To maintain maximum pressure on the Kremlin, the EU would have to implement restrictions against Russian oil and even gas imports at some point, according to the EU Council president on Wednesday.
“We must do everything possible to put an end to these atrocities.” “We’re tightening our sanctions to put the pressure on the Kremlin as high as possible,” EU Council President Charles Michel told the European Parliament.
“A prohibition on coal imports is included in the revised package. “I believe that oil and even gas-related measures will be required sooner or later,” Michel added.
In the Ukrainian city of Bucha, he claimed, Russia committed crimes against humanity.“We express our outrage at crimes against humanity, against innocent civilians in Bucha and many other cities. Yet more proof that Russian brutality against the people of Ukraine has no limits,” he said, adding that there is more proof of “war crimes” and “executions.”
“This is not a special operation. These are war crimes and we, the EU, will not turn our backs. We look reality straight in the eye,” he added.
Underlining that there will be “severe consequences for all those responsible”, he said they will do anything to bring the perpetrators to international justice.
The world community has intensified its criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscow after Ukraine accused Russian soldiers of perpetrating “genocide” and “war crimes” in Bucha, a town near Kyiv’s capital.
The charges have been dismissed by Russia as a “fake news attack,” with the country claiming that the photos of dead bodies and film of slaughtered people that have sparked international anger were created after Russian soldiers departed from the city.
The war between Russia and Ukraine, which began on February 24, has sparked international indignation, with the EU, the United States, and the United Kingdom, among others, imposing strong financial penalties on Moscow.
According to UN estimates, at least 1,480 civilians have been killed and 2,195 injured in Ukraine, with the true figure expected to be much higher.
More than 4.24 million Ukrainians have fled to other countries, with millions more internally displaced, according to the UN refugee agency.