BRUSSLES: Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite today warned Russia was practically at war with Europe and urged tougher sanctions against Moscow.
"Russia is at war against Ukraine and that is against a country which wants to be part of Europe. Russia is practically in war against Europe," said Grybauskaite, one of Moscow's harshest critics, as she arrived for an EU summit.
Sanctions so far "were too general, not targeted enough...This was a big mistake," she said.
Finnish Prime minister Alexander Stubb later urged fellow European Union leaders "to be very firm" in their response to reports of Russian troops fighting inside Ukraine.
"We'll probably discuss further sanctions," Stubb said, adding these could target financial services, armaments, dual-use products and energy.
"What Russia is doing in Ukraine is wrong. We need to find a ceasefire, we need to find a peace plan," he said.