The European Union needs patience as it sanctions Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, as most measures will only have an impact in the medium and long term, Lithuania’s prime minister said in an interview at the Reuters NEXT conference.

“My message is - we need to have patience. Because there are no sanctions that can switch Russia off overnight. It is not possible, we should not look for this”, - Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said.

She pointed to the missile explosion in Poland last month which killed two people. Poland and other Western states have said the missile was a Ukrainian air defence missile that went astray in pursuit of a Russian missile.

“The better air defence system Ukraine has, the less probability of incidents like that might happen... It is important not only for NATO to provide a decent (air) defence system, but also provide Ukraine with a decent (air) defence system”, - Simonyte added.