Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday hailed US President Donald Trump’s “resolute” decision to sanction Russia’s energy sector, as Washington’s patience finally snapped with Moscow for stalling peace efforts. Russia said the sanctions risked hurting diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine and that it had developed “strong immunity” to Western restrictions. Its close ally China said they had “no basis in international law”. But Zelensky called the measures “a clear signal that prolonging the war and spreading terror come at a cost”.
“It is a strong and much-needed message that aggression will not go unanswered,” he wrote on X as he arrived at an EU summit in Brussels. Trump slapped sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies on Wednesday, complaining that his talks with Vladimir Putin to end the Ukraine war “don’t go anywhere”. The US leader has held off pulling the trigger on sanctions against Russia for months but he eventually took the leap after plans for a fresh summit with Putin in Budapest collapsed. Trump said that he hoped the “tremendous sanctions” against Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil would be short-lived. “We hope that the war will be settled,” he said.
The US sanctions came as the European Union also imposed a 19th package of sanctions on Russia over the war — targeting Moscow’s key energy revenues. “This is a clear signal from both sides of the Atlantic that we will keep up collective pressure on the aggressor,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X. The US measures represent a major stepping up of its actions against Russia and reflect Trump’s growing frustration at being unable to persuade Putin to end the conflict despite what he calls his personal chemistry with the Kremlin chief.
Despite Trump’s outreach to Putin, Russia has continued its heavy bombardments on Ukraine, targeting key energy infrastructure ahead of the winter. Zelensky said he hoped that Trump’s shift on sanctions would also herald a change of mind on giving Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles — after Kyiv came away from a meeting in Washington empty handed last week. Kyiv and its supporters have already sought to seize on Trump’s demand for Russia and Ukraine to stop fighting along the current front line and shift the onus from Kyiv to Moscow to make concessions.
As part of the new EU measures, the 27-nation bloc brought forward a ban on the import of liquefied natural gas from Russia by a year to the start of 2027. It also blacklisted over 100 more tankers from Moscow’s so-called “shadow fleet” of ageing oil vessels and imposed controls on the travel of Russian diplomats suspected of espionage. While Europe welcomed Trump’s latest move, it also was looking at ways to shore up Ukraine’s finances as the war drags on through a fourth year.
EU leaders were looking at their summit to give a preliminary green light to plans for a mammoth 140-billion-euro ($162-billion) loan for Ukraine using frozen Russian central bank assets. Belgium, where the bulk of the money is held at international deposit organization Euroclear, has demanded guarantees the rest of the EU will share any liabilities if Russia goes to court. Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said he was willing to agree if his conditions are met but warned he “would do everything in my power” to block the plan if not.
While key questions remain, diplomats hope EU leaders will give the bloc’s executive the go-ahead to draw up a formal legal proposal for the loan that would only be paid back by Kyiv once Moscow coughs up for the damage it has wrought during its invasion of Ukraine. Even if an initial nod is given at the summit, there still looks set to be months of wrangling over the small print before the loan can be finalized.
© 2024 AFP
