European leaders oppose lifting sanctions on russia

Ukraine's European allies have said they will not lift sanctions on russia's aggressor country. CNN reported this on Thursday, March 27, following a meeting of the so-called "Coalition of the Willing" in Paris to support Ukraine.

European leaders said now was not the time to lift sanctions on russia, after Moscow said it would only agree to a US-brokered deal to end hostilities in the Black Sea if some sanctions were eased.

"The leaders of Britain, France and Germany confirmed at a summit on Thursday that Europe would not lift sanctions on russia - a strong and seemingly coordinated signal from the Trump administration, which has said it is still assessing the Kremlin's demands," the report said.

They spoke after a meeting of the so-called "Coalition of the Willing" in Paris, which discussed how to strengthen support for Kyiv and what role they could play in the event of a peace deal with russia.

"It is absolutely clear that now is not the time to lift sanctions," said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

"Quite the opposite - we discussed how we can strengthen sanctions to support the US initiative to bring russia to the negotiating table through further pressure from this group of countries," said the British Prime Minister.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed that now is not the time to lift sanctions on russia.

CNN writes that the meeting was attended by more than 30 countries, including Ukraine's European allies and NATO officials.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on March 27, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hinted at the need to strengthen sanctions against the aggressor state.

Previously, the European Commission emphasized that the withdrawal of all russian troops from Ukraine would be one of the main conditions for lifting or amending EU sanctions against the aggressor state of russia.