A Polish deputy foreign minister said: “We demand an embargo on gas, an embargo on oil, an embargo on coal. And we hope our partners will stand united on these matters,” the state PAP news agency reported.
Speaking to reporters at Poland’s border crossing with Ukraine in Dorohusk, Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk added: “Only a firm stance from all European politicians (…) can allow us to stop Vladimir Putin’s aggression.”
Meanwhile, the Polish prime minister stated: “Putin is no new Stalin. His power is based not on ideology, not on charisma, but on oil and gas contracts.”
Speaking in an interview with the Italian Il Messaggero newspaper, Mateusz Morawiecki stressed:
“This is about saving the lives of innocent people, and that is why it is necessary to completely cut off Russia’s gas, oil and coal supplies.”
“You don’t trade with tyrants,” the Polish PM said.
It came as a Russian missile attack on a large Ukrainian military centre near the border with Poland on Sunday killed 35 people and wounded 134, Ukrainian authorities said.
It brought the war close to the border of NATO member Poland.
The US national security adviser said Russia would face a response from NATO should any of its attacks in Ukraine cross borders and hit members of the security alliance.
The US President Joe Biden “has been clear repeatedly that the US will work with our allies to defend every inch of NATO territory and that means every inch,” Jake Sullivan told the US broadcaster CBS News.
Ukraine’s officials on Sunday also reported intense Russian attacks around the country. There were renewed air strikes on an airport in the west, heavy shelling on Chernihiv northeast of the capital Kyiv and attacks on the southern town of Mykolayiv, where nine people had been killed, according to Ukrainian authorities, as cited by the Reuters news agency.
Sunday is day eighteen of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on 24 February.
Poland on Sunday reported it had admitted over 1.6 million people escaping the Russian attack on Ukraine.
(pm)
Source: PAP, Reuters, cbsnews.com, bbc.com, euronews.com