OREANDA-NEWS Sanctions and assistance to Ukraine are marked on the agenda as items not requiring preliminary discussion; once approved by EU countries, the sanctions will be published in the Official Journal of the EU and go into force. Names of new people on the sanctions list are not expected to be made public before that.

On July 15, the European Commission made a suggestion for the bloc to consider additional measures aimed at boosting the impact of sanctions against Russia, including a ban on gold imports and tougher export controls for dual-purpose technologies.At a meeting on July 18, the foreign ministers of EU countries agreed on the allocation of an additional 500 million euros ($512 million) for military assistance to Ukraine. The total EU assistance to Ukraine has already reached 2.5 billion euros since the start of hostilities in February.