A Russian army soldier takes part in drills at the Kadamovskiy firing range in the Rostov region, southern Russia, Dec. 10, 2021. Photo:AP

By Patryk Krych | The World Daily | DECEMBER 13th 2021 

Talks of imposing further sanctions against Russia are underway by European foreign ministers as troops continue to gather and amass at the borders between Ukraine and Russia, in what is feared to be the potential precursor to conflict.

There have been the occasional border conflicts and exchanges of gunfire at the border between Ukraine and Russia since the annexing of the Crimea region back in 2014, but with the amassing of Russian troops along the country borders over the past weeks, many are fearing that the fighting may become more violent.

“We have trenches with guys, they have trenches with guys,” said Lt. Ivan Skuratovsky, a soldier in the Donetsk region who described the present situation as a stalemate. “If Russia starts a war, of course we will have casualties, and also they will have casualties.”

It was made clear that “no concrete” decision would be made on the topic of imposing further sanctions on Russia during the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council meeting on Monday, according to EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell.

He stated that the EU continues to coordinate and discuss the situation alongside the United States and UK, and that any economic decisions are largely left up to examination of the situation, and doing everything possibly to dissuade potential conflict.

“But in any case we will send a clear signal that any aggression against Ukraine will have a high cost for Russia, if it happens. But, now, we are trying to do our best in order to prevent this from happening,” Borrell added.