By Agnes Szucs
BRUSSELS (AA) - EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that the EU and the US are ready to take “further severe” sanctions against Russia if the war continues.
“We are ready to take further severe measures if (Russian President Vladimir) Putin does not stop and reverse the war he has unleashed,” von der Leyen announced a joint news conference with US State Secretary Anthony Blinken.
She said the “conflict is far from over,” and stressed that the EU and the US are “determined” and “united” to act against Russia.
Blinken, who participated earlier in the extraordinary meeting of NATO foreign ministers, and also joined a meeting of EU top diplomats, said the war may not end soon but the US and the EU will stick to their efforts.
Referring to the sanctions and the political pressure, he said “we have to sustain this until it stops until the war is over, the Russian forces leave, the Ukrainian people regain their independence, their sovereignty, their territorial integrity.”
“We're committed to doing that,” Blinken asserted.
EU foreign ministers held an extraordinary meeting in Brussels with the NATO chief and top diplomats from Ukraine, the US, UK, and Canada to discuss their response to the Ukrainian-Russian war.
Russia's war on Ukraine has led to international outrage, with the West and others implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow. Many countries are also supplying Kyiv with weapons and humanitarian aid.
The EU has so far targeted top Russian leaders, the Russian banking sector, and key state-owned companies. It also banned Russian state media and closed EU airspace for Russian airlines.
According to UN figures, 331 civilians have been killed and 675 injured in Ukraine since the start of the war.
More than 1.2 million people have also fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, the UN Refugee Agency said.