Russian

European Union says move amounts to one of the strongest sanctions packages against Russia to date linked to the war.

The European Union has approved a new raft of stiff sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine, including a lower oil price cap, a ban on transactions with Nord Stream gas pipelines, and the targeting of more shadow fleet ships.

“The message is clear: Europe will not back down in its support for Ukraine. The EU will keep raising the pressure until Russia ends its war,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a statement on Friday.

Kallas said the EU move amounts to “one of its strongest sanctions packages against Russia to date” linked to the war, which is now in its fourth year.

Ukraine’s newly appointed Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko welcomed the EU’s agreement on an 18th sanctions package against Russia, saying it “strengthens the pressure where it counts”. Svyrydenko added on X that there was more to be done in terms of measures to help bring peace closer.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that he spoke with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and added he also welcomed the adoption of the sanctions. “The Russian attacks must stop immediately,” he wrote in a post on social media platform X. “France is and remains at Ukraine’s side.”

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that the bloc is “keeping up the pressure on Russia” following the announcement. “It’s good that we in the EU have now agreed on the 18th sanctions package against Russia,” Merz wrote on X.

“It targets banks, energy and the military industry. This weakens Russia’s ability to continue financing the war against Ukraine,” he added.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Russia has built up an immunity to Western sanctions and adapted to them. Peskov also called the sanctions illegal, saying every new restriction creates negative consequences for those countries that back them.

The move comes as European countries start to buy United States weapons for Ukraine to help the country better defend itself.

US President Donald Trump announced the deal to supply more weapons to Ukraine and threatened earlier this week to impose steep tariffs on Russia unless a peace deal is reached within 50 days.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, had proposed to lower the oil price cap from $60 to $45, which is lower than the market price, to target Russia’s vast energy revenues.

The EU had hoped to get major international powers in the Group of Seven countries involved in the price cap to broaden the effect, but conflict in the Middle East pushed up oil prices, and the US administration could not be brought on board.

In 2023, Ukraine’s Western allies limited sales of Russian oil to $60 per barrel, but the price cap was largely symbolic as most of Moscow’s crude – its main moneymaker – cost less than that. Still, the cap was there in case oil prices rose.

Oil is Russia’s main source of income

The linchpin of Russia’s economy is oil income, allowing President Vladimir Putin to pour money into the armed forces without worsening inflation for people, and avoiding a currency collapse.

The EU has also targeted the Nord Stream pipelines between Russia and Germany to prevent Putin from generating any revenue from them in future, notably by discouraging would-be investors. Russian energy giant Rosneft’s refinery in India was hit, as well.

The pipelines were built to carry Russian natural gas to Germany but are not in operation. They were targeted by sabotage in 2022, but the source of the underwater explosions has remained a major international mystery.

Additionally, the new EU sanctions are targeting Russia’s banking sector to limit the Kremlin’s ability to raise funds or carry out financial transactions. Two Chinese banks were added to the list.

The EU has slapped several rounds of sanctions on Russia since Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

But each round of sanctions is getting harder to agree on, as measures targeting Russia bite the economies of the 27 member nations. Slovakia held up the latest package over concerns about proposals to stop Russian gas supplies, which it relies on.

The Professional Fighters League says it is “aware of the situation concerning Timur Khizriev” after a video posted online appears to show the Russian featherweight champion being shot multiple times.

The footage shows Khizriev, 29, being attacked by two gunmen as he exited his car in Makhachkala, Russia.

Despite being shot, Khizriev grapples with one while the other fires at close range, before escaping further harm by fleeing the scene.

Khizriev is in stable condition, according to Russian media reports, but suffered numerous injuries to the shoulder, hand, and chest, and is undergoing surgery.

“PFL is aware of the situation concerning Timur Khizriev, and remain in close touch with his representatives,” the mixed-martial arts promotion said in a statement.

“Our thoughts are with him and his family during this time.”

Khizriev has won the first 18 fights of his career and beat Britain’s Brendan Loughnane in November to win the PFL’s featherweight tournament.

At least fifteen people have been injured in the latest wave of Russian drone strikes, which this time hit four Ukranian cities. Video shows firefighters battling flames from a large blaze. This comes amid the 50-day deadline from the US for Russia to secure a peace deal.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as ‘simply horrific, stupid Russian terror’.

A Russian air raid on a shopping centre and market in Dobropillia in eastern Ukraine has killed at least two people, wounded 22 others and caused widespread damage, officials said, the latest blow to United States President Donald Trump’s calls for Moscow to end its attacks on the neighbouring country.

Vadym Filashkin, the governor of eastern Donetsk region, said a 500kg (1,100-pound) bomb was deployed at 5:20pm (14:20 GMT) on Wednesday, when shoppers were out.

He said two people were killed and 22 injured, with eight nearby apartment blocks and eight cars destroyed.

Video posted online showed areas around the shopping centre on fire with smoke billowing skywards.

“Firefighters are extinguishing the blaze as there is a possibility that people are still inside the shopping centre,” Filashkin told Ukrainian television.

“The occupier dropped the bomb at a time when Dobropillia was crowded with people. Many were out shopping. The occupier specifically targeted the shopping centre. All nearby shopping centres have been either destroyed or damaged.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking in his nightly video address, described the attack as “simply horrific, stupid Russian terror. There is no military logic to their strikes, only an effort to take as many lives as possible”.

The bombing comes after Russia fired hundreds of drones, artillery and a ballistic missile at Ukraine overnight and early on Wednesday, defying Trump’s call on Monday to reach a peace deal within 50 days or face severe sanctions.

Russia launched 400 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as one ballistic missile, during the night, the Ukrainian air force said. The strikes targeted northeastern Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, Vinnytsia in the west, and Odesa in the south.

The latest bombardments in Russia’s escalating aerial campaign against civilian areas came ahead of a September 2 deadline set by Trump for the Kremlin to reach a peace deal in the three-year war, under the threat of possible severe sanctions if it does not.

No date has yet been publicly set for a possible third round of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine. Two previous rounds delivered no progress, apart from prisoner swaps.

Trump on Monday pledged to deliver more weapons to Ukraine, including Patriot air defence systems, and threatened to slap additional sanctions on Russia. They were Trump’s toughest public comments towards Russian President Vladimir Putin since he returned to the White House nearly six months ago.

But some US lawmakers and European government officials expressed misgivings that the 50-day deadline handed Putin the opportunity to capture more Ukrainian territory before any settlement to end the fighting.

Other US ultimatums to Putin in recent months have failed to persuade the Russian leader to halt attacks.

Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed in the war, many of them along the more than 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front line, and Russian barrages of cities have killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, the United Nations says.