President Volodmyr Zelensky called on European countries to stop sponsoring the war and deportation that Russia is committing. He called for an EU-wide embargo on Russian oil.
This was stated by the President in his address to the Estonian Parliament.
President Volodmyr Zelensky said that the occupiers have forcibly removed to Russia more than 500 thousand citizens of Ukraine. They are deported to remote regions of the Russian Federation.
"As of today, more than 500 thousand Ukrainians have already been forcibly displaced. Just imagine how many that is! That's if the occupiers set out to take out all of Tallinn. The whole city. It is like a third of all your citizens," Zelensky said.
According to the President, Ukrainians in Russia have their documents, cell phones and personal belongings taken away. There are cases when parents are separated from their children. They are planned to be handed over for illegal adoption to Russian families.
"The EU must find the tools to influence Russia to stop the deportation of Ukrainians and bring all people home. The EU has the power to enforce this and must use that power. Until Russia returns the forcibly removed Ukrainians, thousands of stolen children, it should not receive any money from European states or companies. The European Union should not be a sponsor of deportations. The European Union has no right to be a sponsor of war," Zelensky said.
The head of state stressed that European leaders need to take sanctions policy even more seriously.
"Sanctions are the only tool today to force Russia into peace. I urge when approving a new very important sanctions package to defend the need for a complete blockade of Russian banks, to finally bring oil in the sanctions package. We need an embargo on the level of the entire European Union," Zelensky urged.