The European Union will shut down EU airspace to Russian aircraft, seek to ban Russian state-owned media in the bloc and target Russian ally Belarus with sanctions, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Sunday.
Von der Leyen also said that the EU would for the first time finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to Ukraine .
The move was described as a “watershed moment for our Union”.
“They won’t be able to land in, take off or overfly the territory of the EU. Including the private jets of oligarchs,” Von der Leyen said.
It comes as western leaders have imposed fresh sanctions on Russia to pile pressure on Vladimir Putin as they call for him to end the war in Ukraine.
A Russian tank burning just days after newly revealed dashcam footage showed a huge column of tanks moving into the Ukrainian city of Sumy
Britain, the US, Canada and the European Union announced selected Russian banks would be excluded from the Swift global payments system.
In a joint statement, leaders of those nations vowed to crackdown on so-called golden passports that let wealthy Russians connected to Putin’s government “become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems”.
They have also decided to impose restrictions which will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves to support the rouble and finance the war effort.
Wealthy Russians have been warned that their assets will be frozen if they violate the sanctions, which aim to “further isolate Russia from the international financial system”.
A number of Western nations have also committed to sending more arms to the Ukrainians over the last 24 hours, but refused to deploy any troops.
Russian forces have reached the outskirts of the capital Kyiv and the city is being pounded by air strikes and artillery.
However, a US official told Reuters that Putin’s forces have been met by “very determined resistance” and they “have not made the progress that they wanted to make, particularly in the north”.
The Government said yesterday that 198 Ukrainians, including three children, had been killed by the conflict while more than 1,000 are wounded.
It also claims that around 3,500 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded. The Russians have refused to release any casualty figures so far.
