Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday urged the country’s allies to take more steps against Russia immediately in an effort to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin from further escalating tensions with the former Soviet state.
“To stop Putin from further aggression, we call on partners to impose more sanctions on Russia now,” Kuleba said in a tweet. “First decisive steps were taken yesterday, and we are grateful for them. Now the pressure needs to step up to stop Putin. Hit his economy and cronies. Hit more. Hit hard. Hit now.”
Kuleba’s calls come after President Biden announced sanctions against Russia on Tuesday and said that additional U.S. troops would be sent to Germany, Poland and Romania.
“This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Biden said on Tuesday. “I’m going to begin to impose sanctions … and if Russia goes further with this invasion, we stand prepared to go further.”
Other countries including the United Kingdom and European Union as well as Australia, Canada and Japan have also imposed sanctions against Russia after Putin heightened tensions by recognizing two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, identifying the region as the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics, as independent and ordering forces into these areas to perform “peacekeeping functions.”
Germany also announced it would halt the certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline amid Putin’s aggression.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out a general mobilization at this time but on Wednesday began drafting reservists aged 18 to 60 in preparation for a possible attack.
