France, Poland agree on EU sanctions over Ukraine

French President Francois Hollande and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Wednesday stressed the necessity to impose "rapid and targeted" sanctions at the European level on people responsible for the violence in Kiev, the president's office said. During a phone conversation, Hollande and Tusk agreed the need to punish "the main perpetrators of such acts" that left more than 20 dead and injured others in a new wave of bloody clashes that erupted on Tuesday in the Ukrainian capital. According to the Elysee statement, the French president condemned the violence and called for an immediate stop. "He asked the European Union to rapidly take the decision allowing the implementation of these sanctions at the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council on Feb. 20," the statement added. Earlier, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Hollande and visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel would "express a common position" on the situation in Ukraine, and "work on idea of sanctions at the European level." At least 25 people, including protesters and policemen, were reportedly killed and hundreds of people were wounded during the violence in Kiev that erupted Tuesday and continued into the early hours of Wednesday. The violence was the latest wave of clashes between demonstrators and riot police in the political standoff, which began last November when the government's decision to backtrack on the country's European integration angered many Ukrainians.