The aggressor must be treated as an aggressor. Such a brutal aggressor must be treated accordingly. The Lithuanian president said on Friday night after a European Council meeting in Brussels that sanctions must be tightened and we have agreed on that.
He said that some countries are not yet ready to disconnect from the Russian energy taps in the near future.
In his words, European leaders discussed what can be done about both coal and oil imports.
The president said Lithuania could be a role model for other countries, and we can only be thankful that it has done a lot here.
He proposes that the EU's 5th package include extensive sanctions on Russia's energy and transport sectors, blocking Russian and Belarusian banks that are not yet on the sanctions list, and banning Russian ships from EU ports.
The importance of sanctions was stressed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when he spoke to EU leaders on Thursday.
President Zelensky appealed for unity, and he appealed from the Ukrainian side. It is his wish that we support and back him wholeheartedly, that decision should be decisive and help Ukraine not tomorrow, not the day after tomorrow, but today, Nauseda said.
He said that it is important to have military aid because the resources we are acquiring are becoming a resource to finance war, which is unacceptable and people are dying as a result of it.
More than 970 civilian casualties have been reported in the space of a month since the war began, according to UN data.
Russia has been affected by a raft of international sanctions that have crippled its economy at the same time.