Kiev, 29 January 2023 (dpa/MIA) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has enacted sanctions on 185 companies and individuals that support Russia’s war, now in its 12th month.

The companies and business people who transport personnel and military equipment by rail on behalf of the “aggressor state” will be punished, Zelensky said in his evening video address. He said the assets seized would be used to benefit the national defence effort.

Belarusian companies assisting Russia with the shipments are also on the list of 182 companies and three individuals.

Zelensky also said Ukraine is working to ensure that other states also blocked the companies’ assets and he thanked “all those who help strengthen sanctions against Russia” and investigators who are revealing and prosecuting Russia’s evasion of the punitive measures.

Zelensky also repeated his demand that Russia be excluded from next year’s Olympic Games in Paris and said he has written to the presidents of the leading international sports federations to commit themselves as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) weighs readmitting Russian athletes to world sports.

In the city of Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region, Russian missile attacks on residential buildings killed three people and injured 14 others on Saturday, Zelensky said.

Referring to the prospect of military aid from the West, the president stressed that Ukraine urgently needs longer-range missiles to repel such attacks.