EU poised to slap new sanctions on Russia over Ukraine incursion

The crisis in Ukraine is reaching the point of no return, EU Commission head Jose Manual Barroso said on Saturday, after reports Russian troops were fighting in the east of the country. Barroso said it was both imperative and not too late to find a political solution to the conflict which has cost more than 2,500 lives since April. EU leaders are expected to agree on tougher sanctions against Russia later today after NATO charged that Moscow now had 1,000 troops fighting in support of rebel forces in southeastern Ukraine and had shipped in large amounts of heavy weaponry. The U.S. and the EU have so far imposed sanctions against dozens of Russian officials, several companies and the country’s financial industry. Moscow has retaliated by banning food imports.

The opening of new fronts and the use of Russian regular forces (on Ukrainian soil) is not acceptable and represents a grave transgression.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso

Ukranian President Petro Poroshenko (pictured above) said his meetings in Brussels were an important demonstration of Europe’s solidarity with his country, adding that the crisis posed a “very high risk” to Ukraine and European stability. But he said there could be no military solution to the conflict and that he was hopeful that there could still be progress with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he met in Minsk on Tuesday. Russia had earlier denied all claims by NATO that they had sent forces to eastern part of Ukraine to support pro-Russian separatists.

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