EU threatens Russia with more sanctions

Associated Press

BRUSSELS

Despite tough rhetoric decrying Russia’s increasing military involvement in Ukraine, European Union leaders today stopped short of imposing new sanctions against Moscow right away.

Instead, the 28-nation bloc’s heads of state and government tasked their executive body to “urgently” prepare tougher economic sanctions that could be adopted within a week, according to EU summit chairman Herman Van Rompuy.

The decision on new sanctions will depend on the evolution of the situation on the ground but “everybody is fully aware that we have to act quickly,” he added. The EU leaders call on Russia to “immediately withdraw all its military assets and forces from Ukraine,” they said in a joint statement.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who briefed a summit of the 28-nation EU’s leaders in Brussels, said a strong response was needed to the “military aggression and terror” facing his country.

“Thousands of the foreign troops and hundreds of the foreign tanks are now on the territory of Ukraine,” Poroshenko told reporters in English. “There is a very high risk not only for peace and stability for Ukraine, but for the whole ... of Europe.”

Conceding ground in the face of a reinvigorated rebel offensive, Ukraine said Saturday that it was abandoning a city where its forces have been surrounded by rebels for days.