Desk Report
Publish: 12 Mar 2022, 05:00 pm
Photo: Collected
The European Union on Friday eyed
an extra 500 million euros in military support for Ukraine and fresh sanctions
on Russia, as Moscow's war spurred vows to bolster the bloc's defences.
EU leaders meeting for a summit
in France's Palace of Versailles described Moscow's attack on Ukraine as a
wake-up call for the 27-nation bloc to take a tougher approach to ensure its
security.
"There's no denying the fact
that two weeks ago we woke up in a different Europe, in a different
world," European Council chief Charles Michel said.
The EU's executive put forward a
proposal to double its financing for sending weapons to Ukraine to one billion
euros as the West scrambles to back
Kyiv's forces in the face of the
Kremlin's onslaught.
The bloc last month broke a
longstanding taboo by agreeing to pay for arms deliveries to Ukraine after
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of his pro-Western
neighbour.
The move was part of a broad push
by Ukraine's allies to send weapons amid desperate pleas from Kyiv for air
defence systems after calls to impose a no-fly zone were rebuffed.
Alongside further arms supplies,
EU leaders also said they were readying a fresh round of economic punishment as
they look to keep up pressure on Putin over the bloodshed.
The West has already hit Moscow
with a barrage of unprecedented sanctions but the EU has so far failed to agree
to follow the US lead in hitting Russia's key oil and gas exports.
French President Emmanuel Macron
said he would talk to Putin again in the coming hours with German Chancellor
Olaf Scholz.
Macron warned the Kremlin leader
of further "massive sanctions" if he steps up the bombing or seeks to
besiege Ukraine's capital Kyiv.
"In that case, nothing is
off the table, nothing is taboo," Macron said.
"We will do whatever we deem
to be effective and useful to halt Russia in its aggression."
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen
later said on Friday the bloc will ban the
export of luxury goods to Russia,
striking a "direct blow to the Russian elite".
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