In brief: President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered authorities to draft a targeted sanctions operation against Russia’s military industry, warning that foreign-made components remain critical to Russian weapons. Preventing Moscow from adapting to restrictions remains the top priority, according to him.

Aug. 6, 2026

President Volodymyr Zelensky has ordered government authorities to prepare a new sanctions operation against Russia’s military industry, saying delays allow Moscow to adapt to existing restrictions.

According to Zelensky’s statement on Thursday, Aug. 6, he held a coordination meeting on sanctions against Russia, covering all categories of restrictions as the war approaches its fifth year. Denying Russia time to adjust to restrictions already in place remains the top priority, he said.

“We also discussed Russia’s use of machine tools and technologies that Moscow is a generation behind on and definitely could not have created on its own,” Zelensky said, adding that “more pressure is needed to limit such ties between the aggressor state and the world.”

Targeted operation in the works

According to Zelensky, every participant in the meeting was assigned concrete tasks that are expected to be fully carried out.

The announcement builds on the EU’s finalized 21st sanctions package against Russia in mid-July, which targeted specific companies, entities and individuals tied to Moscow’s war effort.

The sanctions also tightened restrictions on the Russian financial sector and froze the price cap on crude oil exports at $44 per barrel.

Foreign technology still powers Russian weaponry

Russia’s overnight missile and drone attack on Ukraine on July 2 involved approximately 35,000 foreign-made components, highlighting persistent gaps in international export controls despite Western sanctions.

Ukrainian authorities, including Ukraine’s presidential commissioner for sanctions policy Vladyslav Vlasiuk, repeatedly warn that Russia continues to source thousands of critical components, allowing it to retain its ability to conduct near-dailly attacks across Ukraine.

“We see that in every Russian missile, in every drone, in most other types of Russian weapons, there are critical components from other countries, without which such weapons simply would not exist,” Zelensky said.

Based on forensic analysis of debris from a Russian strike on Bila Tserkva on May 24, Russia used parts manufactured in the US, Taiwan, Japan, China, Belarus and Switzerland inside its Iskander-M ballistic missile.

Patriot interceptors are currently the only systems capable of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles. However, for Ukraine, they remain critically scarce.

Meanwhile, North Korea has made billions of dollars arming Russia, supplying it with artillery shells, rocket systems, KN-23 ballistic missiles and military personnel.

As of Wednesday, Aug. 5, North Korea is also believed to be preparing to deploy a missile unit to Russia that could operate up to 120 ballistic missiles for strikes on Ukraine, a move marking another major escalation in military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang.

According to Zelensky on July 30, Russia used the same type of North Korean ballistic missile in the strike that killed a family of 10 in the Kryvyi Rih district of Dnipropetrovsk region the same day.

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/81861