Hungary Keeps Blocking New EU Sanctions Package As Russia Continues Donbas Offensive

European Union member states failed to reach consensus Sunday on another round of sanctions against Moscow ahead of the upcoming European Council summit, while Russia continued its military campaign in the Donbas.

• Sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that EU ambassadors failed to agree on new punitive measures against Russia due to continued resistance from Hungary, despite offers of carve-outs to secure Budapests' oil supplies.
• The proposal circulated by the European Commission included a ban on seaborne oil from Russia by early 2023, while delaying curbs on imports through the Druzhba pipeline, Hungary's main source of crude oil. But Bloomberg sources suggested that Budepest is demanding further concessions.
• The next meeting of EU ambassadors is scheduled for Monday morning, with EU leaders set to gather in Brussels for a special European Council summit later that day. According to the provisional agenda, they are planning to discuss issues related to the Ukraine situation, defence, energy and food security.
• Meanwhile, French President Macron and German Chancellor Scholz held a three-way phone call with Russia's Vladimir Putin, urging "ceasefire and a withdrawal of Russian troops” as well as allowing the resumption of grain exports from Ukraine's Black Sea ports, but Putin was defiant.
• His Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told French TV channel TF1 that the West "deliberately nurtured" the "Kyiv regime" in order to "pose a threat to the Russian Federation." He added that Russia's unconditional priority is capturing the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, while residents of other occupied territories "must decide their own future."