EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Thursday that the European Union member states have approved the bloc's 19th package of sanctions against Russia, reaffirming continued pressure on Moscow until a just and lasting peace is achieved in Ukraine.
In a statement, von der Leyen said, "EU Member States have approved our 19th package of sanctions against Russia," adding, "We're keeping the pressure high on the aggressor. For the first time, we are hitting Russia's gas sector, the heart of its war economy." She affirmed that the EU "will not relent until the people of Ukraine have a just and lasting peace."
For her part, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said in a post on X, "We just adopted our 19th sanctions package. It targets Russian banks, crypto exchanges, entities in India and China, among others." Kallas added that "the EU is curbing Russian diplomats' movements to counter the attempts of destabilization," noting that "it is increasingly harder for Putin to fund this war."
