Light projection of the European Union flag at the European Parliament building in StrasbourgBRUSSELS, Feb 25The European Union, as part of the new sanctions, will hit Russia's access to important technologies, including in the field of microchips, said the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at a press conference after an extraordinary summit of EU heads of state, which decided on a new package of restrictive measures against Russia. «We are restricting Russia's access to critical technologies. We will hit Russia's access to critical technologies, such as semiconductors or advanced technologies, that it needs to ensure a prosperous future,» she said. Now the decision on new sanctions must be legally .On Thursday morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had decided on a special military operation to demilitarize Ukraine. In a televised address to the Russians, he said that the circumstances «require decisive and immediate action from us, the people's republics of Donbass turned to Russia with a request for help.» According to the Russian leader, the entire responsibility for the bloodshed will be on the conscience of the ruling regime in Ukraine. He urged the Ukrainian military not to follow the criminal orders of the Ukrainian authorities, lay down their arms and go home. Later, the Russian Defense Ministry stressed that the Russian Armed Forces do not launch any missile, air or artillery strikes on the cities of Ukraine: military infrastructure, air defense facilities are disabled by high-precision weapons , military airfields and aviation. The ministry assured that the civilian population was not in danger. Approximately two hours later, the Ministry of Defense added that the Ukrainian border guards «do not offer any resistance», Ukrainian air defense systems were suppressed, and the military infrastructure of military air bases was disabled. The military department denied the information of foreign media about the alleged downing of a Russian plane over Ukraine in the military department.
