Top European officials assured Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, this Wednesday in Brussels that the European Union will continue to put pressure on the Kremlin in terms of sanctions, ensuring that the next pack includes “Putin propagandists”.
In a joint press conference with Zelensky, after addressing the heads of state and government of the 27 in the European Council, the president of the community’s executive branch said, Ursula von der Leyen, announced that the Commission will present “the tenth package of sanctions” to Russia in the coming days, adding that this will include an explicit request from the Ukrainian president.
“We will impose sanctions on political and military leaders. But also, dear Volodymyr, we listened very carefully to your messages when we visited you in Kiev last week, and let’s focus on the propagandists of [Vladimir] Putin, because his lies are poisoning public space in Russia and beyond. They insisted, we listened, we’re going to follow them up and we’re going to go after them,” Von der Leyen said, addressing Zelensky.
The president of the community board, who had already announced that the tenth package of sanctions would be ready when the first anniversary of the start of the war was celebrated on 24 February, added that “the package contains additional export bans worth more than 10 billion euros” thus “further undermining Russia’s war machine” and “continuing to shake the very foundations of its economy”.
European Council President Charles Michel also assured Zelensky that “the European Union (EU) will not ‘shake’ in its unity and will remain very firm in the face of pressure on the Kremlin. [Presidência russa]”.
Pointing out that “sanctions are on the agenda, the tenth package is being prepared”, Charles Michael said he was absolutely convinced that the 27 will again show “a show of coherence and determination”.
In his intervention Volodymyr Zelensky urged the EU to include the “drone industry”. [aeronaves não tripuladas] and missiles” in sanctions against Russia, arguing that “it is in everyone’s interest, not just the Ukrainians, that Russia fails to produce more missiles” to attack cities.
After the press conference, the formal work of the European Council, whose agenda is long overdue, will be interrupted, predictably for two hours, during which Zelensky will hold a round of bilateral meetings with the leaders of the 27, group by group, given the lack of time for individual meetings.
Von der Leyen ‘impressed’ by progress towards EU membership
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has expressed her admiration for Ukraine’s progress towards membership of the European Union (EU), citing a report from Brussels that was already published in the autumn.
During a joint press conference with the presidents of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and of the European Council, Charles Michel, the leader of the community’s executive branch, stressed that “it It is impressive to see how Ukraine is progressing with the necessary reforms and working on the seven steps [acordados com a UE]with great professionalism and enormous quality”.
Von der Leyen pointed out that an oral report should be issued in the spring, noting, however, that “the main aim is to show the progress made in the autumn in a written report, an extension report”.
Charles Michel also underlined “the impressive progress” Kyiv has made since gaining EU candidate status in June 2022.
Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, expressed the wish that a decision would be made later this year.
Source: DN
