Zelenskiy calls for tougher EU sanctions on Russia:
By RFE/RL
BRUSSELS -- On the second and last day of his visit to Brussels, Ukraine's newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has called on the European Union to step up sanctions against Russia.
Following talks with European Council President Donald Tusk on June 5, Zelenskiy thanked the EU for its "unwavering support" and called for the "strengthening of sanctions to get peace back in Ukraine."
The EU has imposed sanctions on Russia -- including asset freezes and visa bans on Russian individuals and entities -- after Moscow seized control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and began supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine in a conflict that has killed some 13,000 people.
Tusk said that by making his first foreign trip as president to EU and NATO headquarters in the Belgian capital, Zelenskiy was sending "a strong and important signal."
The EU "will always be determined to help Ukraine strengthen its democracy and the rule of law, fight corruption, stabilize its economy, and pursue energy sector reforms," he said, adding that the bloc will remain "committed to Ukraine's sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity." (w/AP)