US unveils massive tranche of sanctions targeting Russia as Biden announces new aid for Kyiv

The sanctions from the US Treasury and State Departments hit nearly 400 people and entities both in and outside Russia, including China.

The sanctions – unveiled ahead of Ukrainian Independence Day – specifically target those supporting the Russian supply chain and defense base, as well as those helping Moscow to evade current sanctions. In a further show of support for Ukraine, Biden on Friday announced a new aid package that includes air defense missiles and counter-drone equipment.

“When Russia’s senseless war began, Ukraine was a free country,” Biden wrote in a lengthy statement. “Today, it is still a free country. And the war will end with Ukraine remaining a free, sovereign, and independent country.”

Biden, who spoke Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said that for two and a half years, the Ukrainian people had “repelled Russia’s vicious onslaught, including retaking more than half of the territory Russian forces seized in the initial days of the war” and had “remained unbowed in the face of Russia’s heinous war crimes and atrocities.”

“And day after day, they have defended the values that unite people across both of our nations and around the world—including independence,” Biden wrote. “That is why I am proud we will announce a new package of military aid for Ukraine today.”

In addition to air defense equipment, the package includes anti-armor missiles and ammunition.

“Make no mistake: Russia will not prevail in this conflict,” he wrote. “The independent people of Ukraine will prevail—and the United States, our Allies, and our partners, will continue to stand with them every step of the way.”

“We continue to support Ukraine’s fight for their independence, and independence that that they have had to defend pretty mightily here over the last two and a half years,” National Security Council communications adviser John Kirby told reporters Friday morning. “And so, I suspect that as we officially mark their Independence Day … you’ll see that we will back up that philosophical support for their independence with more tangible support as well, including in particular more security assistance coming to Ukraine to help them as they defend themselves.”

‘Enduring commitment’

Friday’s slew of sanctions – which Biden called “part of our enduring commitment to hold Russia accountable for its aggression” – specifically crack down on a number of Chinese-based companies. The US and its European partners have expressed strong concern about Beijing’s support for Russia’s war economy and its export of dual-use items for use in the war in Ukraine.

July’s NATO Summit declaration called Beijing “a decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine” and warned that China “cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history without this negatively impacting its interests and reputation.” US officials said they had warned their Chinese counterparts about the risk of supporting Moscow’s war effort.

A State Department fact sheet said it remains “concerned by the magnitude of dual-use goods exports from the PRC to Russia,” using the acronym for China’s formal name, the People’s Republic of China.

“Russia continues to leverage sanctions evasion and circumvention networks” to get microelectronics and machine tools “which it uses to make weapons,” it said. “Imports from the PRC are filling critical gaps in Russia’s defense production cycle, thereby enabling it to produce weapons, ramp up defense production, and bolster its military-industrial base.”

“Today, the Department is also designating several PRC-based entities that have supplied goods supporting Russia’s war effort, including ones responsible for developing, producing, and supplying manufacturing equipment to entities based in Russia,” the fact sheet said.

Treasury said it is targeting “numerous transnational networks, including those involved in procuring ammunition and military materiel for Russia, facilitating sanctions evasion for Russian oligarchs through offshore trust and corporate formation services, evading sanctions imposed on Russia’s cyber actors, laundering gold for a sanctioned Russian gold company, and supporting Russia’s military-industrial base by procuring sensitive and critical items such as advanced machine tools and electronic components.”

It is “also targeting Russian financial technology companies that provide necessary software and IT solutions for Russia’s financial sector,” the press release said.

At the same time, the State Department “is targeting entities and individuals involved in Russia’s future energy, metals, and mining production and exports; sanctions evasion; Russia’s military-industrial base, including armed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) production, Belarusian support for Russia’s war effort, and air logistics entities; additional subsidiaries of State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom; and malign actors involved in the attempted, forcible ‘re-education’ of Ukraine’s children,” the Treasury Department press release said.

The new round of sanctions come as Ukraine has launched an audacious incursion into Russia’s Kursk region that has left Moscow on the back foot for the first time in months. On Tuesday, Ukrainian military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said troops had advanced up to 35 kilometers (21.7 miles) through Russian defenses since the start of their surprise assault, capturing 93 settlements.

Kirby said Friday that “it’s too soon to know whether what’s going on in Kursk … the potential impact that that could have in terms of escalation, but it is something that we remain concerned about.”

-CNN