Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy demanded that the EU immediately allocate its upcoming tranche of aid to Ukraine and pushed for fresh sanctions against Russia in a phone call with the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Sunday.

“Discussed the allocation of the next tranche of #EU macro-(financial) aid ASAP. Emphasized the necessity to draft the 8th package of (Western) sanctions (on Russia), including a restriction on issuing visas to Russian people,” he wrote on Twitter.

Zelenskiy, who has warned Europeans to expect a difficult winter due to Russian oil and gas exports cuts, also said he and Von Der Leyen coordinated “steps to limit Russia’s excess profits from the sale of oil and gas”.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said earlier that Kyiv was expecting a tranche of 5 billion euros ($4.98 billion) in macro-financial aid from the EU this coming week.