Zelensky orders special operations against Russia’s military-industrial complex

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ordered special operations against Russia’s military-industrial complex, instructing the government to prepare what he called a “special sanctions operation” targeting specific companies that fuel Moscow’s war machine.

Speaking following a coordination meeting with Ukraine’s military and political leadership, Zelensky said the operations would be directed against “specific companies that we have already identified.” All participants in the meeting were given specific assignments.

“I expect them to be carried out in full,” Zelensky said in a statement published on Facebook.

Zelensky warned that Russia’s defense industry must be “significantly undermined,” stressing that delays in imposing new restrictions give Moscow time to adapt to existing sanctions. The statement came in the wake of the European Union’s 21st sanctions package against Russia, finalized in mid-July, which targeted companies, organizations, and individuals involved in the war effort and set a price cap on crude oil exports at approximately €38 per barrel.

Foreign components in Russian weapons

Zelensky drew attention to persistent gaps in international export controls, lamenting that Russian weapons continue to be built using foreign components.

“We see that every Russian missile, every drone, and other types of weapons contain critically important components from other countries, without which such weapons simply could not exist,” Zelensky said.

According to Kyiv Post, approximately 35,000 foreign components were used in Russia’s missile and drone strike on Ukraine on July 2. Forensic analysis of debris following the Russian strike on Bila Tserkva on May 24 found parts manufactured in the United States, Taiwan, Japan, China, Belarus, and Switzerland inside an Iskander-M ballistic missile.

Zelensky also raised the issue of Russia’s dependence on machine tools and technologies that “Moscow is a full generation behind and clearly could not have created on its own,” calling for increased pressure to sever such ties between the aggressor state and the international community.

Growing threats

The order was signed against a backdrop of mounting threats to Ukraine. According to Kyiv Post, North Korea is reportedly preparing to transfer a missile unit to Russia capable of deploying up to 120 ballistic missiles for strikes against Ukraine.

In recent months, Ukraine has stepped up strikes on Russian oil infrastructure and defense plants, using long-range drones capable of hitting targets thousands of kilometers deep inside Russian territory — as far as Siberia.