Russia's actions in Ukraine already deserve oil embargo – Zelensky
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russia's aggressive actions in Ukraine already deserve the imposition of an embargo on Russian oil supplies by Ukraine's Western partners.
According to the head of state, Ukraine cannot agree with the passive sanctions position of certain subjects against Russia.
"There should not be any 'suspended' sanctions packages, they say – if the Russian troops do something, then there will be some kind of response. We already went through this story last year, when we said that powerful preventive sanctions against the Russian Federation were needed in order to prevent invasion. The preventive package was not made. A full-scale war has begun," he said.
He noted that "already at the present time [among European politicians] there are many hints and warnings that sanctions will be strengthened, for example, in the form of an embargo on Russian oil supplies to Europe, only if Russia uses chemical weapons."
"There are simply no words. Just think about it – what it all came to! Wait for chemical weapons. We are living people – we must wait. Doesn't everything that the Russian military did before deserve an oil embargo? Phosphorus bombs – do not deserve? A shelled chemical production or a shelled nuclear power plant – do not deserve it?" Zelensky said in a video message on Monday evening.
The President stressed that it is important for Ukraine that the sanctions packages of its partners be effective and serious enough, given what "the Russian Federation is already doing against Ukraine."
"If the sanctions packages are weak or not working enough, if they can be circumvented, then this creates a dangerous illusion for the leadership of the Russian Federation that they can afford to continue doing what they are doing now. And the Ukrainians are paying the price for this with their lives. Thousands of lives," the president said.