EU Ministers Urge Further Pressure on Russia Over Ukraine

Comments Come a Day Ahead of EU Summit to Discuss Ukraine Conflict

By Laurence Norman, WSJ
Aug. 29, 2014 9:35 a.m. ET

Russia's actions in Ukraine amount to an "invasion" of the country, the Swedish and Lithuanian foreign ministers said Friday, as a number of senior European Union diplomats called for pressure on Moscow to be stepped up.

At a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Italy, a day ahead of a summit of EU leaders that will discuss the situation in Ukraine, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said it is clear there are several battalions of the Russian armyoperating offensively in Ukraine "for the second time this year."

"The heads of state and government tomorrow will obviously have to deal with the situation and I assume that sanctions are going to be on the table," he said, adding that this is "the second Russian invasion of Ukraine within the year."

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said it is time for the EU to consider offering military support to Ukraine, in addition to stepping up sanctions against Moscow.

(More here.)