Zelenskyy calls for new sanctions in response to “rouble occupation” of South Ukraine

Kateryna Tyshchenko - Sunday, 17 April 2022, 23:36

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calls on partners to impose full sanctions on Russia's banking and financial system in response to Russia's actions in the Kherson and Zaporizhia oblasts (regions) of Ukraine.

Source: Presidential video address

Quote: "The democratic world must respond to what the aggressors are doing in the south of our country, in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts."

"Torture centres are being built there, local authorities and anyone deemed important to the local communities are being abducted. Teachers are being blackmailed, money for pensions is being stolen, humanitarian aid is being blocked and stolen, and people are being starved."

"The aggressors are also trying to split off the Kherson and Zaporizhia oblasts, on the model of the so-called ‘DPR’ and ‘LPR’ (‘Donetsk People's Republic’ and ‘Luhansk People's Republic’ -ed.), transferring these territories to the ruble zone and subordinating them to Russia's administrative machine."

"All of this requires that Western countries prepare a new, powerful sanctions package much faster. The response to the attempted ruble occupation of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts should be to impose sanctions on the whole Russian banking and financial system, since they are part of the occupation machine."