinian state.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said: “In Gaza, the horrors are approaching a third monstrous year.

“They are the result of decisions that defy basic humanity,” he continued, citing “a scale of death and destruction beyond any other conflict” in his years as secretary-general.

“Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people and the systematic destruction of Gaza,” he added.

The world’s leading association of genocide scholars, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), declared in August that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.

Several other leading rights organisations, including two Israeli groups, have also said Israel is committing genocide.

Israel has repeatedly denied its actions in Gaza amount to genocide and claims they are justified as a means of self-defence.