The EU move, aimed at reducing the number of visas issued to Russian nationals following pressure from eastern member states, falls short of an outright ban but will make obtaining travel documents significantly more complicated and expensive. The Financial Times reported that an EU official said it was “inappropriate for Russian tourists to tour our cities” and the bloc needed to “send a message to the Russian population that this war is not OK, it is not acceptable.” Another told the newspaper that before the end of the year the bloc aimed to go further than ending the agreement, which would remove current preferential treatment for Russian citizens when applying for any type of EU visa. The bloc’s foreign ministers are due to meet in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, on Tuesday, where they are expected to give political support to the suspension. But the bloc is far from united in increasingly vocal demands from countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – many of which have stopped issuing visas to Russians for all but from essential travel – for an EU-Wide ban on Russian tourists. Many other member states continue to issue travel documents to Russian citizens, meaning they can travel freely throughout the Schengen area without passports. Finland, which has said the Russians are increasingly evading the closure of EU airspace by using Helsinki airport as a gateway to the zone, announced this month it would cut visa applications for Russia to a tenth of the current number . However, countries such as Germany have insisted that a full ban would be misguided and Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, has argued that a ban is not a “good idea”. The bloc “must be more selective,” Borrell said last week. On the ground in Ukraine, Russian artillery shelled towns across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, officials said on Sunday, amid growing concern about possible fallout from radiation. Each side has accused the other of targeting the factory, which was seized by Russian troops in March but is still run by Ukrainian personnel and has become a flashpoint in the conflict, which has entered its seventh month. Regional governor Oleksandr Starukh told Telegram that Russian forces hit residential buildings in the region’s main city of Zaporizhzhia, a two-hour drive from the plant, while Ukraine’s military command said towns were hit on the opposite bank of the Dnieper. from the plant. Moscow said nine Ukrainian artillery shells fell on the power plant premises, technical personnel were monitoring the site and radiation levels remained normal. None of the reports could be verified. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said Russia had turned the plant into a military base and was endangering the entire continent. Both the UN and Kyiv have called for the withdrawal of military equipment and personnel from the plant, which the UN nuclear watchdog is waiting to visit. In eastern Ukraine, where Russian and separatist forces are fighting for control, shelling hit the strategically important cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, but no casualties were reported, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of the Donetsk region. Defenders have thwarted Russian attempts to breach the strategic city of Bakhmut, Ukraine’s armed forces said. Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in its latest update that Russia had lost “tens of thousands” of troops and it was unclear how more would be recruited. A decree signed by Vladimir Putin to increase the size of the armed forces from 1.9 million to 2.04 million was unlikely to make “substantial progress” towards increasing Russia’s fighting power, the report said. Reuters contributed to this report
