Two of the Europe's top officials were on their way to Kyiv on Friday in a show of support for Ukraine after Russian forces withdrew from around the capital.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Josep Borrell, the EU's top diplomat, travelled by train from Poland for their first meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy since Russia invaded in February.
It makes them the most senior European delegation to have visited Kyiv since war broke out, after the prime ministers of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic and the president of the European Parliament previously travelled to the city.
“I want to send a very strong message of unwavering support to the Ukrainian people and their brave fight for our common values,” Ms von der Leyen said on the eve of her visit.
As Mr Borrell had hoped, he and the commission chief can report to Mr Zelenskyy that the EU is about to ban coal imports from Russia after ambassadors from the bloc's 27 countries approved the proposal late on Thursday.
A potential second step, banning oil deliveries, will be discussed on Monday, while Ukraine wants the EU to complete the set by stopping the gas imports on which it is most reliant.
Ukraine is also pressing the EU to speed up its membership application, an idea supported by many countries in the eastern part of the bloc but viewed sceptically by senior leaders in the West.
Ms von der Leyen has said that Ukraine “belongs in our European family” but has not offered any fast-track procedure for its application, a procedure which typically takes years.
The visit comes after Russian forces paused on their offensive towards Kyiv and pulled troops away from the capital, revealing evidence of massacres in towns they left behind.Those apparent atrocities have spurred demands for more action from Ukraine's allies and pushed the EU into imposing sanctions on Russia's lucrative energy sector for the first time.
Mr Borrell said this week that the 27-member EU is Russia paying €1 billion ($1.09bn) a day for energy provisions, accounting for more than €35bn since the war started and dwarfing its military aid to Ukraine.
Mr Zelenskyy said the continuation of such payments would be taken in Moscow as “permission to go further” in attacking Ukraine and allow Russia “not to take seriously the negotiations on ending the war".
The sanctions package agreed on Thursday, the fifth in the EU since Russia invaded, also includes a ban on port access for Russian vessels and further restrictions on trade.
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