Zelensky signs decrees sanctioning Russian missile-industry workers, financial evasion network, and occupied-territory collaborators

Why it matters

The decrees extend personal sanctions liability to specific engineers, technologists and production managers inside Russia's missile supply chain, going beyond the already-sanctioned enterprises. By simultaneously targeting sanctions evasion in crypto and shadow banking and Russian-aligned activity on occupied territory, the move frames a broad counter-pressure against the financial and logistical machinery of the war. The Office of the President anchored the timing in its weekly tally of 153 killed and 723 wounded in a single week of strikes, underscoring the urgency behind singling out those who build the missiles. Publishing the decrees as numbered official acts also formalises the policy and sets up Kyiv's push for partners to fully synchronize their own sanctions lists.

What happened

On Sunday, 11 October 2026, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed three decrees putting into effect decisions of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (RNBO). The first decree imposes sanctions on 70 Russian individuals who work in the production of Iskander-M and Zircon (Tsirkon) ballistic missiles. These are engineers, technologists and production managers drawn from enterprises that form the missile supply chain, including the Votkinsk plant, the V.V. Bakhirev Institute of Machine Building, Radar MMS, Granit-Elektron, Anozit, Aviatek, Metafrax Chemicals, Altai, Nevinnomyssky Azot, Azot, Salyut, Strela, VNIIR-Progress, Mashinostroitel, Avangard, the Sverdlov and Morozov plants, the Voskresensky Aggregate Plant, and the Polyus and Submikron research institutes. These enterprises were already under Ukrainian sanctions and partially under sanctions by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia, Japan, Canada and New Zealand.

The second decree targets 28 individuals and 27 legal entities that help Russia circumvent financial sanctions, including operators of cryptocurrency exchanges, exchange services and their managers and owners, as well as managers and owners of companies belonging to the A7 shadow banking network, which the Office of the President says publicly offers financial sanctions evasion tools. The United States had previously sanctioned the A7 network.

The third decree covers 10 individuals and 21 legal entities, along with two maritime vessels, acting as Russian accomplices on temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories. The sanctioned parties include collaborators and enterprises providing internet and television services, conducting geological exploration, and producing electronics and metal products on occupied land. Under this decree the list also includes citizens of Kyrgyzstan, Romania and Belarus alongside Russian nationals. The three decrees were published on the presidential website as numbers №1035/2026, №1036/2026 and №1037/2026.

How Ukrainian sources describe it

All available reporting comes from Ukrainian-language media and agencies, and they frame the decrees uniformly as a direct response to the intensity of Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities in the preceding week. Outlets cite the Office of the President's tally of 153 people killed and 723 wounded, along with roughly 1,450 aerial bombs, more than 1,640 strike drones and 75 missiles used in a single week, to explain why missile-industry personnel are being personally sanctioned. Reports quote presidential sanctions adviser Vladyslav Vlasyuk stressing that those who assemble missiles used against Ukrainian cities will face personal liability, and place the package in the context of an ongoing sanctions campaign that began in August with measures against former MP Yuriy Ivanyushchenko and the creators of the cartoon "Masha and the Bear," and continued in September with measures against those who helped organise Russia's "elections" in occupied territory. Ukrainian sources also note Kyiv's intent to push partners toward full synchronisation of sanctions.

Background

The 11 October decrees are part of an ongoing Ukrainian sanctions drive against Russia. On 21 August 2026 Zelensky signed sanctions against former Ukrainian MP Yuriy Ivanyushchenko, the creators of the Russian cartoon series "Masha and the Bear," and Russian and Chinese enterprises supplying components for the Russian defense-industrial complex in circumvention of restrictions. On 26 September he imposed restrictions on those who helped conduct Russia's "elections" in the occupied territories. On 7 October EU member-state ambassadors agreed on EU sanctions against 743 individuals and 826 companies linked to the Russian military-industrial complex, the largest EU sanctions list so far, originally proposed by the European External Action Service in September and announced in late August by EU chief diplomat Kaja Kallas. The A7 shadow banking network, which the Office of the President says openly offers financial sanctions evasion tools, had previously been sanctioned by the United States.