Ukraine's FM names way to pressure Putin into ending the war
Photo: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha (Getty Images)
An effective strategy to end Russia's war against Ukraine is to deprive the Kremlin of the resources that allow it to continue its aggression, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
According to the foreign minister, this involves comprehensive pressure on Russia across military, economic, political, and technological domains.
"The right strategy to force Putin to end the war is to deprive him of oxygen — militarily, economically, politically, technologically," he explained.
The minister stressed that Ukraine is already contributing to the implementation of such a strategy. In particular, Kyiv is applying long-range sanctions against Russian facilities, striking intermediate targets, and working to isolate the occupation forces logistically.
At the same time, Sybiha called on international partners to increase pressure on Russia across all fronts.
"Strangle Russia’s war machine, defund its war chest, and deprive Putin of any illusions that he might achieve any goals on the battlefield," he emphasized.
He believes that accumulating a critical mass of such measures could lead to real change and force Russia to reconsider its policy.
"Together, we can starve the Putin regime of oxygen and leave it no other way than to end the war. But the action needs to be taken now, not later," the head of Ukraine’s foreign ministry concluded.
In June, European Union leaders agreed to extend economic sanctions against Russia for another 12 months. This was the first time sanctions were extended for a full year, whereas they had previously been renewed every six months.
According to European officials, the move is intended to reduce the risk of political disputes over the sanctions regime. In recent years, sanctions extensions were repeatedly complicated by threats from individual EU countries to block or delay decisions.
