Ukraine imposes sanctions on foreign suppliers of components for Russian missiles

KYIV, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that he was imposing sanctions on some foreign manufacturers of components for Russian drones and missiles used against Ukraine.

“Producing this weaponry would be impossible without critical foreign components, which the Russians continue to obtain by circumventing sanctions,” Zelenskiy said on X.

“We are introducing new sanctions precisely against such companies – component suppliers, as well as missile and drone manufacturers. I have signed the relevant decisions.”

According to two decrees published by the Ukrainian presidency, targets of the sanctions include several Chinese companies as well as companies from the former Soviet Union, the United Arab Emirates and Panama.

Despite negotiations to end the four-year war, Russia has sharply increased the scale and number of missile and drone strikes on Ukraine in recent months, focusing its attacks on the energy and logistics sectors.

Zelenskiy said on X that in the past week, Russia had launched more than 2,000 attack drones, 1,200 guided aerial bombs, and 116 missiles of various types at Ukraine’s cities and villages.

Strikes on power stations and substations have left entire regions without electricity and heating, with blackouts in the capital Kyiv lasting up to 20 hours.

Zelenskiy said he had also imposed sanctions against the Russian financial sector and bodies that support Russian crypto market and mining operations.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Aidan Lewis)