Kyiv
Amid the ongoing conflict with Russia, Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba on Sunday asked European Union (EU) and G7 countries to impose a specific set of sanctions against Moscow to further “pinch the Russian economy”, a media report said.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba sent letters to all his counterparts in the EU and G7 countries with a specific list of the sanctions “in order to finally pinch the Russian economy and end the war in Ukraine”.
The development comes amidst Russia’s continuous advances in Ukraine, encircling multiple key cities.
Earlier on February 28, in a previous meeting with the G7 Foreign Ministers, Kuleba had insisted on a full embargo for Russian oil and gas and said buying them now means “paying for the murder of Ukrainian men, women and children”.
Kuleba also said that the G7 countries had agreed to provide Ukraine with more practical means to defend itself. He had said that defensive weapons, military equipment, and financial support for Ukraine were underway.
In a separate meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday, Kuleba urged the UN to step up humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
“Call with UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres. We agree that Russia must immediately cease fire & allow humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians. I urged @UN to step up humanitarian aid for Ukraine. Discussed implementation of UNGA resolution ‘Russian aggression against Ukraine’,” Kuleba tweeted.
Russia and Ukraine had agreed to organize humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians in the second round of talks in Belarus on March 4.
The third round of talks between Russia and Ukraine to try a negotiated settlement and end the conflict may take place today, according to Sputnik News Agency.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US and its European allies have introduced sanctions targeting several major Russian banks and high-rank Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, besides ousting Russia from the SWIFT financial system.
A number of countries, including Japan, South Korea and Australia, have also slapped financial sanctions and travel bans against Russia. They are mulling new targeted penalties to freeze assets and restrict travel against Russia’s most influential political and military officials.
Meanwhile, Russian artillery pounded the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv overnight on Monday, resulting in fires at residential buildings, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, reported The Kyiv Independent.
The fresh attack in the South comes after the Mayor of the South-Eastern city of Mariupol Vadym Boychenko informed on Saturday that the city has been blockaded by the Russian forces, after days of sustained attacks.
Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine on February 24, three days after Moscow recognized Ukraine’s breakaway region Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics followed by the announcement of a “special military operation” to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine.
