Russia’s Medvedev says Moscow will withstand the new EU sanctions as strikes on Ukraine escalate

On July 18, 2025, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, dismissed the European Union’s latest sanctions package, predicting that Russia’s economy would withstand the measures as it has previous rounds.

In a defiant Telegram post, Medvedev vowed to intensify Russian strikes on Ukraine, including Kyiv, signaling an escalation in response to Western pressure.

EU’s 18th sanctions package: targeting oil and energy

The EU’s latest sanctions, adopted on 18 July, introduce a dynamic price cap on Russian crude oil set at 15% below the average market price – approximately $47.60 per barrel based on current Brent futures of about $70. This replaces the G7’s largely ineffective $60-per-barrel cap from December 2022, which Russia circumvented using a “shadow fleet” of tankers.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called it one of the bloc’s strongest packages, designed to make “stopping the aggression the only path forward for Moscow.”

The UK joined the price cap initiative, with Finance Minister Rachel Reeves stating it would further restrict Russia’s war funding.

The package also blacklists 105 shadow fleet vessels, bans transactions with Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipelines, and restricts 22 Russian banks, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, and Chinese banks facilitating sanctions evasion.

Fuels refined from Russian petroleum in third countries, including a Rosneft-owned refinery in India, are also targeted.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the measures as “essential and timely,” while Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stressed that cutting Russia’s oil revenues is critical to ending its aggression.

Implementation faced hurdles, with Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico initially opposing the package to secure energy price concessions, and shipping nations like Greece, Cyprus, and Malta expressing concerns about impacts on their industries.

The U.S. declined to support lowering the G7 cap, limiting the EU’s enforcement power due to the dollar’s dominance in oil transactions. Analysts doubt the sanctions will significantly disrupt Russia’s oil exports, as Moscow has adapted to prior restrictions.

Battlefield dynamics: Ukrainian defense of Pokrovsk

On the frontline, Ukrainian forces are holding firm in defending Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub in Donetsk with a pre-war population of 60,000, now largely evacuated. Ukraine’s top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, reported that troops are resisting intense Russian pressure in the Pokrovsk and Novopavlivka sectors, thwarting small infantry and sabotage groups attempting to break through.

Zelenskyy praised the defenders, emphasizing that Russian sabotage units have “no chance of survival” in their attempts to infiltrate Ukrainian cities.

Russia has made slow but steady gains in Donetsk, capturing villages like Popiv Yar near Pokrovsk as part of a strategy to envelop key strongholds. Since November 2024, Russian forces have advanced approximately 1,394 square kilometres in the Pokrovsk direction, averaging 5.5 square kilometres per day, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

Employing a doctrinal approach of slow envelopments, Russia aims to bypass Ukraine’s fortified defences, targeting areas like Pokrovske and potentially Zaporizhzhia City. Ukrainian counterattacks have inflicted heavy losses, but sustained Western military aid remains critical to halting Russian progress and enabling territorial recovery.

With Reuters. Edited by g.g.

Caption: Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev speaks during a session titled ‘Our dangerous world: who is to blame and what to do?’ of the Znaniye.Pervye (Knowledge: The First Ones) educational marathon at the Victory Museum on Poklonnaya Gora in Moscow, Russia, 28 April 2025. EPA/EKATERINA SHTUKINA/ SPUTNIK / GOVERNMENT PRESS SERVICE / POOL

• EU sanctions
• Russian invasion
• Ukraine

Updated: July 19, 2025 - 08:00