High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell reacts upon his arrival in Skopje, North Macedonia, March 14, 2022.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has confirmed the bloc is poised to impose a fourth round of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking in Skopje during a visit to the capital of North Macedonia on Monday, the EU's top diplomat accused Moscow of targeting civilians in its war against Ukraine, noting that "more than" 2,400 civilians had died in the besieged port city of Mariupol alone.
"Putin's war is not only about Ukraine, it's about security and stability of our European continent. It affects all of us," Borrell said, adding that another package of sanctions targeting Russia's steel, coal, and energy sectors, as well as its market access and membership in international financial institutions.
"This will be another major blow to the economic and logistic base upon which the Kremlin is building the invasion and taking the resources to finance it," Borrell said. He gave no further details.
Some of the most severe fighting is taking place in Mariupol, a major port city in eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces have shelled a maternity ward and blasted apartment buildings, leaving the city in ruins.
In Photos: Russia's Invasion of Ukraine, March 14, 2022
1/16A woman reacts as she stands outside destroyed apartment blocks following shelling in the northwestern Obolon district of Kyiv, March 14, 2022. Two people were killed as various neighborhoods of the Ukraine capital Kyiv came under shelling and missile attacks, city officials said, after the Russia's military invaded the Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
2/16In this handout picture taken and released by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on March 14, 2022, firefighters extinguish a fire in an apartment building hit by shelling in the Obolon district of Kyiv.
3/16In this photo released by Ukrainian State Emergency Service, firefighters work at an apartment building hit by shelling in Kyiv, March 14, 2022.
4/16Firefighters evacuate an elderly woman from an apartment building hit by shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 14, 2022.
5/16A building and vehicles are destroyed by Russian shelling in Kyiv, March 14, 2022.
6/16People help a wounded resident of a house destroyed by shelling in Kyiv, March 14, 2022
7/16Kateryna Safronova, a medical student, prepares beds in a makeshift hospital inside a bomb shelter in Kyiv Region, March 14, 2022.
8/16A body of a person is seen on ground near a building destroyed by Russian shelling in Kyiv, March 14, 2022.
9/16People retrieve belongings from an apartment which was destroyed by an artillery strike in Kyiv, March 14, 2022. Russia's military forces kept up their punishing campaign to capture Ukraine's capital with fighting and artillery fire in Kyiv's suburbs after an airstrike on a military base near the Polish border brought the war dangerously close to NATO's doorstep.
10/16Rescuers work next to a building damaged by airstrike in central Kharkiv as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, March 14, 2022.
11/16A city bus damaged by airstrike is seen in central Kharkiv, March 14, 2022.
12/16A Ukrainian military personnel is seen at a checkpoint near a train track in Odessa, March 14, 2022.
13/16A fragment of a missile is seen in the street after shelling in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine, March 14, 2022.
14/16People cover from shelling inside an entryway to an apartment building in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 13, 2022.
15/16People arrive by ferry after fleeing from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at the Isaccea-Orlivka border crossing, Romania, March 14, 2022.
16/16Refugees rest in a subway hall after fleeing from the Ukraine at the main train station in Berlin, Germany, March 14, 2022. Germany's Interior Ministry said that it has so far registered 146,998 refugees from Ukraine coming to the country, but the real number may differ if people didn't register or moved on to another country.
Previous slide
Next slide
The unceasing barrages into the city have also thwarted repeated attempts to bring in food and water and evacuate tens of thousands of trapped civilians.
Russia on Monday said it had created conditions to open humanitarian corridors and that a mass evacuation of people had begun.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said a convoy had been trying to reach the city to deliver aid and help evacuate women and children, but, as with similar attempts over the past week, that as of early in the afternoon it had not been able to reach the city.
