EU hopes to avert Ukraine war with talks, sanctions threat

By LORNE COOK and RAF CASERT
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders are pressing Russia to enter peace talks with Ukraine. At the same time, they are renewing a threat to impose unprecedented sanctions should Moscow send its troops over the border. Ukraine’s president is pleading for more sanctions to be imposed before Russia moves, rather than after. The EU leaders said Thursday that the bloc “encourages diplomatic efforts and supports the Normandy format in achieving the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements,” in reference to French and German brokered talks between the two sides aimed at enforcing a 2015 peace deal. They repeated a message sent with international partners in recent weeks that “any further military aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences and severe cost in response.”