Ukraine-Russia war latest: Macron says new package of EU sanctions on Moscow is ‘unprecedented’

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has predicted the Russian economy would withstand the European Union’s latest sanctions package and said Moscow would intensify its strikes against Ukraine.

In a post on his official Telegram channel, Medvedev said the new sanctions would do little to alter Russia’s stance on the conflict, just as previous rounds of sanctions had failed to make an impact.

The European Union on Friday agreed an 18th package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine, including measures aimed at dealing further blows to the Russian oil and energy industry.

The EU will set a moving price cap on Russian crude at 15 per cent below its average market price, EU diplomats said, aiming to improve on a largely ineffective $60 cap that the Group of Seven major economies have tried to impose since December 2022.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed it captured three frontline Ukrainian villages as part of its slow westward push.

The report named the three captured settlements as Kamianske in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, Dehtiarne in northeastern Kharkiv region, and Popiv Yar in Donetsk region, the main theatre of Russian operations.

Official Ukrainian reports of activity along the 1,000km (600 mile) front disputed part of the Russian account, particularly concerning Kamianske in the southeast.

There was no Ukrainian confirmation about Dehtiarne or Popiv Yar.

“Preparations are underway, we are working very closely with the Germans on the Patriot transfer”, General Grynkewich told a conference in the German city of Wiesbaden.

“The guidance that I have been given has been to move out as quickly as possible.”

Britain on Friday said it had sanctioned more than 20 Russian spies, hackers and agencies over what it called a “sustained campaign of malicious cyber activity” to destabilise Europe.

The foreign ministry said it was sanctioning three units of the Russian military intelligence GRU agency and 18 of its officers, including those it said were involved in targeting strikes against Mariupol during the war in Ukraine, and spying on former agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia before they were targeted in a Novichok poisoning in 2018.

Russia views recent comments by a top US general about NATO’s purported ability to swiftly capture the Russian Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad as hostile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

General Christopher Donahue, the US Army Europe and Africa commander, said NATO could seize Kaliningrad “from the ground in a timeframe that is unheard of and faster than we’ve ever been able to do”, according to Defense News.

The Kremlin said it it agreed with Zelensky’s statement that there needed to be more momentum around peace talks between the warring sides.

Two rounds of talks between Ukraine and Russia in Turkey this year yielded an agreement to exchange prisoners and soldiers’ remains. But no date has yet been set for a new round of talks and both sides remain far apart on the terms of any ceasefire.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said that recent warnings by Trump regarding possible secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian exports were not viewed in Moscow as a sign that bilateral talks with Washington were at an end.

Russia has built up a certain immunity to Western sanctions and adapted to them, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Peskov called the sanctions illegal, saying every new restriction created negative consequences for those countries that backed them.

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky are considering a deal that involves Washington buying battlefield-tested Ukrainian drones in exchange for Kyiv purchasing weapons from the US.

The Ukrainian president said his latest talks with Mr Trump focused on a deal that would help each country bolster its aerial technology.

Ukrainian drones have been able to strike targets as deep as 800 miles (1,300 km) into Russian territory.

“The people of America need this technology, and you need to have it in your arsenal,” Mr Zelensky told the New York Post.

The Ukrainian leader said drones were the key tool that has allowed his country to fight off Russia’s invasion for more than three years.

“We will be ready to share this experience with America and other European partners,” he said. Ukraine was also in talks with Denmark, Norway and Germany, Mr Zelensky said.