A Russian drone hit a market in Nikopol at about 9:50 a.m. on April 4, killing five people and injuring 19, according to Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General. Nikopol sits in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
It was one of two attacks reported that morning. In the city of Sumy, Russian strikes overnight on April 3-4 set fire to a high-rise residential building and left 11 people injured, a teenager among them.
New sanctions from Kyiv
The same day, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree putting into force a decision of the National Security and Defense Council to sanction Russian entities that support the country’s military-industrial complex or helped build the Kerch Bridge. The bridge is a road-rail link between the Russian mainland and Crimea, which Russia occupies.
The package names 26 individuals and 31 legal entities. Some of the companies build unmanned underwater, surface and aerial systems and the software behind them. Others make or service electronic warfare gear, air defense systems, armored vehicles, submarines, ships, auxiliary fleet vessels and port equipment. Aviation firms that produce or repair parts for Mi-8, Mi-17, Mi-171, Mi-172 and Mi-14 helicopters are on the list, as are companies doing business in occupied territories and those tied to construction of the Crimean Bridge.
Ukraine will give partners the information they need to line up sanctions across jurisdictions.
“These sanctions strike at the core of Russia’s military-industrial complex – from weapons manufacturers and critical component suppliers to networks that enable sanctions evasion,” said Vladyslav Vlasiuk, the president’s commissioner for sanctions policy. “We are systematically closing these channels, including activities in temporarily occupied territories. Pressure will only increase – both from our side and together with our partners.”
Ukrainian experts argue that several countries help Moscow by funding the Russian budget through trade. They name China, North Korea, Hungary, Slovakia, Iran, Serbia and Brazil.
Mapping the arms industry
Separately, the Ukrainian OSINT group Varta and the Lex Talionis project have published an interactive map of Russia’s defense sector. It covers more than 6,000 enterprises and their 1.2 million employees. Each entry describes the company’s activity and developments, and a categorization system lets users filter by type.
