Britain passes law banning ships linked to Russia from its port
Britain has passed a law that would ban all ships that have any connection to Russia from entering its ports over latter’s invasion of Ukraine.
Britain said yesterday that it wanted all ports to refuse entry to ships that were Russian flagged, registered or controlled while it drew up new legislation.
“We’ve just become the first nation to pass a law involving a total ban of all ships with any Russian connection whatsoever from entering British ports,” Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said on Twitter.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has today called for more international sanctions against Russia after what he said was a “barbaric” attack on the city of Kharkiv.
“Barbaric Russian missile strikes on the central Freedom Square and residential districts of Kharkiv. (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is unable to break Ukraine down. He commits more war crimes out of fury, murders innocent civilians,” Kuleba said on social media.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky officially applied yesterday to join the European Union, with the application being on its way to Brussels for processing, Ukrainian President’s Office deputy head Andrij Sybiha wrote on Facebook.
In response, the heads of state for eight different EU member states – Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic – pushed for vastly expediting Ukraine’s admission into the bloc.
“We call on EU member states to consolidate highest political support to Ukraine and enable the EU institutions to conduct steps to immediately grant Ukraine an EU candidate country status and open the process of negotiations,” the leaders wrote, as noted on the official website of the Lithuanian president.
This follows Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger telling Politico that Ukraine should have a “special track” towards EU membership.
“They fight for themselves, they fight for us – they fight for freedom,” Heger said told Politico. “We have to realize that they are protecting our system, our values and we have to be together with them. So, there is no time to hesitate on this.”
Overall, support for Ukraine is strong in the EU, as noted in a recent oped in The Jerusalem Post by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Joseph Borrell.
“This is a matter of life and death,” Borrell noted. “I am preparing an emergency package to support the Ukrainian armed forces in their fight.”
