Ukraine meeting in Kiev: EU imposes new sanctions on Russia

The EU continues with Ukraine. 16 top politicians in Kiev made it clear. They announced new sanctions against Russia – on the anniversary of the war of aggression. Negotiations on EU membership continue.

EU leaders are meeting in Kiev for the first time since the war in Ukraine. Also in the bag: new sanctions against Russia.

“Between now and February 24, exactly one year after the start of the invasion, we want to complete the tenth set of sanctions,” European Commission President Ursula van der Leyen told a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Van der Leyen: Barriers work

The head of the commission emphasized that the sanctions imposed so far have already caused considerable damage to the Russian economy. The price cap on Russian oil alone costs Moscow “about 160 million euros a day.”

The new sanctions package, which has been in the works since December, is expected to include new entry and asset freezes on those responsible for Russia and its ally Belarus.

A price cap on Russian petroleum products such as diesel or kerosene is set to come into effect on Sunday, and representatives of EU countries are still debating the amount. All sanctions require the unanimous decision of the 27 EU countries.

During this visit Selenskyj campaigned for further support. “It is now clear that the dream of a peaceful Europe can be realized only with Ukraine, and only by defeating Russia,” the head of state said.

Zelenskyj wants decisions from EU partners

Another topic at the two-day conference was Ukraine’s EU accession prospects. Selenskyj described the EU candidate status as a motivation for Ukrainians fighting against Russia. “Ukraine is defending the values ​​on the battlefield that united and united Europe,” the 45-year-old said.

In his video speech that evening, he said he expects results from EU partners commensurate with the apparent progress made on reforms. He refers to the fact that last June the European Union added Ukraine to the list of candidate countries, but conditioned the start of negotiations on the fulfillment of seven conditions.

These are the selection process for Ukrainian constitutional judges and a strong fight against corruption – especially at the highest level. The EU wants standards to be upheld in the fight against money laundering and legislation against excessive influence by oligarchs to be enforced.

It was urged that more action should be taken against corruption

The EU Commission recently said that Ukraine has made progress, but an official recommendation to start accession negotiations will not be made until the second half of the year at the earliest. “We have recorded reform momentum, but there is still work to be done,” a senior official said in Brussels on Tuesday. In Kyiv, further needed progress in the fight against corruption and possible EU support are also being discussed.

And training 15,000 soldiers

The current EU training mission is to be significantly expanded. According to EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell, the new target for the training mission is to train 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers in EU countries. So far, the target has been set to train 15,000 players.

An additional 25 million euros for demining

In addition, an additional €25 million will be made available for demining areas recaptured from Ukraine.

In addition, the EU intends to support the reconstruction of energy infrastructure with more than 150 million euros. 2,400 generators are to be handed over to Kiev, in addition to the 3,000 generators delivered since the start of the war. Ukraine has also been invited to participate in the EU platform for joint gas procurement, said van der Leyen, head of the Commission.

The Ukrainian government has put the firm demand for reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure at around 15 billion euros. “This year, the demand is 17 billion USD (15.6 billion euros),” Prime Minister Denis Schmihal said in a meeting with EU Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis. After all, Russian funds frozen during the sanctions against Moscow should be used for this.

Other topics on the agenda of the two-day conference include the dismantling of trade barriers, humanitarian and military aid and the planned entry of Ukraine into the EU roaming area. The latter allows Ukrainians to use their mobile devices to make calls, text messages and use data services within the EU without fear of additional costs. Likewise, the same applies to EU citizens in Ukraine.