President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasizes the importance of increasing sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation so that the aggressor state does not have the opportunity to revive its defense production in full. The Head of State stated this at a meeting with media representatives following the 24th Ukraine-EU summit in Kyiv.
"We are extremely interested in Russia not having the opportunity to revive defense production. Sanctions slowed down all these processes. It's clear to us how many missiles were produced before the start of the full-scale invasion and what is happening now thanks to the sanctions of the EU, the United States, the UK, and other partners," Zelenskyy said.
Therefore, according to him, it is extremely important that Russia should not be able to circumvent restrictive measures, in particular with the help of other states.
The President said that there are countries that essentially support Russia by supplying weapons, missile programs, drones or in other ways.
"Therefore, it's very important for us to send clear messages to these states at the level of the EU and the United States – it's very important to stop the resumption of this production," the President said.
The Head of State called the introduction of sanctions against Rosatom and its management another important point. He said that the Russian occupying forces seized the Ukrainian ZNPP, and the Russian missile attacks caused a catastrophic situation in the power system of Ukraine and made it impossible to export our electricity to Europe.
"They captured six nuclear units. They captured our people. They captured the management of this plant. It is modern slavery in a Russian style – it is what is happening there. They don't let go these specialists. They force them to change their citizenship. They take their children hostage and send them to the territory of the Russian Federation. This happened to some employees of this particular plant. And we understand who manages nuclear energy in the Russian Federation. And there is all the evidence, as these people came to this nuclear plant – it's Rosatom," Zelenskyy said.
Therefore, in the President's opinion, because of Russia's nuclear blackmail and illegal actions against ZNPP workers, it is necessary to apply international sanctions against the management of Rosatom.
For his part, President of the European Council Charles Michel said that during the year, the European Union unanimously approved nine sanctions packages against the Russian Federation.
In the coming days, the EU also will look at the tenth package – not only from the side of the EU but with its partners and allies – the G7 states. Also, the EU is doing everything in its power to ensure the widest possible coalition and vote for sanctions and make their circumvention impossible, he said.
