Ukrainian President Meets EU Leaders Says Sanctions Are Necessary Before Russia Invasion

Presiden Ukraina Volodymyr Zelenskiy. (Wikimedia Commons/Mykhaylo Markiv/The Presidential Administration of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - European Union sanctions are needed before a possible Russian invasion takes place, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking after a meeting between European leaders and members of its Eastern Partnership, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"I managed to explain to our European counterparts that for us it is important to apply sanctions before and not after the start of any conflict, because if that happened, escalation would not have occurred," Zelensky was quoted as saying by Euronews December 16.

In the first meeting between all parties since 2017, EU leaders sought to revive their relations with the five former Soviet republics.

The initial aim of the meeting was to strengthen ties with Brussels, a reference to the European Union's headquarters, but tensions with Russia stole the show.

There is now hope the EU will provide assurances of support against any Russian aggression, following the "continuous destabilization" of Europe's eastern neighbour.

Prior to the summit, a series of bilateral meetings took place, most notably with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as Russian troops continued to congregate on its border with Ukraine.

EU leaders want to show their clear support for Kyiv's territorial integrity, but the one-day summit in Brussels demonstrated the limited success of Brussels' approach to trying to bring its eastern partner into the alliance.

Three of the five countries have so far applied for EU membership, namely Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova. But, as it stands, joining the alliance is highly unlikely, as Russia considers the region a backyard where, of course, it has security interests.

However, there is one notable absence, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who decided to suspend membership of the Eastern Partnership earlier this year, following sanctions imposed by the European Union.