LAST UPDATE | 25 Feb 2022

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR Zelensky has urged the EU to impose tougher sanctions on Russia over its invasion, after the bloc held off hitting Moscow with the full arsenal of punitive measures.

This morning European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen outlined a fresh package of sanctions against Russia, following a late-night meeting of the European Council.  

She said the package included financial, energy and technological sanctions aimed to deter Putin from redrawing “the map of Europe by force”.

In a series of tweets early this morning, von der Leyen said the sanctions show “how united the EU is”.

She said: “First, this package includes financial sanctions, targeting 70% of the Russian banking market and key state owned companies, including in defence.

Second, we target the energy sector, a key economic area which especially benefits the Russian state. Our export ban will hit the oil sector by making it impossible for Russia to upgrade its refineries.

“Third: we ban the sale of aircrafts and equipment to Russian airlines.

“Fourth, we are limiting Russia’s access to crucial technology, such as semiconductors or cutting-edge software.

“Finally: visas. Diplomats and related groups and business people will no longer have privileged access to the European Union.

She added: “These events mark the beginning of a new era. Putin is trying to subjugate a friendly European country. He is trying to redraw the map of Europe by force. He must and he will fail.”

The EU stopped short of cutting Russia off from the global SWIFT banking system after economic powerhouse Germany pushed back at calls for the tough move from other member states.

Following the announcement, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensk urged the EU to go further. 

“Not all possibilities for sanctions have been exhausted yet. The pressure on Russia must increase,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter after talking to von der Leyen.

In a video address to the nation this morning, he told citizens: 

“We have been left alone to defend our state. Who is ready to fight alongside us? I don’t see anyone. Who is ready to give Ukraine a guarantee of NATO membership? Everyone is afraid.”

The president added that he and his family remained in Ukraine, despite Russia identifying him as “target number one”.

“They want to destroy Ukraine politically by taking down the head of state,” Zelensky said.

UK and US sanctions

The announcement of the new EU sanctions come after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced yesterday the “largest and most severe” package of sanctions Russia has ever faced to punish “blood-stained aggressor” Vladimir Putin.

Among the new UK sanctions introduced were measures to hit five further oligarchs, including the Russian president’s former son-in-law, and to target more than 100 businesses and individuals.

Johnson said he was sanctioning “all the major manufacturers that support Putin’s war machine”, will ban Aeroflot from touching down planes in the UK and will freeze the assets of all major Russian banks, including immediately against VTB.

US President Joe Biden also delivered further measures to target Russian banks, oligarchs and high-tech sectors, with more troops deployed to Germany to bolster Nato.

In response, Moscow today banned all UK-linked planes, including transiting flights.

“A restriction was introduced on the use of Russian airspace for flights of aircrafts owned, leased or operated by an organisation linked to or registered in the UK,” the Rosaviatsia aviation authority said in a statement.

The ban took effect from 11am Moscow time it said, and included flights transiting through Russian airspace.

It said the decision was taken “as a response to unfriendly decisions of the UK aviation authorities”.

- With reporting from AFP.