Ukraine: Americans and Europeans ready for “new sanctions” against Moscow


As Moscow launches a massive offensive in eastern Ukraine, a virtual meeting took place on Tuesday between US President Joe Biden and key US allies.

The United States and the European Union have succeeded in “a broad consensus on the need to increase pressure on the Kremlin, in particular through the adoption of new sanctions”, the Italian government said on Tuesday evening. The allies also agreed on the need “to increase the international isolation of Moscow”the government said in a statement.

The Italian announcement was confirmed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a tweet: “We will again strengthen our sanctions against Russia.” This position was taken during a virtual meeting devoted to the Russian offensive in Ukraine between US President Joe Biden and the main allies of the United States, at a time when Moscow has unleashed in the Donbass a new phase of his attack.

The videoconference brought together French leaders Emmanuel Macron, British Boris Johnson, German Olaf Scholz, Romanian Klaus Iohannis, Polish Andrzej Duda, Italian Mario Draghi, Canadian Justin Trudeau and Japanese Fumio Kishida. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also took part in the call, as well as the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel.

Besides, “the common commitment to diversify energy sources by reducing in this way the dependence on Russian supplies has been reaffirmed” during this videoconference, according to the press release from the Italian government. This virtual meeting took place as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia had started a major offensive on Monday in eastern Ukraine, a new strategic objective for Russian forces, after their withdrawal from the kyiv region. Part of this Ukrainian territory has already been in the hands of pro-Russian separatist forces since 2014.

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