Ukraine will ask the EU to step up measures against Russia without waiting for the U.S. to move first. A Russian drone strike on Sumy damages industrial facilities, disrupts power and water supply. Russia is massing troops along the border with Kharkiv region.
Ukraine to ask EU to step up measures against Russia without waiting for U.S. to move first
Ukraine will ask the EU next week to consider big new steps to isolate Moscow, including seizing Russian assets and bringing in sanctions for some buyers of Russian oil, as U.S. President Donald Trump has backed off from tightening sanctions, Reuters said on Wednesday. The paragraphs below are quoted from the article.
A previously unreported Ukrainian white paper to be presented to the EU calls for the 27-member bloc to take a more aggressive and independent position on sanctions as uncertainty hangs over Washington’s future role.
Among 40 pages of recommendations were calls to adopt legislation that would speed up the EU’s seizure of assets from sanctioned individuals, and send them to Ukraine. Those under sanctions could then seek compensation from Russia.
The EU should consider a range of steps to make its sanctions apply more forcefully beyond its own territory, including targeting foreign companies that use its technology to help Russia, and “the introduction of secondary sanctions on purchasers of Russian oil”.
Such secondary sanctions, which could hit big buyers such as India and China, would be a major step that Europe has so far been reluctant to take. Trump had publicly discussed this before taking the decision not to act for now.
The white paper also calls for the EU to consider using more majority-rules decision making over sanctions, to prevent individual member states from blocking measures that otherwise require unanimity.
After speaking to Putin on Monday, Trump opted not to impose fresh sanctions on Russia, dashing hopes of European leaders and Kyiv who had been lobbying him for weeks to ratchet up pressure on Moscow.
Trump spoke to Ukrainian and European leaders after his call with Putin and told them he didn’t want to impose sanctions now and to give time for talks to take place, a person familiar with conversation told Reuters.
Russian drone strike on Sumy damages industrial facilities, disrupts power, water supply
A Russian drone attack on Sumy overnight on Wednesday damaged industrial facilities and knocked out power to several neighborhoods.
The city’s water utility said some of its systems lost power as a result of the strike and were connected to emergency power sources. It added that it will temporarily supply water to the affected district at a low pressure.
The drone attack damaged two industrial facilities, acting city mayor, Artem Kobzar said. Eleven explosions rocked the city at night, he added.
Head of the Sumy city military administration, Serhiy Kryvosheyenko, said damage to power lines caused major outages. Repair works were underway, and in the meantime critical infrastructure facilities were powered by emergency backup generators, he added.
Head of the Sumy regional military administration, Oleh Hryhorov, said one person was injured in the attack that also sparked fires.
Russia massing troops along the border with Kharkiv region
Russia is massing troops along the border with Kharkiv region, likely preparing for a new intense offensive, Chief of Staff for the 13th Khartia Brigade of the National Guard, Lieutenant Colonel Andriy Pomahaybus told Suspilne, Ukraine’s public broadcaster.
“The enemy is trying to bring its forces closer to the contact line and conduct assaults. They generally fail. We need to watch all the most risky directions that lead to our front lines. [Russia] is massing troops closer to the state border (…) in obvious preparation to conduct intense offensive actions. Our defense forces are ready to repel the attacks,” Pomahaybus said.
Russian forces combine the use of artillery with drones and armored vehicles in order to advance, he continued.
“At the same time they put infantry on the ground: while they are trying to get your attention in one direction, they are advancing in the other,” he said.
Russia is increasingly using fiber optic drones. They are difficult to detect and jam. The drones have a flight range of 15-30 kilometers, he added.
