Ukraine war latest: EU agrees on 'one of its strongest' Russia sanctions packages after Slovakia lifts veto
Key developments on July 18:
- EU agrees on 'one of its strongest' Russia sanctions packages after Slovakia lifts veto
- UK sanctions Russian intelligence units involved in cyberattacks
- Ukrainian drones reportedly attack Moscow for second night in a row
- Ukrainian hackers wipe databases at Russia's Gazprom in major cyberattack, intelligence source says
- Ukraine raises flags in villages near Dnipropetrovsk Oblast's borders, refuting Russia's claims of capture
European Union member states on July 18 agreed on the 18th package of sanctions imposed against Russia over its aggression against Ukraine.
"The EU just approved one of its strongest sanctions packages against Russia to date," Kaja Kallas, the bloc's top diplomat, said on X.
The EU has vowed to ramp up economic pressure on Russia as it continues to reject a ceasefire in Ukraine and intensifies aerial strikes against Ukrainian cities.
The package includes lowering the price cap on Russian oil from $60 to $47.6 per barrel. The cap was originally imposed by the G7 in late 2022 to curtail Russia's oil revenues without destabilizing global markets.
The U.K. has joined an EU initiative to lower the price cap on Russian seaborne oil exports to $47.6 per barrel, the British government announced on July 18.
The sanctions further contain measures against 105 vessels of Russia's "shadow fleet" and their enablers, the Russian banking system, and a ban on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea.
Russian fossil fuel exports are a crucial part of the country's revenues, helping the Kremlin sustain its war against Ukraine.
"We are putting more pressure on Russia’s military industry, Chinese banks that enable sanctions evasion, and blocking tech exports used in drones," Kallas said.
For the first time, the EU is also sanctioning a flag registry and the Russian oil giant Rosneft's biggest Indian refinery. The bloc is further targeting "those indoctrinating Ukrainian children," the EU diplomat said.
Brussels is newly tightening restrictions on the import of Russian oil products via third-party countries and sanctioning an entity from the Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector.
The bloc also ended an import ban exemption on Russian oil for Czechia, after the Central European country announced it had become independent of Russian supplies.
Overall, the 18th package targets 14 individuals and 41 entities engaged in the Russian defense, finance, and other sectors, bringing the total number of EU listings since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion to over 2,500.
"We welcome the EU's 18th sanctions package against Russia — the most comprehensive to date," Ukraine's Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal said. "Every measure chips away at the aggressor’s capacity to wage war."
President Volodymyr Zelensky called the decision "timely, especially now, as a response to the fact that Russia has intensified the brutality of the strikes on our cities and villages."
"We are promptly preparing the synchronization of European sanctions in Ukraine, and we are also preparing new sanctions decisions, both at the level of partners and within Ukrainian jurisdiction," he added.
The agreement follows Slovakia's announcement that it is ready to back the package after blocking it six times due to concerns over the phase-out of Russian gas.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, whose government has repeatedly aligned itself with Moscow's positions, said on July 17 that "negotiating options have been exhausted for now, and continuing our blocking position would now endanger our interests."
Fico noted the European Commission has given Slovakia, one of the EU countries that continues to be heavily dependent on Russian gas, written assurances concerning the planned phase-out of Russian gas to gain the country's support.
UK sanctions Russian intelligence units involved in cyberattacks
The British government sanctioned three Russian military intelligence units and 18 officers on July 18 for their involvement in a long-running campaign of cyberattacks and reconnaissance.
The sanctions target operatives of Russia's military intelligence (GRU) responsible for widespread malicious cyber activity in the U.K. and Europe, the Foreign Office said.
One of the sanctioned units conducted online reconnaissance that helped coordinate Russian missile strikes on Mariupol in 2022, including the March 16 bombing of the city's drama theater where hundreds of civilians, including children, were sheltering, according to the Foreign Office.
Estimates put the death toll between 300 and 900, according to an Associated Press investigation and figures from exiled local officials.
The Foreign Office said GRU cyber operations in the U.K. targeted media outlets, political institutions, telecommunications providers, and energy infrastructure.
"GRU spies are running a campaign to destabilize Europe, undermine Ukraine's sovereignty, and threaten the safety of British citizens," U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said.
"The Kremlin should be in no doubt: we see what they are trying to do in the shadows and we won't tolerate it. That's why we're taking decisive action with sanctions against Russian spies."
The sanctions also include officers allegedly involved in infecting Yulia Skripal's device with the X-Agent malware years before the 2018 Novichok assassination attempt on her and her father, former double agent Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury.
"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin's hybrid threats and aggression will never break our resolve," Lammy said. "The U.K. and our allies' support for Ukraine and Europe's security is ironclad."
The move coincides with the European Union's approval of its 18th sanctions package against Russia over its ongoing war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian drones reportedly attack Moscow for second night in a row
Moscow came under drone attack for the second consecutive night, with explosions also reported in several other Russian oblasts, local Telegram channels, and the Russian Defense Ministry claimed on July 18.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said four Ukrainian drones were shot down on approach to the capital, with blasts heard near Zvenigorod, Istra, and Zelenograd — suburban districts and satellite towns located to the west and northwest of central Moscow.
Residents reported the sounds of explosions in multiple parts of the greater Moscow area overnight, according to Russian Telegram channels.
Sobyanin did not provide details on possible damage or casualties as a result of the attacksю
Flight operations were temporarily suspended at multiple airports, including Moscow's largest ones — Domodedovo, Vnukovo, and Zhukovsky — as well as Nizhny Novgorod's Strigino and Kaluga's Grabtsevo Airport. All airports have since resumed operations.
In Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, at least five explosions were reported, with Russian news outlet Shot saying air defenses targeted drones near an industrial zone with munitions production facilities. Additional blasts were heard near Oryol, the channel said.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed its air defenses had intercepted and destroyed 73 fixed-wing Ukrainian drones overnight, including 10 over Moscow Oblast.
The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the claims.
The latest wave follows a series of reported Ukrainian drone attacks across Russia on July 17, including strikes on Moscow, St. Petersburg, Belgorod, Voronezh, and other oblasts. Ukraine has not commented on the overnight drone activity.
Ukrainian hackers wipe databases at Russia's Gazprom in major cyberattack, intelligence source says
Cyber specialists from Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) have carried out a large-scale cyberattack against the network infrastructure of Russian energy giant Gazprom, causing significant disruptions, a HUR source told the Kyiv Independent on July 18.
The alleged operation took place on July 17 and targeted systems used by Gazprom and its subsidiaries, which Ukraine's intelligence claims are directly involved in supporting Russia's war effort.
Gazprom is Russia's state-owned energy company, one of the world's largest gas producers and exporters.
The cyberattack allegedly destroyed large volumes of data and installed custom software designed to further damage the company's information systems.
"The degradation of Russian information systems to the technological Middle Ages continues," the source within the HUR told the Kyiv Independent.
"We congratulate Russian 'cyber specialists' on this new achievement and recommend they gradually replace their mice and keyboards with hammers and pincers."
According to the source, access to Gazprom's internal systems was disabled for nearly 20,000 system administrators, and backup copies of key databases were wiped. The attack reportedly affected approximately 390 subsidiary companies and branches, including Gazprom Teplo Energo, Gazprom Obl Energo, and Gazprom Energozbyt.
The sources said the attackers managed to destroy clusters of "extremely powerful" servers running 1C, a software widely used for managing documents and contracts, analytics data for pipelines, valves, pumps, and SCADA systems — key elements in operating Gazprom's technical infrastructure.
Multiple servers reportedly had operating systems removed or disabled, and the BIOS (basic firmware) of many devices was damaged, making them inoperable without physical repairs.
The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify these claims. Gazprom and Russian authorities have not publicly commented on the reported incident.
Ukraine raises flags in villages near Dnipropetrovsk Oblast's borders, refuting Russia's claims of capture
Ukrainian soldiers raised flags in two eastern settlements lying near Donetsk Oblast's administrative border with Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine's 20th Corps said on July 17, dismissing Russian claims of capturing the territory.
"Fighters from the 31st Separate Mechanized Brigade and the 505th Separate Marine Battalion have raised their battle flags in the settlements of Voskresenka and Yalta in Donetsk Oblast," the 20th Corps said in a statement on social media.
The Russian military claimed it had captured Yalta on June 25 and Voskresenka on July 15.
"While Russian propagandists report daily on their 'advances' and 'capture of new positions,' our warriors quietly, without fanfare, enter these so-called 'captured' territories and raise Ukrainian flags over them," the Ukrainian military said.
The 20th Corps published undated footage showing Ukrainian soldiers raising flags in what it said was Yalta and Voskresenka, as well as recordings of first-person-view (FPV) drones targeting Russian soldiers.
DeepState, a Ukrainian open-source monitoring group, said Yalta was occupied by Russia as of July 16, while Voskresenka remains largely in Ukrainian hands, with part of the settlement in a contested area.
The two villages lie at the western edge of Donetsk Oblast, close to the administrative border of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, a central-eastern region. Russian forces have been attempting to enter over the past few months.
Kyiv acknowledged small Russian units entering the Dnipropterovsk Oblast village of Dachne — 5 kilometers (3 miles) east of Yalta — on several occasions, but claimed Ukrainian defenders have been able to throw Moscow's troops back.
The news comes as Russia continues to grind forward with its summer offensive, which has been ongoing since May. Ukraine has been largely on the defensive in the east, with Russia steadily pushing forward.
There are concerns that Russian forces could scale up their offensive in Donetsk Oblast in the coming weeks, aiming to advance toward strategically important towns of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka.
Last month, Russia also opened a new offensive in northeastern Sumy Oblast to carve out a buffer zone in the area, though its advances there have been limited, experts told the Kyiv Independent.
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