UKRAINE, POLAND AND Lithuania have called for more sanctions against Russia as the country amassed its troops along the Ukrainian border, raising fears of an invasion.

Polish President Andrzej Duda and his Lithuanian counterpart Gitanas Nauseda visited Ukraine in a show of support and met the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In a joint statement released after their summit in the west of the country, the three called for “strengthening sanctions against Russia for its continued aggression against Ukraine”.

“Our common task is to contain the threat coming from Russia, to protect Europe from aggressive Russian policies,” Zelensky said at a press conference after the meeting.

After amassing some 100,000 troops near Ukraine, Russia unveiled proposals on Friday to contain the role of the United States and NATO in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, calling for urgent negotiations with Washington.

The proposals called for the US-led NATO alliance not to admit new members or establish bases in ex-Soviet countries.

“We must not accept such blackmail and ultimatum,” Duda told reporters.

EU members Poland and Lithuania are both part of NATO.

Ukraine has been fighting pro-Russia separatists in the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions since 2014.

The fighting has claimed more than 13,000 lives.

Kiev and the West accuse Moscow of sending troops and arms across the border, something the Kremlin has repeatedly denied.

© AFP 2021