Ukraine counting on extension of EU sanctions against Russia

"We have no reason to believe that European countries will doubt the need to extend the sanctions. Therefore, I think that we can expect them to be fully extended for the next six months," said Klympush-Tsintsadze at a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.

At the same time, she noted that Ukraine is raising the issue of imposing additional sanctions or other restrictive measures against the Russian Federation because of the issuance of Russian passports to Ukrainian citizens in the uncontrolled territory of Donbas.

Ukraine is ready to stop abiding by the Minsk agreements if certain European countries succeed in removing sanctions pressure on Russia, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said.