Brussels, 24 February European Union (EU) leaders will today discuss new “massive and severe” sanctions against Russia for its “unprecedented” military aggression against Ukraine, which are being finalized and will be adopted “rapidly”. At Thursday’s Extraordinary Summit, Twenty-Seven “will have grave and severe consequences on Russia for its actions,” European Council President Charles Michel and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed in a joint statement. The Chief Executive of the Community and the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, “will outline the new sanctions package” being finalized by the European Commission and the European External Action Service “in close coordination with partners and “the Council will adopt it rapidly” , Michel and Von der Leyen said in their statement. The day before, the Council of the European Union (EU), which brings together Member States, officially adopted the first round of community sanctions against Russia to recognize the independence of Donetsk and Lugansk, which includes a ban on senior Russian officials to travel to European territory, restrict Moscow’s access to European financial markets, and contain a trade embargo on the breakaway territory. This package is intended for the 351 members of the Russian State Duma who voted for this recognition, as well as 27 individuals and entities that threaten its territorial integrity, ania’s sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.This includes the political sector, the military r, business and media. With this restrictive measure, 555 Russian persons and 52 Russian entities have been sanctioned by the EU since March 2014, in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and the deliberate destabilization of Ukraine. The new EU sanctions have come on top of similar actions against Russia by the United States and other transatlantic allies such as Britain in retaliation for Russia’s military advances in eastern Ukraine. In their statement on Thursday, Michel and Von der Leyen they condemned “in the strongest terms military aggression.” An unprecedented Russia against Ukraine”, as they did this morning in the same message on their official Twitter account, also replicated by the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, and by Borrell. “With its unwarranted and unjustified military actions, Russia is seriously violating international law and undermining European and global security and stability,” Michel and Von der Leyen stressed in a statement this morning, deploring the “loss of life and human suffering” caused by Moscow decision. . Therefore, they called on Russia to “immediately cease hostilities, withdraw its troops from Ukraine and fully respect the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.” This “use of force and coercion has no place in the 21st century,” stressed the two European leaders, who reiterated that the EU “resolutely supports Ukraine and its people as they face this unprecedented crisis.” Therefore, they pledged that the EU would continue to provide “strong political, financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and its people.” Russia launched a large-scale military operation against Ukraine early Thursday, he said, to defend the people “from harassment” and genocide” by the Ukrainian government, an act that drew international condemnation of the aggression and the president of the United States, Joe Biden, promising Ukraine “international assistance.” “.