The European Union (EU) on Sunday took several steps to ramp up pressure on Moscow as hostilities between Russia and Ukraine continue in the eastern European country.

Speaking on Sunday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen laid out a series of responses to Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

“We are proposing a prohibition on all Russian-owned, Russian-registered and Russian-controlled aircraft. These aircraft will no more be able to land in, take off or overfly the territory of the European Union. This will apply to any plane,” von der Leyen said.

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“Our airspace will be closed to every Russian plane. And that includes the private jets of oligarchs too,” she added, clarifying the details.

The 63-year-old further announced that countries in the European Union would ban “the Kremlin’s media machine” from broadcasting, saying, “…the state-owned Russia Today and Sputnik, as well as their subsidiaries, will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin’s war and to sow division in our union.”

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The EC President went on to announce another extraordinary measure, saying, “for the first time ever, the European Union will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to a country that is under attack.”

Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell, speaking alongside von der Leyen, also pitched in, announcing that half of Russia’s central bank reserves would be blocked as part of EU sanctions on Moscow.

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He also said that the 27 member states of the EU were in the process of drawing up a package of sanctions that would see top Russian banks excluded from the SWIFT banking system.

In addition to a response to Russia, Borrell also added that neighbouring Belarus would also face punitive measures for “facilitating the Russian assault against Ukraine.”