The European Union should start preparations for the adoption of the next, 11th package of anti-Russian sanctions as soon as possible, Ukraine supports the involvement of Asian and Latin American countries in the sanctions coalition, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko said.

"Yesterday, EU Special Envoy David O’Sullivan was heavily quoted in the media about an alleged change in the emphasis of further European sanctions policy against Russia. According to him, after the adoption of the 10th package of sanctions, the European Commission plans to focus on enforcing existing restrictions. Sanctions play a critically important role in countering Russian aggression," Nikolenko wrote on Facebook.

He stressed that Ukraine is grateful to the EU for its leadership in imposing unprecedented sanctions against Russia.

"At the same time, a number of areas that Ukraine insisted on were not included in the 10th sanctions package: nuclear energy, in particular, further restriction of the activities of the Rosatom corporation involved in the occupation of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, IT technologies, the sale of diamonds, maritime logistics," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The ministry stressed that Russia still has access to huge financial and technological resources, and these are "hundreds of millions of dollars that it directs to kill civilians and destroy infrastructure in Ukraine."

"Therefore, this is not the time to ease sanctions pressure while there is a war going on in the heart of Europe. Without in any way diminishing the importance of addressing loopholes to circumvent sanctions, we are convinced that the EU must begin preparations for the next, 11th round of sanctions, as soon as possible. We also support the expansion of the sanctions coalition, in particular, by involving the countries of Asia and Latin America," the Foreign Ministry called.

Increasing sanctions pressure and enforcing existing restrictions should run parallel tracks and complement each other, Nikolenko said.