The European Union urged member-states to impose a new set of sanctions on Russia over its recent "escalation" in Ukraine, involving referenda in occupied areas of the country.

The new set of sanctions includes an oil price cap and a ban on Russian exports worth 7 billion euros ($7 billion).

"We're determined to make the Kremlin pay for this further escalation," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

Von der Leyen urged the European Union's 27 member countries to slap more sanctions on Russian officials and trade over the "sham referendums." She labeled the ballots "an illegal attempt to grab land and change international borders by force."

Pro-Russia officials in Ukraine's Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions said Wednesday they would ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to incorporate their provinces into Russia. It wasn't immediately clear how the administrative process would unfold.

According to Russia-installed election officials, 93% of the ballots cast in the Zaporizhzhia region supported annexation, as did 87% in the Kherson region, 98% in the Luhansk region and 99% in Donetsk.

Western countries, however, dismissed the balloting as a meaningless pretense staged by Moscow in an attempt to legitimize its invasion of Ukraine launched on Feb. 24.

The EU's executive branch, headed by von der Leyen, has drawn up several rafts of sanctions against Russia since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of neighboring Ukraine seven months ago.

Banks, companies and markets have been hit - even parts of the sensitive energy sector - with asset freezes and travel bans slapped on over 1,200 officials.

But the hard work is yet to come. The economies of the EU's 27 member countries already battered by the COVID-19 pandemic are now struggling against high inflation, with skyrocketing electricity and natural gas prices. Sanctions are getting harder to agree as they also inflict damage at home.