European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso says the EU is ready to take "very strong and clear measures" against Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
Barroso told a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Brussels on August 30 that he would propose a broad range of options to member states.
"What I can tell you now on behalf of the European Commission is that we have already prepared some options, so we have done our work in case the member states decide to go for further levels of sanctions," he said.
Barroso added that the EU was "keeping our doors open to a political solution" and that any tightening of sanctions was intended not to escalate the crisis but to push Moscow to negotiate.
"Sanctions or restrictive measures are just ways, means, or instruments to show to the Russian leadership that the current situation is not acceptable and that we urge them to come to reason, to work constructively," he said.
The EU, he said, did not want a "new Cold War," saying such a scenario would be "detrimental" to all of Europe.
He said the Ukrainian crisis was "very serious" and the situation was heading toward a "point of no return."
Poroshenko, condemning Russian intervention in his country, said there were now thousands of foreign troops and hundreds of foreign tanks in Ukraine.
"Unfortunately this visit comes in extremely difficult circumstances for my country, despite the consolidated international efforts and our strive for peace, Ukraine is now a subject of foreign military aggression and terror," Poroshenko said, speaking ahead of a summit meeting with European Union leaders.
Poroshenko said he expected to see progress toward peace in the east of the country in the coming days.
EU foreign-policy chief Catherine Ashton, speaking after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Milan, expressed "deep concern about the recent aggression against Ukraine by regular Russian military forces."
Ashton called for "a sustainable political solution that respects Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty."
EU leaders will meet later on August 30 and are expected to agree on tougher sanctions against Russia after NATO charged that Moscow now had 1,000 troops fighting in support of separatist forces in eastern Ukraine and had shipped in large amounts of heavy weaponry.
French President Francois Hollande said looking ahead to the talks that the EU leaders will likely agree on August 30 to pave the way for new sanctions that can be imposed on Russia if it continues to allow arms and troops to cross the Ukrainian border.
"What is happening in Ukraine is so serious that [we] will be obliged to react by raising the level of sanctions if things stay as they are," Hollande said.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
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