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Ukraine seeks ruinous sanctions on Russia amid European hesitancy

07 April 2022 06:45 (UTC +04:00)

Ukraine wants sanctions that are economically destructive enough for Russia to end its war after accusing some countries of still prioritizing money over punishment for civilian killings that the West condemns as war crimes, APA reports citing Reuters.

The democratic world must reject Russian oil and completely block Russian banks from the international finance system, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his daily video address early on Thursday.

Russia's six-week-long invasion has forced over 4 million to flee abroad, killed or injured thousands, left a quarter of the population homeless, turned cities into rubble and prompted a slew of Western restrictions on Russian elites and the economy.

Washington on Wednesday announced measures such as sanctions on President Vladimir Putin's two adult daughters, days after the grim discovery of civilians shot dead at close range in Bucha, north of Kyiv, when it was retaken from Russian forces.

The United States also wants Russia expelled from the Group of 20 major economies forum and will boycott a number of meetings at the G20 in Indonesia if Russian officials show up. read more

But the head of Ukraine's presidential office Andriy Yermak said late on Wednesday that its allies must go further.

"Sanctions against Russia must be ruinous enough for us to end this terrible war," he said.

"My goal is to impose an embargo on the supply to Russia of technology, equipment, minerals and ores (and) rare earth dual-use minerals and thus stop the production of weapons in Russia."

Zelenskiy was earlier critical of some in the West.

"The only thing that we are lacking is the principled approach of some leaders... who still think that war and war crimes are not something as horrific as financial losses," he told Irish lawmakers.

European Union diplomats failed to approve new sanctions on Wednesday, as technical issues needed to be addressed, including on whether a ban on coal would affect existing contracts, sources said.

EU member Hungary said it was prepared to meet a Russian request to pay roubles for its gas, breaking ranks with the rest of the bloc and highlighting the continent's reliance on imports that have held it back from a tougher response on the Kremlin.

Western policymakers have denounced the killings in Bucha as war crimes, and Ukrainian officials say a mass grave by a church there contained between 150 and 300 bodies.

Moscow denied targeting civilians there or elsewhere. Russia's foreign ministry said that images of bodies in Bucha were staged to justify more sanctions against Moscow and derail peace talks with Kyiv.

Russia says it is engaged in a "special military operation" designed to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine. Ukraine and Western governments reject that as a false pretext for its invasion.