EU’s von der Leyen pledges to ‘not lift any sanctions unless Russia stops the war’ as leaders discuss Ukraine – Europe live

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he discussed financial support for Ukraine with the presidents of the European Commission and European Council on the margins of the EU summit in Brussels.

“I had a good meeting with the President of the European Council, António Costa @eucopresident, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen @vonderleyen.

Right now, there are no signals from Russia that it is ready to end its war. The signals it is sending point to something entirely different and certainly do not bring peace any closer. After overnight Russian strikes on energy infrastructure, Russia carried out a horrific strike on Kharkiv this morning. Two people have already been reported killed. My condolences to their families and loved ones. Seventeen others were injured. Russia also struck a shopping mall in Rivne and energy facilities in four regions.

European leadership is needed to ensure that people’s lives are sufficiently protected from this Russian terror. We appreciate that everything we agree on is implemented promptly. Today, we discussed further assistance, first and foremost for our energy and air defense needs. We talked about support for our financial resilience, including for next year, and coordinated our work on the European integration track. It is important that new negotiating clusters were opened this week. We are working to open the remaining two by the end of the year. Thank you, António! Thank you, Ursula! Thank you, EU!”

Fuente: The Guardian World