Russian strikes pushing Ukraine towards humanitarian catastrophe, says EU

BRUSSELS - EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas warned on Jan 29 that Ukraine was facing a “humanitarian catastrophe” as Russian strikes cut its power in frigid winter conditions.

Ms Kallas said that despite US-led talks in Abu Dhabi to end the war, Russia was “bombing Ukrainians, trying to bomb and freeze them to surrender”.

“It’s a very hard winter and Ukrainians are really suffering. There is a humanitarian catastrophe coming there,” she said at the start of an EU meeting in Brussels.

Russia has stepped up its strikes against Ukraine’s power and heating infrastructure, plunging residents into darkness and cold as temperatures have dropped as low as minus 20 deg C.

The EU is looking to step up support for Ukraine’s power grid and is preparing a new round of sanctions on Moscow for the fourth anniversary of its invasion in February.

Sweden’s Foreign Minister Maria Stenergard called for “a full services maritime ban on all Russian vessels that transport energy” to further curb Moscow’s revenues.

She also urged a ban on fertiliser imports from Russia and a prohibition on exporting luxury goods from the EU to the country.

“We need to put more pressure on Russia. That is the only way to stop the killing,” she said.

The EU has already imposed 19 rounds of sanctions on Russia since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Ms Kallas said on Jan 29 that the EU would also add Russia to the bloc’s money-laundering blacklist.

In a separate initiative, Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna called for EU countries to impose a coordinated Schengen visa ban on Russians who have fought in Ukraine.

“They are really bad people, and we need to put together the blacklist of these people,” said Mr Tsahkna.

“I cannot imagine how our leaders can explain if peace comes and these hundreds of thousands of ex-combatants are coming to Europe.”

Estonia has already taken the first step itself by blacklisting hundreds of fighters from specific Russian military units. AFP