Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced new rounds of sanctions against the Russian military-industrial complex, the financial sector, and intermediaries.
“Today, Ukraine has a sanctions package targeting companies and ships that are transporting grain and other goods stolen from Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories. We are preparing new sanctions packages against the Russian military-industrial complex, financial networks, and intermediaries,” he said in an evening video address on Friday.
According to him, there are still a significant number of Russian enterprises working for the war effort. “This must be addressed during August and September. We will speak with leaders at all working levels. The Ukrainian diplomatic service has a direct task: in the world’s major jurisdictions, sanctions must be imposed on those Russian companies and individuals, as well as those who help Russia, whose influence genuinely matters in terms of prolonging this war and producing Russian missiles and drones,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy also outlined the immediate tasks for the Defense Forces in the context of Ukraine’s long-range sanctions. “Thanks to all the decisions made last autumn – political decisions, financial decisions, and the technological choices we made a year ago – we were able to transition to a significantly more technologically advanced defense system this winter and this spring. The long-range sanctions plan is being carried out, along with an increasing number of our mid-range strikes. In fact, we have succeeded in blocking Russia’s south, and we are expanding this strategic operation – quite justifiably – in response to Russian strikes on our ports and our cities,” he said.
The President of Ukraine said every level of pressure on Russia “must lead this country, and its society, above all, to the desire to end their war. “Our sanctions against Russian oil refineries and their facilities in the Russian oil sector, our strikes against Russian military logistics, and our operation in the Black Sea and Azov Sea, all of this works to limit Russia’s war potential.”
“It is important to continue this effort with more active political and legal measures as well,” he said.