 "Explosions are seen in the night sky as Ukrainian servicemen fire towards drones during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters")
EU countries on Friday agreed to prolong sanctions over the war in Ukraine for another six months on more than 2,500 Russian individuals and entities, including President Vladimir Putin.
Ambassadors from the bloc’s 27 member states signed off on the move ahead of a deadline on Monday, after Hungary and Slovakia dropped demands to take a number of people off the blacklist, diplomats said.
“We just extended our sanctions on Russia,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote on X on Friday.
She said Brussels was currently finalising work on a new package of sanctions “looking into additional curbs on Russian oil sales, shadow oil tankers, and banks”.
“We’ll keep choking off the cash for Putin’s war,” Kallas wrote.
The sanctions – which have to be renewed each six months – were set to lapse next week if no deal was found.
Extensions since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine have usually been a routine, but Moscow-friendly Hungary has regularly pushed for some people to be removed.
The latest extension comes as peace efforts being pushed by US President Donald Trump are being stalled by the Kremlin.
Tensions have been heightened after NATO jets shot down Russian drones over EU member Poland this week.