Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, announced on 2 July that she will present a proposal for fresh sanctions against entities linked to Russia’s military-industrial complex. The move came hours after a large-scale Russian missile and drone strike on Kyiv that, according to Ukrainian authorities cited in French press, killed at least 13 people and wounded dozens. The EU confirmed its personnel in the capital were unharmed. Kallas, writing on social media, stated that “condemnatory words alone will not stop the attacks” and that the bloc would “keep raising the price until Russia understands it cannot win.”

The Russian Ministry of Defence described the overnight operation as a “massive strike” using long-range precision weapons against Ukrainian defence industry enterprises, military infrastructure, logistics centres, and energy facilities supporting arms and drone production. It specifically named the Radioniks company, which manufactures guidance systems for missiles, as a target. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, responding to Kallas’s announcement, said Moscow would “continue to intensify pressure on the Kyiv regime” to achieve the objectives of what it terms its special military operation. The Russian defence ministry added that Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov had reported to President Vladimir Putin on the operation.

Viewed from Brussels, the proposed sanctions represent a continuation of the EU’s dual-track approach: sustained military and financial assistance to Ukraine alongside economic coercion aimed at degrading Russia’s war-making capacity. Kallas noted that the EU had already begun disbursing a €90 billion loan to bolster Ukraine’s defence capabilities. The new listings, expected to be formally tabled on 3 July, would expand the bloc’s blacklist of legal entities accused of supporting the Russian defence sector, a mechanism the EU has used repeatedly since February 2022. European officials have signalled that the package will target additional organisations involved in the production and supply of weapons components.

The exchange underscores the entrenched positions of both sides. The EU frames sanctions as a necessary response to strikes on Ukrainian cities and a tool to alter Moscow’s calculus, while Russian officials present the military operations as legitimate and signal no change in strategy. The dossier now moves to EU member states for deliberation on the proposed designations, a process that typically requires unanimity. No timeline for a decision has been specified, but the proposal is expected to be discussed in the coming days.