EU approved military aid for Ukraine and is considering new Russian sanctions

At a meeting on Monday, the foreign ministers of the European Union are talking about putting more sanctions on Russia and giving the Ukrainian military more money. The United States has promised to keep helping Ukraine even though Russia has been attacking important infrastructure.

The proposed EU package being talked about in Brussels would pay for the delivery of weapons to Ukraine. It would be worth $2.1 billion.

As a response to the Russian invasion that started in February, the EU has already enacted eight rounds of sanctions against Russian individuals and industries. Government representatives as well as those from the financial and defense sectors of Russia would be present during the ninth round.

In advance of the EU negotiations and other significant meetings this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a number of phone calls to foreign leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday.

A White House statement said that Biden “reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to continue helping Ukraine with security, economic, and humanitarian aid, holding Russia accountable for its war crimes and atrocities, and making Russia pay for its aggression.”

After talking with Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Ukraine can count on his country’s help “for as long as it takes to fully reclaim its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Macron mentioned a conference that France would host on Tuesday to plan aid to help Ukraine “through the winter” and another that will focus on Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts.

Zelenskyy said he also talked with Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey on Sunday about the possibility of expanding the Black Sea Grain Initiative. This is a program that lets Ukraine export grain from three ports.

FILE – On November 2, 2022, the cargo ships Rubymar, to the right, carrying Ukrainian grain, and Stella GS, to the background-left, also carrying Ukrainian grain, sail in the Black Sea’s mouth of the Bosphorus off the coast of Kumkoy, Turkey.

Martin Griffiths, the head of the U.N.’s relief efforts, arrived in Ukraine on Monday to begin a four-day trip that will include stops in Kherson to see how local authorities and the U.N. are working to establish warming centers for people who have lost heat, power, and water at their homes, as well as Mykolaiv to see housing for those displaced by Russian attacks.

A U.N. statement said that Griffiths “will see the effects of the humanitarian response and new problems that have come up as infrastructure damage increases because of the harsh winter.”

Russia has been aiming its missiles against Ukraine’s power system since October. While Moscow maintains that the assaults are justified from a military standpoint, Zelensky claims they are war crimes directed at civilians.

In his speech at midnight on Sunday, Zelenskyy said that workers had been able to partially restore power to the city of Odesa in the south. On Saturday, Russian strikes hit two power plants in Odesa, cutting power to almost 1.5 million people.

While recovery efforts were underway in other parts of the region, Ukraine’s president claimed that Odesa was the hardest hit.

Russia has been aiming its missiles against Ukraine’s power system since October. While Moscow maintains that the assaults are justified from a military standpoint, Zelensky claims they are war crimes directed at civilians.

Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and The Associated Press all contributed information to this article.