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Brussels,
Feb
27:
The
European
Union
plans
to
close
its
airspace
to
Russian
airlines,
fund
weapons
purchase
to
Ukraine
and
ban
some
pro-Kremlin
media
outlets
in
its
latest
response
to
Russia’s
invasion,
European
Commission
officials
said
Sunday.
The
measures,
which
Commission
President
Ursula
von
der
Leyen
said
she
expected
to
be
endorsed,
would
mark
the
first
time
the
27-nation
bloc
finances
the
purchase
and
delivery
of
weapons
and
equipment
to
a
country
under
attack.
“Another
taboo
has
fallen.
The
taboo
that
the
European
Union
was
not
providing
arms
in
a
war,”
said
the
EU’s
foreign
policy
chief
Josep
Borrell.
The
Commission’s
plans
followed
the
announcement
earlier
in
the
day
that
Germany
was
committing
100
billion
euros
($113
billion)
to
a
special
armed
forces
fund
and
would
keep
its
defense
spending
above
2%
of
GDP
from
now
on.
The
shift
underscored
how
Russia’s
war
on
Ukraine
was
rewriting
Europe’s
post-World
War
II
security
and
defense
policy
in
ways
that
were
unthinkable
only
a
few
weeks
ago.
Anti-war
protesters,
meanwhile,
took
to
the
streets
in
Berlin,
Rome,
Prague,
Istanbul
and
other
cities
–
even
Russian
cities
like
Moscow
and
St.
Petersburg
and
in
a
dozen
Belarusian
cities
–
to
demand
an
end
to
the
war,
the
largest
ground
offensive
on
the
continent
since
WWII.
Human
rights
advocates
reported
that
more
than
170
people
had
been
arrested
in
the
Belarusian
protests,
even
as
the
country’s
authoritarian
leader
offered
the
country’s
territory
to
his
ally
Russia.
In
Minsk,
a
large
pile
of
flowers
kept
growing
at
the
building
of
Ukraine’s
embassy.
Tens
of
thousands
of
people
massed
Sunday
in
front
of
Berlin’s
Brandenburg
Gate,
with
some
carrying
posters
with
slogans
such
as
“Hands
off
Ukraine,”
“Tanks
to
Windmills”
and
“Putin,
go
to
therapy
and
leave
Ukraine
and
the
world
in
peace.”
The
EU’s
plan
to
fund
weapons
purchases
was
unprecedented
and
would
use
millions
of
euros
to
help
buy
air
defense
systems,
anti-tank
weapons,
ammunition
and
other
military
equipment
to
Ukraine’s
armed
forces.
It
would
also
supply
things
like
fuel,
protective
gear,
helmets
and
first
aid
kits.
The
system
might
also
use
EU
money
to
reimburse
EU
countries
that
have
already
sent
lethal
and
non-lethal
aid
to
Ukraine
this
year,
giving
an
incentive
for
those
countries
to
invest
more
in
such
assistance.
To
bolster
its
military
training
and
support
missions
around
the
world,
the
27-nation
bloc
has
set
up
a
European
Peace
Facility,
a
fund
with
a
ceiling
of
around
5.7
billion
euros
($6.4
billion).
Some
of
the
money
can
be
used
to
train
and
equip
partner
countries,
including
with
lethal
weapons.
Von
der
Leyen
said
beyond
the
weapons
purchases,
EU
nations
would
shut
down
EU
airspace
for
Russians
–
decisions
that
over
a
dozen
EU
members
had
already
announced.
“We
are
proposing
a
prohibition
on
all
Russian-owned,
Russian
registered
or
Russian-controlled
aircraft.
These
aircraft
will
no
more
be
able
to
land
in,
take
off
or
overfly
the
territory
of
the
EU,”
she
said.
She
said
the
EU
will
also
ban
“the
Kremlin’s
media
machine.
The
state-owned
Russia
Today
and
Sputnik,
as
well
as
their
subsidiaries,
will
no
longer
be
able
to
spread
their
lies
to
justify
Putin’s
war
and
to
sow
division
in
our
union.”
Von
der
Leyen
added
that
the
EU
will
also
target
Belarus
President
Alexander
Lukashenko
for
supporting
Russia’s
widespread
military
campaign
in
Ukraine.
“We
will
hit
Lukashenko’s
regime
with
a
new
package
of
sanctions,”
she
said.
German
Chancellor
Olaf
Scholz’s
announcement
of
new
defense
funding
is
hugely
significant
for
Germany,
which
has
come
under
criticism
from
the
United
States
and
other
NATO
allies
for
not
investing
adequately
in
its
defense
budget.
NATO
member
states
committed
to
spending
2%
of
their
GDP
on
defense,
but
Germany
has
consistently
spent
much
less.
“It’s
clear
we
need
to
invest
significantly
more
in
the
security
of
our
country,
in
order
to
protect
our
freedom
and
our
democracy,”
Scholz
told
a
special
session
of
the
Bundestag
in
Berlin.
Scholz
said
the
100
billion
euro
fund
($113
billion)
was
currently
a
one-time
measure
for
2022.
It
wasn’t
immediately
clear
whether
similar
funding
would
be
allocated
in
future
years.
But
Scholz
indicated
Germany
will
exceed
the
2%
of
GDP
threshold
going
forward,
signaling
an
overall
future
increase
in
defense
spending.
A
day
earlier,
Germany
announced
another
major
policy
shift,
saying
it
will
send
weapons
and
other
supplies
directly
to
Ukraine,
including
500
Stinger
missiles,
which
are
used
to
shoot
down
helicopters
and
warplanes,
and
1,000
anti-tank
weapons.
Israel
announced
it
was
sending
100
tons
of
humanitarian
aid
–
medical
equipment
and
medicine,
tents,
sleeping
bags
and
blankets
–
to
help
civilians
in
Ukraine.
Israel
also
offered
itself
as
a
potential
mediator
during
a
phone
call
between
Israeli
Prime
Minister
Naftali
Bennett
and
Putin,
the
Kremlin
and
Israel
said.
Bennett
spoke
also
Friday
with
Ukrainian
President
Volodymyr
Zelenskyy,
who
is
Jewish.
As
Greece
sent
more
military
aid,
Turkish
officials
termed
Russia’s
invasion
a
“war,”
a
categorization
that
could
lead
Ankara
to
close
down
the
Turkish
straits
to
Russian
warships,
which
Ukraine
requested
earlier
this
week.
The
1936
Montreux
Convention
gives
Turkey
the
right
to
bar
“belligerent
states”
from
using
the
Dardanelles
and
the
Bosporus
during
wartime
but
provides
an
exception
for
Black
Sea
vessels
to
return
to
port.
On
the
sanctions
front,
Japan
joined
the
United
States
and
European
nations
in
cutting
key
Russian
banks
from
the
SWIFT
international
financial
banking
system.
Japan
will
also
freeze
assets
of
Putin
and
other
top
Russian
officials,
while
sending
$100
million
in
emergency
humanitarian
aid
to
Ukraine,
Prime
Minister
Fumio
Kishida
told
reporters.
Catholic
and
Orthodox
religious
leaders,
meanwhile,
prayed
Sunday
for
peace,
voiced
solidarity
with
Ukrainians
and
denounced
the
Russian
invasion.
At
the
Vatican,
Ukrainian
flags
fluttered
in
St.
Peter’s
Square
as
Pope
Francis
delivered
his
weekly
Sunday
blessing
and
appealed
for
global
solidarity
for
“the
suffering
people
of
Ukraine.”
“Those
who
make
war
forget
humanity,”
Francis
said.
He
refrained
from
citing
Russia
by
name,
in
apparent
deference
to
his
hopes
of
keeping
dialogue
open
with
the
Russian
Orthodox
Church.
Also
Sunday,
the
Ecumenical
Patriarch
of
Constantinople
described
Russia’s
invasion
as
“beyond
every
sense
of
law
and
morality”
and
pleaded
for
an
end
to
the
war.
Patriarch
Bartholomew
is
considered
the
spiritual
leader
and
first
among
equals
of
Eastern
Orthodox
Christians
worldwide.
He
granted
the
independence
of
the
Orthodox
Church
of
Ukraine,
which
severed
it
in
2019
from
the
Russian
church
to
which
it
had
been
tied
since
1686.
The
Russian
Orthodox
Church
severed
relations
with
him
as
result.