Wall Street Journal: Dollars hard to come by in #Ukraine, even for central banker http://t.co/y5q4DIoEt4
— Kyiv Post (@KyivPost) October 6, 2014
We are now closing the live blog for today. Don't forget that you can keep abreast of all our live coverage here. We'll leave you with this tweet from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, thanking EU foreign policy chief-designate Federica Mogherini for pledging support for Ukraine:
Федеріка Могеріні підтримує реформування України та мій мирний план. Вдячний за підтримку. http://t.co/pU3q1wJAbw
— Петро Порошенко (@poroshenko) October 6, 2014
Good morning. We are now resuming our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Tuesday, October 7, 2014.
More quotes from Federica Mogherini, the EU's commissioner-designate for foreign policy, speaking on Monday during her confirmation hearing at the European Parliament in Brussels.
"I think that we have to work day by day by day with the Ukrainian authorities, with [Ukrainian] President [Petro] Poroshenko, to try and make his own efforts of dialogue and diplomacy work -- his own efforts. The efforts of the president of Ukraine, the efforts of the new parliament in Ukraine once they will have the elections in a couple of weeks. That is going to be our role, I think."
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"We need to work maybe even on increasing the sanctions. As we can increase the sanctions if things get worse, we could lift the sanctions if things get better. That is the flexibility of the instrument. But we will need to increase more and more the support to the political efforts that the Ukraine leadership is trying to achieve. Difficult, almost impossible as it is, but if we do not stand at their side and help them in trying to achieve this with the difficult and complicated, tense political situation they have, dealing with an electoral campaign, with the winter that is going to probably a nightmare from the economic point of view from the energy point of view."
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"With the elections coming up [in Ukraine], with the war on their territory -- if we do not stand at their side when they say we need to try and find a political solution, who else will?"
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"I think the attempts that the Russians are trying to have [in the Eastern Neighborhood countries] is that of showing that the European choice is bad for the people in those countries. That is why I insist so much in supporting those countries' transition in delivering to their citizens. If we show and if we manage to show together that the European choice is good for the citizens in these countries -- I think of Moldova, with their elections coming up now, difficult ones. I think of Georgia. I think, obviously, of Ukraine."
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"If the European choice is delivering concrete, good results for the people -- that would be an attractive, a pull factor, also for areas or parts of their societies that are probably thinking in a different way today."
On Russia's annexing Ukraine's Crimea:
"No doubt among us, I think we should be very clear, being whatever our political family, or our member states, our personal views, no doubt that occupying or annexing part of a country, changing the borders by force and having troops in a different country, is by all means a violation of international principles that we all agreed on and that are the basis of our common work."
On EU sanctions against Russia:
"We have adopted sanctions. Have the sanctions been effective on the Russian economy? Yes, yes. I think that the Russian economy is starting to suffer quite a lot in that. So if the question is: Have the choices we have made so far been effective on the Russian economy? Yes. Are they effective on Russian political decisions? I think we still have a question mark there and the Ukrainians themselves have a question mark there."
Speaking about Russia:
"I don't have that much experience when it comes to bears. Maybe someone from the Nordic area here might be more experienced than me. But I would say that we need a mix of assertiveness and diplomacy. The balance would also depend on the reaction of the bear."
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"If Russia attempts to take the corridor [between Russia and Crimea] I think that first of all we would need to stay united. It is true that [EU] member states have had different sensibilities -- let's say -- on how to manage the crisis, but we managed to stay together. Among member states and with the other partners in the rest of the world. This is the most valuable added value that we have -- staying united. I think we will need to prevent this from happening rather than thinking how would we react if that happens."
An election campaign poster promoting Batkivshchyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko ahead of Urkaine's October 26 parliamentary elections:
