The European Union, after hectic last-minute haggling, has approved a tenth package of Russia sanctions on the anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, the Swedish EU presidency said late on Friday.
"Together, the EU member states have imposed the most forceful and far-reaching sanctions ever to help Ukraine win the war," the presidency announced on Twitter.
"The EU stands united with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. We will keep supporting Ukraine, for as long as it takes."
The package includes tighter export restrictions regarding dual-use goods as well as measures against entities supporting the war, spreading propaganda or delivering drones used by Russia.
With two hours to go until midnight, EU member states made it across the finish line with little time to spare after Poland earlier threw a spanner into the works.
All member states need to approve sanctions for them to be enacted, making negotiations among the 27 often tedious and lengthy.
The EU has said the 10th round of sanctions against Russia since the war started was designed to make financing the war more difficult and starve Russia of tech equipment and spare parts for arms used against Ukraine.
Measures were also meant to blacklist more individuals including what the West says are Russian propagandists, those Kyiv holds responsible for deporting Ukrainian children to Russia and those involved in the production of Iranian drones deployed on the frontline, according to Reuters.
The package was also designed to cut off more banks including the private Alfa-Bank and the online bank Tinkoff from the global system SWIFT and cut trade between the EU and Russia by more than 10 billion euros, according to the bloc's executive.
