Russian drones used to strike Ukrainian cities last week contained newly manufactured Western components despite sanctions, Ukraine's presidential commissioner for sanctions policy Vladyslav Vlasiuk said in comments to Suspilne.
According to Vlasiuk, Russia has not reduced the intensity of strikes on Ukrainian cities, with Odesa, Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Ternopil, and Kharkiv among the targets. Shahed-type strike drones are being used en masse, and Kharkiv is additionally being hit with V2U-type drones, he said.
"What is telling is something else: in the drones that attacked Ukraine last week, we again find new, fresh components, 2025 production from Germany, Japan, Switzerland, the US, as well as Taiwan and the United Kingdom," Vlasiuk said. He added that a new element was registered for the first time — an activation unit labelled Transit Brd.
All data on the components have already been passed to partners, the commissioner said.
Swiss parts persist, Dutch parts gone
Vlasiuk reported that the Ukrainian side continues to detect Swiss STMicroelectronics parts in Russian weapons, noting that Kyiv regularly calls on the producer "to control where exactly their products are sold."
He emphasized that Moscow continues to find access to Western technologies despite restrictions, which is why, in his words, sanctions pressure must constantly be tightened and such supply channels closed off.
"At the same time, there is a result. In new drone samples, we practically do not see components from the Netherlands. This is direct proof that systematic work with partners produces effects and allows cutting off access to critical technologies," Vlasiuk said.
Long-range sanctions and the oil sector
Vlasiuk added that Ukraine continues to expand so-called long-range sanctions, which, he said, have already cost Russia at least $7 billion in losses, and that this instrument will be expanded.
The commissioner also reported that Kyiv is working on a list of critical equipment for oil refineries and oil pumping stations, in order to restrict its export to Russia and reduce the Kremlin revenues used to finance the war against Ukraine.
"Our approach is simple: to cut off access to technologies used in the war, and in parallel to reduce the resources by which this war is waged. We have passed all the information to our partners," Vlasiuk concluded.
Earlier, Vlasiuk said that following the EU's adoption of the 20th sanctions package against Russia, Ukraine had started consultations on the next set of restrictions. Kyiv is proposing that partners focus on further measures against banks and on definitively closing Moscow's circumvention of restrictions through cryptocurrency.
