Britain on Tuesday announced sanctions against 35 people and entities it said were involved in recruiting vulnerable migrants to fight for Russia in its war in Ukraine and produce drones for use in the conflict.
The Foreign Office announced 17 designations under its global irregular migration sanctions regime, relating to what it said were trafficking networks facilitating the travel of people to be sent “to the front line as cannon fodder.”
Britain also added 18 designations under its Russia sanctions regime, several of which related to a program that it said used “deceptive practices” to recruit people, largely from Cameroon, to produce drones.
Sanctions minister Stephen Doughty said in a statement: “The practice of exploiting vulnerable people to prop up Russia’s failing and illegal war in Ukraine is barbaric.”
He added that the sanctions would “disrupt the operations of those trafficking migrants as cannon fodder and feeding (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s drone factories with illicit components.”
Russian attack kills five at Ukraine’s Naftogaz gas production facilities, officials say
This comes as a Russian overnight missile and drone attack on Ukrainian gas production facilities killed five people, including two rescue workers, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday, as Kyiv and Moscow exchanged rival ceasefire proposals.
Serhiy Koretskyi, CEO of Ukraine’s state energy company Naftogaz, said Russian forces struck gas production facilities in the Poltava and Kharkiv regions. Three Naftogaz employees and two emergency service rescuers were killed, while 37 people were wounded, he said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attacks, accusing Moscow of “cynicism” after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday announced a brief ceasefire.
“It is utter cynicism to ask for a ceasefire in order to hold propaganda celebrations while carrying out such missile and drone strikes every single day leading up to it,” Zelensky said.
Putin declared a two-day ceasefire on May 8 to 9, to coincide with events marking the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two. Zelensky countered by proposing his own pause in fighting, starting on the night of May 5 to 6, without giving a timeframe of how long the truce should last.
Zelensky also said Russian forces struck critical infrastructure in the Dnipropetrovsk region, injuring three people and leaving thousands of families without electricity.
