The new EU sanctions package against Russia because of the war of aggression against Ukraine cannot come into force due to another objection from Hungary.

The government in Budapest is demanding that the planned punitive measures against Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, be scrapped.

This was confirmed by several diplomats in Brussels from the German Press Agency.

The way out of this diplomatic blockade was initially unclear on Thursday.

Several Russian missiles are believed to have landed in western Ukraine on Wednesday evening.

The target of the attack was the transport infrastructure in the Stryi district, the head of the military administration in the Lviv region, Maxym Kosytskyi, said on Telegram.

According to the first reports, two people were injured, and there was initially no information about the dead.

At around 9:00 p.m. local time (8:00 p.m. CEST) air alerts were sounded in all parts of Ukraine due to fears of Russian missile attacks.

In the east of Ukraine, meanwhile, Russian troops continued their gradual conquest of the city of Sieverodonetsk.

The Ukrainian military, on the other hand, reported the recapture of 20 towns in the occupied territory of Kherson in the south.

Ukraine enters the 99th day of the war on Thursday.

The federal government not only promised the beleaguered country state-of-the-art anti-aircraft weapons.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) also said he was counting on rapid delivery by the German armaments industry.

Hungary blocks sanctions against church leaders

According to the will of the other EU states, Patriarch Kirill should be included on the sanctions list because of his support for the Russian war of aggression.

The 75-year-old church leader maintains close contact with President Vladimir Putin.

In his sermons, he repeatedly supported the war policy and most recently claimed that Russia had never attacked another country.

The plan in Brussels was actually to initiate the decision-making process for the sixth package of sanctions on Wednesday.

An agreement had been reached in the dispute over the planned oil embargo on Tuesday night after a long dispute.

Hungary pushed through that oil deliveries by pipeline are initially excluded.

Specifically, sanctions against Kirill would mean that the cleric would no longer be allowed to enter the EU.

Possibly existing assets would be frozen.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had already expressed concerns at the beginning of May.

"Hungary will not consent to treating church leaders in such a manner," he said.

"For reasons of principle, this is an even more important issue than the oil embargo."

Russian advance in the east

Building by building, Russian troops are taking over the strategically important industrial city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine.

They now controlled "80 percent of the city," said regional governor Serhij Gajdaj on Thursday night.

Ukrainian army chief Valeriy Zalushnyi said his soldiers in Luhansk were facing the "most difficult situation" at the moment.