Von der Leyen condemned Russia’s latest attacks using drones and missiles that killed more than a dozen people, including three children, and seriously damaged the EU delegation building.
“This shows the Kremlin will stop at nothing to terrorize Ukraine, even attacking the Union,” she said, adding the EU’s support for Ukraine as “partner, friend and future member” remained strong and unwavering.
She said she would pay working visits to seven EU neighbors guarding the bloc’s borders with Russia and Belarus to show “full solidarity” and share updates on building a “strong European defense industry.”
She also pledged to accelerate work on deploying frozen Russian central bank assets for Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction; the EU currently transfers only profits from those assets, and there is no agreement to confiscate them.
The previous, 18th EU package took effect on July 19, targeting Russia’s banking, energy and military-industrial sectors. Its key measure lowers the oil price cap to 15% below market levels, reviewed every six months, initially just under $48 a barrel.
The EU also blacklisted more than 100 vessels from Russia’s “shadow fleet,” restricted the inactive Nord Stream pipelines, cut over 20 Russian banks from SWIFT, and expanded export bans on defense-related technologies, including for Iskander missiles, while hitting entities that help Moscow evade sanctions, among them banks and firms in China, Hong Kong and Turkey.
Russia launched 598 Shahed attack drones and 31 aero-ballistic, ballistic and cruise missiles, including Iskanders, overnight and into Thursday morning; 563 drones and 26 missiles were shot down or neutralized by electronic warfare, officials said. Two missiles struck within 50 meters of the EU mission in Kyiv within 20 seconds, in the deadliest such assault on the capital since July.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, opening a meeting of EU defense ministers in Copenhagen, said the most damaging steps for Russia would be energy measures and secondary sanctions “like the Americans imposed.”She noted U.S. secondary sanctions on India took effect Wednesday, adding a 25% tariff on Indian exports to the United States, bringing total duties to 50%.
Kallas said work on the 19th package was ongoing with “several options on the table,” including financial services that would constrain Russia’s access to capital it “desperately” needs.
Ministers also discussed security guarantees for Kyiv, with potential EU contributions including a training mission, a military mission and support for Ukraine’s defense industry.
“We will discuss today how to change the mandate of all these missions so they are ready after a peace agreement,” she said, stressing each member state will decide its contribution.
The meeting was held in Copenhagen under Denmark’s EU Council presidency in the second half of 2025.
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Source: Polskie Radio 24, PAP