Russia-Ukraine war: EU announces new sanctions, ban on Russian coal

Yahoo Finance Live's Julie Hyman and Brian Sozzi report that the European Commission has announced new sanctions including a ban on coal from Russia.

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JULIE HYMAN: All right. We better move on and talk about thing two this morning, which is, I think, fairly easily argued that it's more important on a grander, human scale, and that's what's going on in Russia, right. We can have fun arguing about Twitter all we want. In the grand scheme of things, we have what is unfolding in Russia and in Ukraine as a humanitarian disaster. And we've got some new measures that the European Union is now taking, that it's announcing this morning. EU President Ursula von der Leyen announcing new sanctions, including a ban on coal from Russia that it sounds like they are going to phase in over a little bit of time. Also, export bans worth $10 billion, she says, on crucial areas, including semiconductors and machinery. Also, more sanctions on individuals and a full transaction ban from the EU on four key Russian banks. Now, coal, unlike oil, for example, is not widely traded. It is not a global market in the same way that oil is a global market. It is much more of a localized market. So we're not necessarily looking at the fallout from coal prices moving on this. It is more just the big picture idea of these increases in sanctions. And speaking of increases in sanctions, by the way, the US is also increasing the pressure. The Treasury, now, is halting dollar debt payments of more than $600 million from Russian government accounts at US banks. So again, just this tightening, if you will, of Russia-- while all of this is going on, Soz. BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah. I'll quickly mention here, Julie, just a quick spotlight on how increasingly irrelevant coal use is playing in this world. News breaking this morning of GM and Honda, two titans of the auto industry, of course. They are now partnering. GM and Honda are saying they will co-develop a series of electric vehicles based on a new global architecture. Could see millions of vehicles from this deal starting to hit in 2027. But who would have thought five years ago we would be seeing a GM and a Honda join forces to do electric vehicles? It's pretty mind-blowing. JULIE HYMAN: Well, guess what? They can still plug into a grid that's powered by coal. BRIAN SOZZI: And I hope there's Twitter on the infotainment systems. That's all I'm saying. JULIE HYMAN: OK. Well-- and then, also, we wanted to mention while we were talking Russia, by the way, and Ukraine that the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is set to speak today in front of the United Nations Security Council. That's set to happen at 10:00 AM. We will be monitoring that. And this, essentially, as we have seen an increase in allegations and an increase in evidence that there have been war crimes potentially occurring in Ukraine. More and more pictures and verbal accounts, oral accounts coming out about civilians being targeted and killed in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, as well as in other towns. So we will continue to monitor that as well. So a lot of diverging topics that we're covering this morning.