Charles Michel, head of the European Council, said Wednesday that he believes sanctions on Russian oil and gas "will be necessary sooner or later."

"We are tightening our sanctions to keep maximum pressure on the Kremlin. The new package includes a ban on coal imports. And I think restrictive measures regarding oil and even gas will also be needed sooner or later," Michel wrote on Twitter.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We are toughening our sanctions to keep maximum pressure on the Kremlin.<br><br>The new package includes a ban on coal imports.<br><br>And I think that measures on oil, and even gas, will also be needed sooner or later. <a href="https://t.co/bhc9NGu4as">pic.twitter.com/bhc9NGu4as</a></p>&mdash; Charles Michel (@eucopresident) <a href="https://twitter.com/eucopresident/status/1511603351812775940?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 The head of the European Council also recalled that the EU had agreed to create a Solidarity Trust Fund with Ukraine.

"In the short term, this fund will help support the state of Ukraine and provide liquidity and access to financing. In the long term, it will provide large investments to help rebuild the economy and infrastructure," Michel said.

Earlier, on April 5, the European Union announced a fifth package of sanctions against Russia in response to its war against Ukraine, which included an embargo on Russian coal imports and new sanctions on one of Russia's largest banks, VTB, among others. However, restrictive measures on oil imports, in particular, are still being worked on, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said.