Kuleba says sectoral sanctions will be imposed if a large-scale war breaks out again / REUTERS

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba predicts that one should not currently expect new sectoral sanctions against Russia from the European Union.

This was announced by the minister in an interview for Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty's Ukrainian Service.

"One doesn't have to expect them at the moment, but my goal was to say a very simple thing in Brussels, that, dear colleagues, start preparing sectoral sanctions," he said.

"Firstly, the very fact that when Russian intelligence informs Putin that you, in principle, have started working on this – this will have a deterrent effect on Russia. And secondly, if, God forbid, a war begins, you will be ready to immediately apply these sanctions and create additional problems for Russia, without wasting time on preparations," he added.

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According to Kuleba, this was the "mistake of 2014," because after Russian aggression began, the European Union was in no hurry with sanctions, but everything changed after the downing of flight MH17.

"Before the downing of MH17, the Europeans had not wanted to hear about any serious, effective sectoral sanctions. But, unfortunately, when people – their fellow citizens – were killed, all doubts vanished right away and sanctions were imposed immediately. Ukraine's signal is very simple now – do not waste time, be prepared, because no one knows what's on Putin's mind," he said.

"There will be no sectoral sanctions now, but God forbid, if a large-scale war breaks out again, the sectoral sanctions will be rolled out," he added.

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