Zelenskyy on US sanctions against Russian oil: Similar steps needed in future to curb Russia's arrogance
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy supported the imposition of US sanctions against Russian oil companies and called for further similar measures, commenting on the occupiers' attack on a children's hospital in Kherson.
“And this year, as the United States has made such significant efforts to end the war, the Russians have only increased the audacity and scale of their strikes. Nothing convinces Russia except pressure and strength. America’s recent step was the right one—substantial sanctions against Russian oil companies. Such measures must continue—to rein in Russia’s brazenness, deprive it of the means to prolong the war, and create a real motive for Moscow to end this war. Terrorists must be dealt with only as they deserve—with strength and just treatment,” Zelenskyy said on X Wednesday.
The President called the Russian attack on the hospital in Kherson deliberate. “They could not have been unaware of where they were striking. This was a deliberate Russian attack specifically against children, against medical personnel, against basic guarantees of life in the community. The hospital sustained heavy damage, and sadly, there are injured among both the staff and the children who were being treated there. The youngest wounded child is eight years old—the boy himself was wounded, as were his mother and brother. At the moment of the strike, about a hundred people were inside the hospital. And Russia is not even ashamed to consider such facilities as targets,” he said.
The head of state noted that “Russia is now the largest terrorist organization in the world, which is not only dragging out its terrorist war but also trying to do everything possible to ensure that no opportunity to end the war succeeds. Russia deliberately undermines every meaningful diplomatic effort, discredits those helping to protect life, and seeks to create new sources of destabilization in Europe to make it harder for Europeans to assist Ukraine,” Zelenskyy noted.
Nine people, including four children and three medical workers, were reportedly injured when Russian forces shelled a children's hospital in Kherson on Wednesday morning. The hospital sustained significant damage, and the blast wave damaged adjacent structures. A pre-trial investigation has been launched for a war crime (Part 1, Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
