EU tightens sanctions for Russia, sends military equipment for Ukraine, bans Russia Today, Sputnik

The European Union will tighten sanctions on Russia, target Russian ally Belarus with measures and fund weapons for Ukraine to help it defend itself against Russia’s invasion, top EU officials said on Sunday.

“For the first time ever, the European Union will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to a country that is under attack,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Sunday, after the emergency meeting of the EU body.

Among the other sanctions recently announced by Brussels is that it will also ban Russian state media in the European Union, and ban all Russian planes from entering European airspace.

Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union would close its airspace to Russian aircraft, including the private jets of Russian oligarchs.

The EU will ban Russian state-owned television network Russia Today and news agency Sputnik. Von der Leyen said this was to render them unable to “spread their lies to justify Putin’s war and to sow division in our Union”.

For Russian ally Belarus, the European Union will impose a ban on imports of products from mineral fuels to tobacco, wood and timber, cement, iron and steel.

Later on, in an interview for Euronews, the EC President stated that Ukraine is “one of us and we want them in the European Union”.

“We have a process with Ukraine that is, for example, integrating the Ukrainian market into the single market. We have very close cooperation on the energy grid, for example.”

Von der Leyen also said trust in Vladimir Putin is “completely broken and eroded”.

Discussing the possibility of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, she said: “Of course, it is important that the Ukrainian side agrees to the peace talks and that conditions are fine for the Ukrainian side. In general, it is always better to have peace talks than to have a fight. But the trust in President Putin is completely broken and eroded.”