At the end of the extraordinary meeting of the European Council, at which another package of sanctions against Russia was adopted and the decision to grant EUR 9 billion to the Ukrainian government was approved, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that solidarity in a free, democratic world can change history, defeat Russia, restore peace and rebuild Ukraine. Poland is doing everything to make this happen.

“The deadlock was broken and after several hours of discussion, we agreed that the 6th package of sanctions will also include sanctions on oil. This is very important because oil is one of the main sources of income that Russia uses to finance the war in Ukraine”, said the Polish Prime Minister.

The European Council also extended the list of Russian oligarchs subject to sanctions. The Russian Sberbank was excluded from the SWIFT system, which Poland had been striving for a long time.

EU leaders discussed ways to move away from Russian hydrocarbons such as coal and oil as quickly as possible, but also from gas in the longer term.

“Nobody wants to buy energy from Russia. Russia is a barbaric country that cannot be relied upon in any way. It turned out to be an untrustworthy partner”, emphasized Mateusz Morawiecki.

The European Commission presented the REPower EU plan, which aims to quickly reduce the dependence of the EU community on the import of Russian energy resources.

EU leaders also discussed the possibilities of humanitarian, financial, political and military support for Ukraine. They decided to allocate EUR 9 billion to the Ukrainian government. The funds are intended to cover immediate needs for the country to function in times of war.

Adrian Andrzejewski