EU joins US in heaping more sanctions on Russia

The European Union on Thursday heaped more economic sanctions on Russia, adding to U.S. President Donald Trump's new punitive measures the previous day against the Russian oil industry. Russian officials and state media dismissed the Western measures, saying they are largely ineffective.

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The sanctions are intended as part of a broadened effort to choke off the revenue and supplies that fuel Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and compel Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the war.

The measures are a triumph for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has long campaigned for the international community to punish Russia more comprehensively for attacking his country.

“We waited for this. God bless, it will work. And this is very important,” Zelenskyy said in Brussels, where EU countries attending a summit announced the latest round of Russia sanctions.