Kremlin vows to ‘increase force' of attacks on Ukraine despite EU sanctions

Irish Independent

6 days ago

Mr Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's security council, made his comments after the EU agreed a new package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine.
In a post on his official Telegram channel, Mr Medvedev said the new sanctions would do little to alter Russia's stance on the conflict, just as previous rounds of sanctions had failed to make an impact.
Mr Medvedev, who has emerged as one of the Kremlin's top hawks, said Russia planned to intensify its strikes on Ukraine. 'Strikes against targets in so-called Ukraine, including Kyiv, will be carried out with increasing force', Mr Medvedev said.
US president Donald Trump announced a toughened stance against Russia on Monday, promising a fresh wave of missiles and other weaponry, including Patriot missile defence systems capable of destroying Russian ballistic missiles.
He also gave Russia 50 days to sign up to a ceasefire or face new sanctions.
The EU yesterday agreed an 18th package of sanctions against Russia, including measures aimed at dealing further blows to the Russian oil and energy industry.
The bloc will set a moving price cap on Russian crude oil at 15pc below its average market price, EU diplomats said.
This aims to improve on a largely ineffective $60 (€52) per barrel cap that the G7 economies have tried to impose since December 2022.
'The EU just approved one of its strongest sanctions packages against Russia to date,' EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X.
'We will keep raising the costs, so stopping the aggression becomes the only path forward for Moscow.'
The UK also announced it would join the price cap move, saying it would deal a blow to Moscow's oil revenues used to finance the ongoing conflict.
Earlier yesterday, Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin did not believe that the tougher stance Mr Trump has adopted towards Russia means the end of US-Russia talks aimed at improving the relationship between the two countries.
Asked if Mr Trump's statements meant that negotiations aimed at reviving battered ties between Moscow and Washington would now end, Mr Peskov said: 'We assume that this is not what it means. Of course, these are different issues. One issue is the question of the Ukrainian [peace] settlement. The other issue is our bilateral relations.'
Mr Peskov said many 'irritants' and problems still needed to be resolved in order to improve ties with Washington, which he said were 'in a deplorable state'. He called efforts to change the situation time-consuming and difficult.
Moscow's dialogue with Washington appeared to improve after Mr Trump retook office in January, but Mr Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Vladimir Putin over conditions the Russian president has attached to any potential ceasefire.
Russia and Ukraine held two rounds of peace talks in Turkey earlier this year, which yielded an agreement to exchange prisoners and soldiers' remains.
But no date has yet been set for a third round of talks, and the warring sides remain far apart on the terms of any ceasefire or eventual peace settlement.
Ms Svyrydenko negotiated a high-level deal offering the US preferential access to Ukraine's mineral wealth
Ukraine and the US, meanwhile, have been holding detailed talks on a deal involving US investment in Kyiv's domestic drone production, new Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko said yesterday.
Her announcement came a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky tasked a new, reshuffled government with scaling up Ukraine's arms industry and strengthening ties with its strategic partners.
Ms Svyrydenko, speaking alongside several other new ministers in Kyiv, said the deal would also lead to the US – Ukraine's biggest military backer – purchasing Ukrainian drones.
'We plan to sign a drone deal with the United States. We are discussing investments in the expansion of production of Ukrainian drones by the US,' she said. 'That is, we are talking about the purchase of a large batch of Ukrainian drones.'
Ms Svyrydenko added that a political decision on the deal had been made by Mr Zelensky and Mr Trump, and that officials were hashing out the details.
Mr Zelensky told the New York Post this week that he and Mr Trump were considering a deal for Washington to buy battlefield-tested Ukrainian drones in exchange for Kyiv purchasing weapons from the US.
The Ukrainian government under Ms Svyrydenko is expected to shore up ties with the Trump administration.
Ms Svyrydenko is well-known in Washington, having negotiated a high-level deal offering the US preferential access to Ukraine's mineral wealth. The deal will feed a reconstruction fund.