Von der Leyen promises more sanctions against the Kremlin in a historic visit to kyiv: "Russia is already paying and will pay a price for the war"

Europe is confident that Russia's crimes in Ukraine will not go unpunished.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has promised this Thursday in kyiv that the Vladimir Putin regime assume the consequences of the invasion of Ukraine.

"Russia is already paying and will pay a price for the war", said Von der Leyen, in a press appearance together with the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski, during a historic visit of enormous symbolism in which the head of the Community Executive has disembarked in the Ukrainian capital together with fifteen commissioners.

While Zelenski has demanded more sanctions from the Twenty-seven, German politics has announced that in a few weeks, coinciding with the first year of the invasion launched by Putin, a new package of punishments will arrive, which will be the tenth.

The Commission's visit, the first of this magnitude to Ukraine, sends a powerful message to Russia that the EU will support the invaded country and integrate it into the community club.

The president and the commissioners - who have traveled by train from Poland on a journey surrounded by security measures, even greater than usual given the size of the delegation - have held bilateral talks with members of the Ukrainian government on the steps towards the accession of the eastern country.

The appointment takes place on the eve of the great Ukraine-EU summit which, if all goes according to plan, will be held in kyiv this Friday.

The meeting also takes place when it is about to be a year since the start of the invasion launched by Vladimir Putin, on February 24.

Russia has again bombarded this Thursday civilian infrastructure in Kramatorsk, in the eastern region of Donbas, while the commissioners talked about integration.

This is the second bombardment on the same point in 24 hours.

Kremlin forces have again launched missiles at a bombed apartment building on Wednesday.

And it has done so when the emergency services were still rescuing the survivors of the attack.

Russia circumvents sanctions with help from India and Turkey

The EU has imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia against different sectors that fuel the war in Ukraine and has blacklisted some 1,500 people and entities involved in the invasion, who are banned from entering community territory and who have been assets frozen.

However, Russia is doing its best to circumvent these sanctions through networks and commercial links with other countries, such as India or Turkey.

Zelenski has expressed the need to persevere in the economic punishments of Moscow, during an appearance side by side with Von der Leyen, in a room with great security measures.

"We can see that the pace of European sanctions has slowed down slightly," he lamented.

"On the contrary, the terrorist state is increasing its pace of adaptation," urged the Ukrainian president, dressed in his now traditional military green shirt.

Von der Leyen has stressed that the sanctions against the Putin regime work: the oil price cap costs Moscow about 160 million euros a day.

And he insists that they are strangling the economy with which the Kremlin supports the war.

The community leader explained that the EU is looking for and exploring mechanisms for Russia to pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine through frozen assets in the Member States.

In addition, the Commission and the Ukrainian government have signed a series of agreements to strengthen the economic, energy and industrial ties of the Eastern country with the Union.

These agreements will serve as another roadmap to accelerate Ukraine's economic integration into the community club and help keep it afloat.

The EU has already allocated almost 60 billion euros in aid to Ukraine, including almost 12 billion euros of military support and 18 billion euros to help run the country this year.

Despite everything, Brussels refuses to offer kyiv a fast track to EU membership.

The EU commits to train another 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers in its special mission

MARIA R. SAHUQUILLO

The EU maintains its support not only economically but also militaryly for Ukraine to face the Russian invasion.

The High Representative for Foreign Policy and Defense of the Union, Josep Borrell, announced this Thursday in kyiv that the special training mission for the Ukrainian forces will instruct another 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers.

With this, the EU mission, which has two operations centers, one in Poland and one in Germany, but in which member states also participate in their national bases, will train up to 30,000, including combat tank personnel. . 

"Russia returned the war to Europe, but Ukraine continues to fight back," said Borrell, who met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmihal in the Ukrainian capital.

The head of European diplomacy has arrived in kyiv together with a group of 15 commissioners and the president of the Community Executive on a historic trip to meet with the Government of Volodímir Zelenski and talk about the future integration of Ukraine into the Union.

All on the eve of the EU-Ukraine summit, which will be held this Friday in kyiv.

It will be the twenty-fourth meeting of this format, but the first in the country during the war that began on February 24.  

Borrell recalled that we must continue working against the clock before the next Ukrainian offensive, which intelligence analysts and NATO have planned for this spring.

However, Moscow could get ahead of it, in anticipation of the arrival of Western Leopard, Abrams and Challenger tanks. 

In addition, the European Council has agreed to send Ukraine a seventh military support package worth about 500 million euros and another 45 million for the military assistance mission.

“Today's new measures will send a clear message at a crucial time.

We will continue to support Ukraine for as long as necessary," Borrell said in a statement.

In addition to the increased commitment to the training mission, to which more than 20 EU countries have joined, Borrell has announced that the EU will allocate 25 million euros to demine Ukraine, which with 10,000 mines scattered throughout its territory, is “one of the most mined countries in the world”.

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