The EU is preparing new sanctions on Russia despite a potential meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday, three sources told CNBC.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he was in favour of imposing new sanctions on Russia in the coming days if Moscow failed to respect a ceasefire, mentioning financial services and oil and gas as possible targets.

The ultimatum from Berlin comes as Ukraine said Russia was still carrying out attacks along the front line, despite a ceasefire proposal agreed on the weekend among Kyiv's allies for a 30-day ceasefire to start Monday. The Kremlin said such an ultimatum "is unacceptable for Russia."

Also in today’s newsletter, Modi claims Indian military ‘superiority’ over Pakistan, and China’s CATL to raise at least $4bn

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky raised the stakes ahead of a potential meeting with Vladimir Putin in Turkey on Thursday by saying he wouldn’t hold talks with any Russian representative other than the president himself.

Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv that he will be in Ankara on Thursday to conduct the negotiations. He plans to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the two will wait for Putin to arrive, he said. Zelenskyy said that if Putin chooses Istanbul to hold the meeting, then both leaders will travel there.

The new round of negotiations comes amid a long history of delaying tactics by the Russian side as the fighting in Ukraine grinds on.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The Russian economy is in an increasingly precarious state as a result of a shift to a war mode and of Western sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a report by the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) said on Tuesday.