Russo-Ukrainian war, day 1692: Trump suspends Russian diesel sanctions, while EU blacklists record 1,569 arms suppliers
Washington has suspended its new sanctions on Russian diesel, and bipartisan US senators say the deal conflicts with a 2022 ban and could help finance the war.
Three weeks after enacting new sanctions against Russia, the United States has suspended those sanctions for Russian diesel fuel. While Washington is easing up on Moscow, the European Union is tightening its grip on the country by blacklisting 1,569 arms suppliers. This is the largest sanctions round the EU has ever imposed.
Ukrainian military drones have struck three data centers belonging to the Russian tech giant Yandex over the course of four days. President Zelenskyy claims the drone strikes have thinned out Russia's forces. Meanwhile, Lithuania's prime minister is advocating for more drone strikes to protect elections.
Ukrainian marines have cleared approximately 6 square kilometers of territory near Pokrovsk without any casualties. The Russians they encountered were reportedly living on a weekly ration of canned meat. The deputy commander of Ukrainian forces reported that the operation also yielded significant intelligence, and that more surprises await Russia.
According to a NATO official, Russia sustained up to 28,000 casualties in September during its operations in Ukraine's kill zones. Russia continued to send troops into heavily drone-infested areas, resulting in an estimated 28,000 deaths. Ukrainian monitoring channel Exilenova+ reported heavy strikes in the region.
Facing shortfalls in interceptors, Ukraine has shifted its focus to targeting the launchers of Russian ballistic systems. Since September, eight Russian ballistic systems have been targeted, with three being destroyed, according to a defense minister. In an effort to pressure Russia, Ukraine's Defense Minister is pushing for bulk deliveries of anti-ballistic missiles rather than one-off deliveries.
NATO's top European commander stated that Russia's sabotage of Europe should result in increased weapons deliveries to Ukraine through the US purchase scheme. The PURL program has garnered nearly $5.5 billion in pledges before May. The PURL program allows allies to fund US-made weapons for Ukraine. A new interceptor was tested and successfully downed two jet drones over Kyiv. Mykhailo Fedorov and Lasar's Group commander Pavlo Yelizarov developed the drone in just one month, according to Fedorov.
Russia is developing a satellite network that could potentially target all of Europe. Oleksandr Danyliuk, head of the European defense-tech firm Destinus, warned that Russia's Rassvet system poses an extraordinary threat to both Ukraine and Europe. Russia has been hacking cameras across Europe to track arms destined for Ukraine. In 2024, Ukrainian Security Service reported that Russian hackers seized residential webcams in Kyiv.
Written by urgent.news from Euromaidan Press's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
