Kyiv Imposes New Sanctions on Russian Missile Makers, Propagandists

Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) approved a new package of sanctions against Russia on Friday, April 18, targeting missile manufacturers, cultural figures, and companies allegedly involved in supporting the Kremlin’s war effort.

The sanctions, detailed in Presidential Decrees No. 246 and No. 247, were published on the president’s website the same dsy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the measures at a briefing the day before, saying they would mainly affect producers of Iskander missiles and Russian propagandists. The decrees contains three separate sanctions lists.

The first list targets 20 Russian cultural and sports figures, including actors Irina Apeksimova, Vitaly Gogunsky, Nikita Dzhigurda, and Sergei Polunin; singers Yaroslav Dronov (known as Shaman), Garik Sukachev, and Alexander Rosenbaum, and Nikolai Rastorguev, who is rumored to be Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s favorite singer.

The second list includes 38 additional individuals whose names were not immediately disclosed.

The third list names 60 legal entities, among them Russian defense and industrial companies such as Altai Chemical Plant, Baltic Industrial Company, JSC Vector, Elektrostal Metallurgical Plant, and Tula Plant of Rubber Technical Products.

Several foreign firms, including Belarus-based Svetlogorsk Chemical Fiber and several Chinese companies (Beijing Aviation And Aerospace Xianghui Technology Co. Ltd., Rui Jin Machinery Co. Ltd., Zhongfu Shenying Carbon Fiber Xining Co. Ltd ) are also sanctioned.

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Vladyslav Vlasyuk, Ukraine’s commissioner for sanctions policy, confirmed the targeted enterprises are involved in the production of Iskander ballistic missiles.

“In recent weeks, the enemy has launched several strikes with cruise and ballistic Iskander missiles,” Vlasyuk wrote on Facebook. “All were made in 2023–2024, using foreign components and equipment. These sanctions aim to complicate the production of such weapons.”

The latest measures follow additional sanctions issued earlier this month. On April 11, Ukraine sanctioned Russian propaganda entities linked to Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Kremlin former Ukrainian lawmaker, as well as media personalities Vadim Karasev, Yuri Bardash, and Denis Zharkikh.