dpa
Brussels
EU defence ministers discussed supplying 500 million euros ($556 million) worth of military aid to Ukraine on Monday as European Union sanctions targeting Russia’s Central Bank and aircraft came into force.
"In this situation our support of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is crucial,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a press conference in Brussels after the meeting.
The EU is ramping up support for Kiev and sanctions on Moscow as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues into its fifth day.
On Sunday, the bloc announced for the first time in its history that the EU would finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and equipment to a country under attack after Russia’s invasion.
450 million euros of the funding is in the form of military weapons and equipment and 50 million euros is in non-lethal aid like fuel. Poland is to be the logistics hub for the delivery.
The European Peace Facility (EPF), a funding mechanism that allows the bloc to strengthen the armed forces of partner countries, is financing the move.
On Monday, European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson proposed connecting Ukraine’s power grid to continental Europe’s. EU energy ministers are considering the move at a crisis summit in Brussels to discuss the conflict’s impact on the bloc’s energy supply.
The financial restrictions include a ban on transactions with the Russian Central Bank, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
All of the bank’s assets in the EU will also be frozen in a bid to block financing for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.
The measure, now published in the EU’s Official Journal, is considered just as hefty as the planned exclusion of Russian financial institutions from the SWIFT banking network.
The EU sanctions combined with those of its G7 partners mean around half of the financial reserves of Russia’s Central Bank will be frozen, Borrell said on Sunday evening.
According to experts, this means Russia will for example no longer be able to use its foreign currency holdings to stabilize the rouble.
The Russian currency has already been weakened, which will bring further hardship to Russia’s people.
Previous measures banned some 70% of the Russian banking sector from EU capital markets with essential state-owned enterprises, including the defence sector, according to the European Commission.
Not all of the Russian Central Bank’s reserves can be blocked, Borrell said on Sunday, because they are not all in Western states.
The EU cannot block reserves in Moscow or China, for example, he said, and added that Russia has increasingly stashed its reserves in countries where they cannot be blocked.
Brussels
EU defence ministers discussed supplying 500 million euros ($556 million) worth of military aid to Ukraine on Monday as European Union sanctions targeting Russia’s Central Bank and aircraft came into force.
"In this situation our support of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is crucial,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a press conference in Brussels after the meeting.
The EU is ramping up support for Kiev and sanctions on Moscow as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues into its fifth day.
On Sunday, the bloc announced for the first time in its history that the EU would finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and equipment to a country under attack after Russia’s invasion.
450 million euros of the funding is in the form of military weapons and equipment and 50 million euros is in non-lethal aid like fuel. Poland is to be the logistics hub for the delivery.
The European Peace Facility (EPF), a funding mechanism that allows the bloc to strengthen the armed forces of partner countries, is financing the move.
On Monday, European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson proposed connecting Ukraine’s power grid to continental Europe’s. EU energy ministers are considering the move at a crisis summit in Brussels to discuss the conflict’s impact on the bloc’s energy supply.
The financial restrictions include a ban on transactions with the Russian Central Bank, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
All of the bank’s assets in the EU will also be frozen in a bid to block financing for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.
The measure, now published in the EU’s Official Journal, is considered just as hefty as the planned exclusion of Russian financial institutions from the SWIFT banking network.
The EU sanctions combined with those of its G7 partners mean around half of the financial reserves of Russia’s Central Bank will be frozen, Borrell said on Sunday evening.
According to experts, this means Russia will for example no longer be able to use its foreign currency holdings to stabilize the rouble.
The Russian currency has already been weakened, which will bring further hardship to Russia’s people.
Previous measures banned some 70% of the Russian banking sector from EU capital markets with essential state-owned enterprises, including the defence sector, according to the European Commission.
Not all of the Russian Central Bank’s reserves can be blocked, Borrell said on Sunday, because they are not all in Western states.
The EU cannot block reserves in Moscow or China, for example, he said, and added that Russia has increasingly stashed its reserves in countries where they cannot be blocked.