The US, on Thursday, sanctioned 10 Russian naval entities. This comes in the backdrop of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington on Wednesday. Zelensky delivered a speech to Congress on the sidelines of the meeting and thanked the United States for its support of Ukraine in the conflict and pleaded for more weapons.
Asking Russia to end its 'brutal campaign' against Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, "These accountability measures underscore a simple message, the Kremlin must end its brutal campaign against Ukraine."
"We are committed to imposing additional severe consequences on President Putin and his enablers for Russian unconscionable war against Ukraine. In the wake of Russian naval operations against Ukrainian ports, including those that are providing much-needed food and grain to the world, the United States today is imposing sanctions on Russian naval entities," Blinken said.
However, Russia's mission to the United Nations in New York has not responded to this development. Since October, Moscow has been targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure with drone and missile strikes. Ukraine had said that its Black Sea port of Odesa could not operate for a day earlier this month and the ports of Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi had operated only partially after a Russian attack on the region's energy system.
(With inputs from agencies)
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