Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Helen McEntee is in Brussels to attend a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers.
It is the first meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council under Ireland’s EU Presidency, reports RTE.
Ministers are set to discuss Russian aggression against Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East, and the Black Sea.
Minister McEntee will also co-host an event with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, which will focus on Ukrainian detainees in the occupied territories in Ukraine, reports RTE.
Ms McEntee said support for Ukraine will be central to Ireland’s work for the next six months.
She added that further sanctions against Russia are a major foreign policy priority for the Irish Presidency, reports RTE.
“During my visit to Ukraine in March, I saw first-hand the terrible crimes inflicted upon innocent civilians by Russian forces at Bucha,” Ms McEntee said.
“It is essential that we maintain our support for Ukraine and keep pressure on Russia.
“As we have seen with Russia’s continued indiscriminate missile and drone attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, Moscow continues to show no interest in peace.
“It is clear that our sanctions are having an impact. I have been clear in saying that further sanctions against Russia are a major foreign policy priority for the Irish presidency,” reports RTE.
She will also attend a meeting of the Palestine Donor Group.
Ukrainian drone strikes killed four people and wounded seven in Russia today, most in the Moscow region, local officials said, as Kyiv stepped up its strikes in response to the Kremlin’s barrages, reports RTE.
Ukraine has been striking Russia, particularly energy targets, which Kyiv says is fair retribution for Moscow’s more than four-year campaign against its territory.
“In the settlement of Pionersky in Istra, three people were killed and three more wounded as a result of a drone falling,” Governor Andrey Vorobyov posted on Telegram, reports RTE.
Two more people had been wounded in another part of the region, he added.
Air defences shot down 81 drones over the region, Mr Vorobyov said, reports RTE.
In the region of Belgorod on the border with Ukraine, a woman died in a drone strike in the town of Berezovka and two men were wounded in Krinichnoye, local authorities said in a statement.
Drones also attacked southern Stavropol, sparking a fire at an industrial zone, the region’s governor said today, reports RTE.
“The attack has caused a fire in the industrial zone in Vyazniki, Shpakovsky district,” Governor Vladimir Vladimirov posted on Telegram.
He said emergency and firefighting services were at the scene and that there were no reports of casualties, reports RTE.
**Ukraine’s allies to meet in Paris**
Ukraine’s allies are set to meet in Paris on Monday for talks on putting pressure on Russia to end the war.
US-led diplomatic efforts to end the fighting have stalled in recent months as Washington has shifted focus to its conflict with Iran, reports RTE.
The summit meeting of the Coalition of the Willing — launched by France and the United Kingdom to provide military support to Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion — will push for a ceasefire and renewed peace talks, the French presidency said on Friday.
At least 25 heads of state will attend the meeting, which comes the day before France’s national public holiday Bastille Day, reports RTE.
The European Union and Britain targeted Russia today with coordinated sanctions over cyber attacks in Europe, accusing Moscow’s FSB intelligence agency of recent malicious activities.
Brussels said it was imposing sanctions on nine people and four entities, while London said it was adding 24 names to its blacklist, reports RTE.
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