Ukraine Readies ‘Powerful’ Sanctions As Russia Bombards Illegally Annexed Eastern Regions

(RFE/RL) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says a “powerful” new sanctions package is being prepared by the Ukrainian government that will include people who “work for aggression.”

Speaking in his evening address on April 7, Zelenskiy said all those on the list “will be blocked,” but he provided no further details.

Zelenskiy also said a meeting of the staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian military was held on April 7.

“The main focus is on the battles for Avdiyivka and Bakhmut, for the Luhansk region [and] for each of those directions where the enemy is trying to break the defense of the whole of Ukraine,” he said.

A General Staff statement on April 7 said Russia was concentrating the bulk of its offensive operations in Ukraine’s industrial east, including Bakhmut and Avdiyivka, but also Lyman and Maryinka in the Donetsk region.

Russian forces used ground- and air-fired missiles, rocket launchers, and weaponized drones to bombard the parts of the Russia-annexed regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson that it does not control. Russia illegally annexed parts of those four regions in September.

The Ukrainian military said Russian forces launched 18 airstrikes, five missile strikes, and 53 attacks from multiple rocket launchers between the evening of April 6 and the morning of April 7.

Eight people, including two emergency medical workers, were wounded in the Kherson region, said Yuriy Sobolevskiy, the head of the Kherson regional council.

RFE/RL was not able to independently verify the battlefield claims.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, previously commented on Ukraine’s increased use of sanctions against Russia and countries that are providing military equipment to Moscow.

He told RFE/RL that further sanctions should limit Russia’s use of modern technologies.

“It’s not just about trading capacity. It is also about other things. It is about the use of modern technologies, modern means of transportation in Russia, above all,” he said in response to a question about expectations over the upcoming package of sanctions against Russia.

Zelenskiy on April 1 signed a decree on sanctions against more than 200 legal entities and more than 270 individuals.

Among those designated was the former head of Motor Sich, Vyacheslav Bohuslayev, who is accused of treason in Ukraine, was on the list. A Ukrainian court seized the assets and all shares of the aerospace company two years ago. Late last year its assets were nationalized along with those of four other companies to guarantee sufficient military supplies as Ukraine fights to repel an invasion by Russian forces.

Sanctions were also introduced against the Federation Council — the upper house of the Russian Parliament — the Russian Finance Ministry, the Federal Security Service (FSB), and the Federal Guard Service, as well as defense contractors and manufactures of radio electronics.

Last month, Ukraine introduced sanctions against 400 individuals, including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and other Syrian officials, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and Iranians associated with the production of Shahed drones. Russia has used the Iranian-made kamikaze drones to attack critical Ukrainian infrastructure.

That round of sanctions also listed 141 legal entities, including companies from Russia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.