EU closes airspace to Russian flights and bans pro-Kremlin media after invasion of Ukraine
Ursula von der Leyen announces escalation of sanctions on fourth day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The EU will close its airspace to Russian airlines, as well as funding weapon supplies to Ukraine and banning pro-Kremlin media, Ursula von der Leyen has announced.
The European Commission president said she was “shutting down the EU airspace for Russian-owned, Russian-registered or Russian-controlled aircraft” in an escalation of sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“They won’t be able to land in, take off or overfly the territory of the EU. Including the private jets of oligarchs,” she told a news conference on Sunday, on the fourth day since Vladimir Putin launched the invasion.
Ms von der Leyen said the bloc of 27 nations would take the unprecedented step of enforcing a “ban [on] the Kremlin’s media machine”, including the state-owned news outlets Russia Today and Sputnik and their subsidiaries.
“We are developing tools to ban their toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe,” she said.
Ms von der Leyen added: “For the first time ever, the European Union will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to a country that is under attack.”
She also stressed the EU would target Russia’s ally Belarus – the “other aggressor in this war” – with a package of sanctions hitting its key sectors and officials, including president Alexander Lukashenko.
“We will hit Lukashenko’s regime with a new package of sanctions,” Ms von der Leyen said.
The sanctions on Belarus would impact exports of products such as mineral fuels, tobacco, timber, cement, iron and steel.
And in a message to tens of thousands of Ukrainians, Ms von der Leyen added: “We welcome with open arms those who have to flee from Putin’s bombs.”
The EU is “mobilising every effort and every Euro to support our eastern member states”, she also said.
Her speech follows announcements by the EU – after days of wrangling over the matter – the UK and the US that some Russian banks will be banned from the global banking system Swift.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments