NEW YORK, March 31 – The European Union should sign the political association and free trade agreement with Ukraine in November and then immediately launch targeted sanctions against top officials responsible for jailing of opposition leaders, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, said.

John Herbst, who led the U.S. embassy in Kiev during the 2004 Orange Revolution, said, denying the agreement would punish the country rather then the administration of President Viktor Yanukovych.