Following the March 27 meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, the European Union decided that sanctions against Russia will not be lifted, IPN reports.

The leaders of the UK and the EU said that Europe will not lift sanctions against the Russian Federation, CNN reported.

“It is clear that now is not the time to lift sanctions. On the contrary, we discussed how we can increase sanctions to support the US initiative, to bring Russia to the table through additional pressure from this group of countries," British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.

"The best way to support Ukraine is to stay consistent in our objective to reach a just and lasting peace. This means keeping up t pressure on Russia through sanctions," European Council President António Costa said in a social media post.

"There is no point in lifting sanctions until peace is achieved, and unfortunately we are still far from that, as you can see," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz noted.

The European Union is preparing the 17th package of sanctions on Russia. The process is at an early stage, EUobserver said, citing several sources.

According to a diplomat, the bloc is now waiting for proposals from the European Commission.

Another source confirmed that the Union's foreign policy service and the Commission are working on the issue of sanctions, and the proposals could be presented at the beginning of summer.

"We need to see how the negotiations between the United States, Russia, and Ukraine unfold," said another diplomat, expressing caution in this context.

Following talks in Saudi Arabia this week, the United States announced that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to cease fighting in the Black Sea. Shortly after, Moscow said it  would implement the deal if some sanctions on Russian banks and exports were lifted.

Photo source: No 10 Downing Street/ Flickr