The countries in the European Union are handing Russia one billion euros a day, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. The remarks came amid the growing chorus of imposing stringent sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine, writes ndtv.com.

“Each day, roughly, we are paying €1 billion to import Russian energy, and that’s, obviously, a source of income that’s used to finance the war”, - Borrell told the European Parliament, according to the Washington Post.

He added that the 27-nation bloc is unable to ban Russian gas imports because some member states are so dependent of it that they are refusing to budge. Borrell said restrictions can’t be imposed “overnight”.

This is the first time that a figure has been publicly announced on the scale of spending on oil despite reports claiming so over the past few weeks. The revelation came at a time when the European Commission brought forward proposal to ban Russian coal.