The EU seeks consensus to "urgently" punish Russia even more after Bucha's images

• War in Ukraine 'Road of Death' shows massive evidence of Russian war crimes against civilians in Ukraine

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For weeks, the questions to heads of state, ministers and institutional leaders have been recurring: what will it take to increase sanctions on Russia?

Is there a pre-established red line that automatically implies a much more severe punishment?

After the destruction, the horror and the deaths, after what many considered impossible or at least more than unlikely had occurred, what lay behind the questions was clear: the use of

(chemical or nuclear) on the one hand, and cut off imports of Russian gas or oil on the other.

What there was not was a satisfactory answer for something like what has been seen in Bucha, the Ukrainian city on the outskirts of kyiv.

And now it seems inevitable that the EU's top policymakers will have to give it.

"We stand in full solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in these dark hours for the whole world. The EU will continue to stand firmly with Ukraine and will urgently advance work on new sanctions against Russia. President Putin must stop this war." immediately and without conditions", promised this Monday in a statement the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the Union,

.

"More sanctions and aid are on the way," European Council President Charles Michel tweeted.

In his statement, on behalf of the EU, the Spaniard condemned "in the strongest terms the reported atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces in several occupied Ukrainian cities, which have now been liberated. The disturbing images of a large number of deaths and civilian casualties, as well as the destruction of civilian infrastructure, show the true face of the

that Russia is waging against Ukraine and its people.The massacres in the town of Bucha and other Ukrainian towns will be inscribed on the list of atrocities committed on European soil. Those responsible for war crimes and other serious violations, as well as government officials and military leaders, will be held accountable," the High Representative said.

The West has already applied an

, against the Russian and Belarusian leaders, against the economy, companies or the Russian currency.

But it continues to pump hundreds of millions of euros a day in exchange for its oil and gas.

More than 18,000 million since the start of the war, according to estimates by some organizations.

The Baltic countries and Poland are clamoring for an immediate ban on importing Russian gas and oil, but in capitals like Berlin, Budapest and Vienna they continue to consider that immediate decoupling is unfeasible.

They believe that the blow would be devastating for their economies and those of the entire continent, and that sanctions make sense when punishing those responsible for a crime, but they do not do the same or even more damage to those who impose them.

"It would be possible to deal with them," said the vice president of the Commission, the Latvian Valdis Dombrovskis,

Economy ministers will address the issue today in Luxembourg while foreign ministers, who approve sanctions in the EU's decision-making system, remain in close contact.

Borrell's team, in charge of the specific proposals, continues to press the mood to know how far you can go and when.

But few in Brussels think that Bucha's images will remain without some kind of concrete response.

"Dear colleagues from European capitals: let's stop calculating inhumanely, let's start acting more effectively (...) Germany's policy over the last dozen years has made Russia today have a strength that it has drawn from the sale of raw materials", the Polish Prime Minister,

, denounced once again this Monday

, harshly criticizing France and Germany for not tightening sanctions against Russia, "a totalitarian fascist state" that commits "genocide", in statements collected by EFE.

Morawiecki has maintained the line that the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, used harshly over the weekend,

"Mr. President Macron, how many times have you negotiated with Putin? What have you achieved? Did you stop any of his actions? You don't negotiate with criminals, criminals must be fought," Morarwiecki appealed to Emmanuel Macron in an appearance in press, urging him to stop trying to find a solution with him as before, as he believes that it is not working.

"We will decide on further measures at the allies' meetings in the coming days. Putin and his supporters will feel the consequences," Chancellor Scholz said in Berlin on Sunday.

The pressure on national governments in the last 48 hours has redoubled.

Italy has signaled that they would not oppose an export ban, but all eyes are on Hungary.

Viktor Orban, who won the elections again yesterday, charged in his triumphal speech expressly against Zelenski, whom he pointed out as one of the rivals that his party defeated at the polls.

His diplomats have been the most

.

Until now they have always joined, but their voice is always the one that tries to stop, qualify, lower.

And the same goes for oil and gas purchases.

Unanimity is not necessary, in the sense that each country can stop buying by its own decision, but Brussels is increasingly concerned about the breakdown of unity at a very delicate moment.

Today, the spokesmen of the European Commission have chosen to put themselves in profile with the Hungarian electoral result, while enthusiastic congratulations to Orban came from Beijing and Moscow.

In parallel, and while consensus is being sought for sanctions, Brussels wants to make a move on the legal side.

"This afternoon I spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the terrible murders that have been uncovered in Bucha and other areas from which Russian troops have recently moved out. The heartbreaking images cannot and will not go unanswered. The perpetrators of these crimes egregious crimes must not go unpunished The EU has set up a

with Ukraine to collect evidence and investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The EU is ready to reinforce this effort by sending investigative teams on the ground to support the Ukrainian Prosecutor's Office.

Eurojust and Europol are ready to help," said the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in a statement, who has commissioned the Commissioner for Justice to handle technical issues with the Ukrainian Prosecutor's Office.

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