Dhe Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced new sanctions against Russia and its allies Iran and Syria. “Ukrainian sanctions are part of the global pressure on Russia,” the 45-year-old said in his daily video address on Saturday. 400 people and companies are affected by the measure, said Zelenskyj.
Meanwhile, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin has shown himself unimpressed by the latest punitive measures against him – the issuance of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court. The 70-year-old visited the occupied Ukrainian territory for the first time on Saturday and drove through the destroyed port city of Mariupol. Shortly before, he used the ninth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea to perform in the port city of Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet is also based.
Syria starting point for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine
In his video message, Zelenskyy blamed the international community’s passivity in Syria a few years ago, when Putin kept President Bashar al-Assad in power there with his bombs, for the start of the war in Ukraine. “The people of Syria have not received adequate international protection and this has given the Kremlin and its accomplices a sense of impunity,” Zelenskyy said.
“There is only one way to save life – it is necessary to expel the Russian army from Ukrainian soil. And we will do it,” Zelenskyy promised. In his weekly summary, he thought his country was on the right track. For example, Ukraine received a new armaments package with ammunition, artillery and combat aircraft from the West. In addition, there were larger rounds of negotiations with the United States about further armaments aid, the Ukrainian head of state said.