European Council ready to assist Ukraine with 9 billion euros, says chief Charles Michel

Extending support to Ukraine amid Russian invasion , the President of the European Council, Charles Michel announced that the European Council is ready to provide Kyiv with nine billion euros (about $9.6 billion). Taking to Twitter, Michel said on Monday night that EUCO will continue helping Ukraine with its immediate liquidity needs, together with G7. He called EUCO's grant of EUR 9 billion a strong and concrete support for Ukraine's reconstruction.

Furthermore, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen in a tweet announced that EU leaders have agreed in principle on the sixth sanctions package. 

The tweet comes after a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Monday. The mmet was held to consider the sixth package of sanctions against Russia, including a partial embargo on Russian oil imports. As per the European Council President, the EU has consented to a partial embargo on Russian oil imports. 

Agreement has been reached to ban shipment of Russian oil to the EU: Michel

An agreement has been reached to prohibit the shipment of Russian oil to the European Union, Michel made the announcement through Twitter on Monday evening. He even added that this would instantly cover more than two-thirds of Russia's oil imports, eliminating a major source of funding for the country's war machine.  

Michel went on to say that other tough steps in this sanctions package include de-shifting Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, barring three more Russian state-owned channels, and penalising people involved in war crimes in Ukraine.  

Further, on Tuesday, EU leaders will gather in Brussels to debate the EU's response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

In addition to this, after achieving an accord on a partial embargo on Russian oil, European Commission President von der Leyen stated that the EU will reduce oil imports from Russia by 90% by the end of 2022. In a tweet, Ursula said, “I welcome the EUCO agreement tonight on oil sanctions against Russia. This will effectively cut around 90% of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year.” 

Meanwhile, according to a CNN report, officials originally recommended banning Russia's oil a month ago as part of the EU's sixth package of sanctions in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, several nations, such as Hungary, which relies heavily on Russian oil transported through pipelines. have stymied an agreement.  

Europe is Russia's largest energy customer. As per Eurostat, Russian crude oil contributed to 27% of the bloc's imports in 2021. According to figures from the International Energy Agency, that is roughly 2.4 million barrels each day. The IEA added that about 35% of it was transported to the bloc via pipelines. 

(Image: AP)