European Parliament President Roberta Metsola considers it necessary to apply sanctions against all members of the United Russia party, the political force that supports Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"We must expand the sanctions on all members of United Russia – all members of Putin's party. There are about 2 million of them, and they are all politically visible. I think it can be done," Metsola said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

Metsola said information about the massacres in Bucha was received while she was in Kyiv, where she was on a visit.

"We were still in Ukraine when we started receiving these shocking images on Saturday morning. I think that the leaders, all without exception, both in the EU and around the world, will react in the most severe way," she said.

Asked about the EU's ability to continue unanimous decisions on sanctions against Russia, given the recent re-election of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has a reputation as Putin's ally, Metsola said "For me, the position has not changed and should not change. First of all, we must look to the future, where in terms of energy resources we do not depend on the Kremlin at all. This is where we directly or indirectly finance this war."

According to the information provided in the European Parliament by Josep Borrell, the EU "since the beginning of the war has paid Putin EUR35 billion for energy resources" while providing Ukraine with weapons worth EUR1 billion.

Metsola stated that there are already very encouraging and inspiring decisions taken by a number of EU member states to completely phase out Russian electricity and energy carriers.

"Of course, each country has its own circumstances, its own reality - there are those that are 100% dependent on Russia. But I think our message is that we will not stop until we stop being dependent on Russia altogether. As for unity, I will continue to hope that unity will be maintained. And I call on other leaders of European institutions to ensure that this will be the case," she stressed.

At the same time, Metsola spoke in favor of further support for Ukraine.

"There is no doubt that we can no longer believe that this (war) will be over any time soon. It's not just about de-escalation anymore, and there should be an appropriate response," she noted.

"In particular, we are talking about the supply of weapons and financial assistance. We were told in Ukraine, and President Zelensky told us as well, that there is an urgent need for weapons that are not coming fast enough. I discussed this, as well as financial assistance, with the Prime Minister of Poland when I met with him on Saturday afternoon," she added.