The EU announced on Sunday that it would finance the delivery of arms to Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion, a first for the Union.

“For the first time, the EU will fund the purchase and delivery of arms and other equipment to a country affected by war.

This is a historic turning point,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in an online address.

Brussels will propose to the Twenty-Seven to use an emergency funding line from the EU "to provide Ukrainian forces with lethal weapons, as well as fuel, protective equipment and medical supplies", specified to its alongside the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell.

“We are up against the wall”

In practice, the European Ministers of Foreign Affairs, meeting on Sunday evening by videoconference, will examine the possibility of using the "European Peace Facility", a financial instrument outside the common EU budget and endowed with five billion euros. .

This fund would make it possible to "reimburse the Member States which have taken from their national arms stocks and give a 'European hat' to these arms deliveries" already decided by each government in isolation, explained a European official.

The decision “will put an end to the taboo that the Union does not supply arms to belligerents (…) We are experiencing unprecedented events and we are up against the wall”, explained Joseph Borrell.

Speaking just after a meeting in Brussels of European interior ministers and before that of foreign ministers, Ursula von der Leyen also announced tougher sanctions against Russia.

"We propose (to the Twenty-Seven) to ban all planes belonging to Russians"

“We are going to ban the Kremlin's media machine in the EU.

State media Russia Today and Sputnik, as well as their affiliates, will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin's war and to sow division in our Union”, underlined the head of the European executive.

“We are therefore developing tools to ban their toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe,” she further clarified.

In addition, the EU will close all of its airspace to all Russian planes, including the "private jets of the oligarchs", while European countries multiplied announcements on Sunday to ban Russian companies from their skies.

“We propose (to the Twenty-Seven) to ban all planes belonging to Russians, registered in Russia or controlled by Russian interests.

They will no longer be able to land, take off or fly over EU territory,” said Ursula von der Leyen.

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