LUXEMBOURG: EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday to expand the list of those hit with sanctions for their role in the Ukraine crisis but stopped short of harsher measures ahead of a Geneva meeting of top EU, US, Russian and Ukrainian officials this week.

“In light of events, we decided to expand the list of those subject to asset freezes and visa bans,” EU foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton said.

Already, 33 Ukrainian and Russian officials and business leaders, including members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle, have been targeted.

EU ministers held Russia responsible for the latest developments in eastern Ukraine where pro-Kremlin militias continued to occupy many government buildings in defiance of a Kiev ultimatum to leave or face the consequences.

“These attempts at destabilising Ukraine must come to an end,” a statement said, calling on Russia to respect Ukraine's sovereignty and “repudiate the latest lawless acts in Eastern Ukraine and to contribute to stabilize the situation”.

The 28 foreign inisters also demanded that Russia “call back its troops from the Ukrainian border and immediately withdraw the mandate of the Federation Council to use force on Ukrainian soil”.

Going into the meeting, Britain and France had sought a tough response.

“Further sanctions have to be the response to Russia's behaviour,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague said, describing developments in eastern Ukraine as “clearly a further escalation of the crisis”.

His French counterpart, Laurent Fabius, said “we must act” and suggested there could be another EU summit on Ukraine next week if no progress is made at Thursday's Geneva talks.

Officials working on sanctions list

Ashton gave no details of who might be added to the EU sanctions list and said only that officials were working on it.

Current sanctions stop short of outright economic measures, which come under a third phase of action the EU agreed earlier this year and this option was noted again in Monday's statement.

Ministers noted that “any further steps by (Russia) to destabilise the situation in Ukraine would lead to additional and far reaching consquences for relations in a broad range of economic areas”.

Some ministers appeared reluctant to move rapidly to tougher sanctions, however, arguing that diplomatic options needed to be kept open.

“With sanctions, we are not going to solve the problem,” said Luxembourg's Jean Asselborn, stressing that everything must be done to ensure the success of the EU-US mediated talks in Geneva.

“We must not focus only on sanctions,” Asselborn said.

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans argued it was “too early” to discuss fresh sanctions but the EU needed to be prepared should Russia show no sign of backing off.

At the meeting, ministers confirmed a pledge of one billion euros ($1.4 billion) to help Kiev overcome the country's deep financial problems.

They also signed off on a plan to lower customs duties on Ukrainian goods that could save the country almost 500 million euros ($690 million) a year.

The medium-term loan of almost one billion euros, part of a total 11 billion euros in assistance, aims to help cover Kiev's balance-of-payments needs and comes in addition to 610 million euros of aid.