{"id":450627,"date":"2026-04-16T16:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T14:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/04\/16\/lue-dopo-gli-attacchi-russi-alle-citta-ucraine-aumenteremo-la-pressione-su-mosca\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T17:19:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:19:15","slug":"the-eu-following-russian-attacks-on-ukrainian-cities-we-will-step-up-the-pressure-on-moscow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/04\/16\/the-eu-following-russian-attacks-on-ukrainian-cities-we-will-step-up-the-pressure-on-moscow\/","title":{"rendered":"The EU following Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities: “We will step up the pressure on Moscow”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – The European Union condemns the Russian attacks<\/strong> carried out overnight against Ukrainian cities, reaffirming its support for Kyiv and stressing the need to continue putting pressure on the Kremlin<\/strong>. With the departure of the former Hungarian prime minister<\/a>, Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/strong>, who has placed his veto<\/a> on the twentieth package of EU sanctions against Moscow and on the \u20ac90 billion in financial aid to be allocated to Kyiv, Brussels hopes to resume this stance swiftly, confirming its consistency with the decision to support already adopted <\/a>in December and reassuring the expectations of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky<\/strong>. For this reason too, \u201ctomorrow will see the first meeting of a delegation of Commission colleagues in Budapest, where talks with the future Hungarian government will begin,\u201d confirmed the EU executive\u2019s chief spokesperson, Paula Pinho<\/strong>, at today\u2019s (16 April) press briefing. \u201cThis is also a direct consequence of the announcement made by President von der Leyen earlier this week, stating that we would begin working with the new government as soon as possible on various issues, and there will be ample opportunity to discuss the new government\u2019s positions and proceed accordingly,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n

Time is running out, meanwhile, as Moscow continues its bombing campaign. “Another night has shown that Russia does not deserve any easing of global policy or lifting of sanctions<\/strong>“, commented Zelensky on X<\/a> in response to the nighttime attacks. For the president, the response must be to “defend lives by all available means” and “exert pressure for the sake of peace with the same total force.” In this context, “I thank Germany, Norway, and Italy, with whom we have already reached new agreements on support for our air defence. We are working with the Netherlands on additional supplies,” he highlighted. The EU\u2019s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, echoed this sentiment<\/strong>. <\/strong>\u201cRussia wants more war, so our response is more aid for Ukraine, more pressure on Russia and full accountability for war crimes<\/strong>,\u201d she wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cEurope is stepping up. In recent days, Germany and Ukraine have signed a \u20ac4 billion arms deal; the UK has announced its largest-ever drone package; and the Netherlands has pledged \u20ac200 million, among other commitments. On the EU front, it is time to release the \u20ac90 billion loan and proceed with the 20th package of sanctions<\/b>. The Foreign Affairs Council will address this next week,\u201d she specified.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, according to the President of the European Council, Ant\u00f3nio Costa<\/strong>, “Russia\u2019s war of aggression against Ukraine has failed<\/strong>, and that is why Russia has chosen to deliberately terrorise civilians<\/strong>.” After expressing his sympathy for those affected\u2014”our thoughts are with the injured and the families of the victims of these outrageous attacks”\u2014the former Portuguese Prime Minister pressed on X<\/a>: “Russia must put an end to this war of terror. We must achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine, based on the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law.” A terror that manifested itself last night with “yet another horrific attack on civilian targets in Ukraine: while the population slept in their homes, the cities of Kyiv, Dnipro, Odessa and Kharkiv were struck by dozens of ballistic missiles and hundreds of drones\u201d and \u201cthe Russian armed forces deliberately launched successive attacks against Ukrainian emergency services as first responders arrived on the scene to save lives.\u201d In this situation, Costa reiterated that \u201cto this end, the EU will continue to increase pressure on Russia<\/strong>,\u201d maintaining its \u201cfirm support for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russian aggression.\u201d A plan that Brussels hopes to put into action shortly, with Orb\u00e1n not attending<\/b><\/a> the informal summit in Cyprus next week<\/b><\/a> and with the upcoming change of government in Budapest. <\/p>\n

The European Commission, through its spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, Anitta Hipper<\/strong>, noted that the night-time attacks “demonstrate once again that Russia is not at all interested in peace<\/strong>” because “the Russian armed forces have deliberately carried out these attacks against Ukraine\u2019s emergency services, terrorising civilians.” The Berlaymont building also sends its \u201cthoughts to the wounded and their families,\u201d reiterates its support for the country under attack \u201cin all its strength to resist and overcome this war of terror,\u201d and states that it will continue to commit itself, \u201cstepping up every effort to support Ukraine\u201d. <\/p>\n

In particular, “what Putin and Russia should do is commit to a peace process in good faith and focus on their own ruined economy<\/strong>, rather than waging their war of terror,” Hipper pointed out. “As we saw in the first quarter of this year, Russia\u2019s budget deficit has almost doubled compared to the same quarter last year and exceeds the entire deficit forecast for 2026 due to the war in Ukraine” and, furthermore, “Russia has suffered and continues to suffer huge losses, with an estimated total of over 1.2 million casualties.” Therefore, \u201cthe time has come for Russia to end its war of terror and its aggression against us,\u201d the spokesperson added. From Brussels, \u201cwe will continue to work for peace with Ukraine and for Ukraine.\u201d But the question mark over Budapest remains, given Peter Magyar\u2019s stated opposition to Kyiv\u2019s path to EU accession and his open yet cold stance on the veto against European aid and sanctions. \u201cTime is running out on several issues<\/strong>, whether it be the loan to Ukraine or the EU funds from Next Generation EU<\/strong>. It is therefore clear that it is in the interests of Hungary and the EU to make progress as soon as possible<\/strong>,” clarified Pinho. “Therefore, these preliminary talks are taking place to ensure that, once the government is in place, concrete action can be taken, if necessary, without wasting time. That is the idea, that is the context of this meeting and the reason why it is taking place without further delay,” she concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A delegation of European Commission officials will be in Budapest tomorrow to discuss various issues with the incoming post-Orb\u00e1n government. Spokesperson Pinho said: “Time is running out, whether it concerns the loan to Ukraine or the EU funds under the Next Generation EU programme. It is in the interests of both Hungary and the EU to make progress as soon as possible”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7874,"featured_media":450604,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[25833,33704,26023,25804,25803,27073,33394,30781,28152],"class_list":["post-450627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-attacchi","tag-orban-en","tag-sanctionsin","tag-russia-in-2","tag-terrorism-en","tag-ue","tag-ukraine-in-2","tag-greenat"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7874"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450627"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":450628,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450627\/revisions\/450628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}