The EU has agreed on a new Russia sanctions package, with ambassadors reaching consensus on the bloc’s 18th sanctions round targeting key sectors of the Russian economy, Suspilne reports. Malta and Slovakia reportedly lifted their vetoes after receiving critical assurances, clearing the way for formal adoption at the EU Council’s meeting later today, 18 July.

Malta and Slovakia lift vetoes, clearing way for approval

According to Suspilne, Malta withdrew its objection after receiving written guarantees from the European Commission. The country wanted confirmation that the proposed oil price cap would not strengthen Russia’s shadow fleet, a concern tied to Malta’s large shipping sector.

Pro-Russian Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced earlier on Facebook that Slovakia had also dropped its veto. His government received EU guarantees related to gas prices and supply stability. Fico, however, underlined that Slovakia would never support ending Russian gas imports after 1 January 2028.

Both countries had previously blocked consensus on the package, which was introduced by the European Commission in June. 

Package includes pipeline bans and price cap changes

The new Russia sanctions package will include a formal ban on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said the bloc will also reduce the oil price cap as part of efforts to cut the Kremlin’s war revenues.

Kallas called the deal “one of the strongest” sanctions packages yet, noting it is designed to shrink Russia’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine. She also confirmed that the EU will continue to increase the costs of aggression for Moscow.

Germany and Sweden requested that the package be placed on the Council’s agenda under “Other business.” Once the General Affairs Council formally approves it, the sanctions will become legally binding.

Shadow fleet, banks, and drone tech also targeted

The package includes sanctions on 105 ships from Russia’s shadow fleet and on the entities enabling their operations. A registry of ship flags will be introduced to identify and track these vessels, which are used to obscure the origin of Russian oil.

In addition, 22 Russian banks will face new financial restrictions aimed at cutting their access to international funding. Brussels will also ban the export of European technologies used in Russian drone production.

Kallas confirmed that Chinese banks helping Russia evade restrictions are among the foreign entities targeted. The EU plans to limit their ability to support Russian financial transactions that bypass sanctions.

Rosneft refinery in India and indoctrination networks included

For the first time, the EU will sanction a foreign-based refinery—India’s largest Rosneft facility—due to its role in processing and moving Russian oil. The package also targets individuals and organizations involved in indoctrinating Ukrainian children in Russian-occupied territories.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys welcomed the agreement, stating that the combination of shipping, energy, and financial measures would ensure Russia remains on track to lose access to “blood money.” He also urged the US Senate to pass its own Russia sanctions legislation to align with EU efforts.

Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed Transport Minister Roman Starovoit on July 7, following a series of high-profile disruptions to Russia's aviation and shipping sectors.

The official decree was published on Russia's legal information portal. No reason was given, but Starovoit's departure comes after nearly 300 flights were grounded at major Russian airports on July 5–6 due to security threats from Ukrainian drone attacks.

Adding to the turmoil, an explosion aboard the Eco Wizard tanker at the Ust-Luga port in Leningrad Oblast caused an ammonia leak on July 6, prompting an emergency response.

Starovoit, sanctioned by Ukraine and Western countries for his role in the war against Ukraine, had served as governor of Russia's Kursk Oblast before being appointed transport minister in May 2024.

According to the Russian state-controlled newspaper Vedomosti, Deputy Transport Minister Andrei Nikitin, a former Novgorod Oblast governor, is a leading candidate to replace Starovoit.

On July 6, the Russian Federal Aviation Agency confirmed that 287 flights were delayed or canceled at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport, and Nizhny Novgorod's Strigino Airport due to safety concerns from drone activity.

Kyiv's drone campaign, which has increasingly disrupted civilian air travel in Russia, is part of Ukraine's broader strategy to undermine Russia's logistics far beyond the front line.

Russian authorities said the ammonia leak at Ust-Luga was "minor," but the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel, Baza, reported that an unexplained explosion preceded the incident.

The Eco Wizard tanker is believed to be part of Russia's "shadow fleet" — a network of vessels used to bypass international sanctions on Russian oil and chemical exports. Five tankers have been damaged by explosions at Russian ports since the start of 2025.

The Kremlin has not made a formal statement on the minister's dismissal.

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The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy

An explosion aboard the Eco Wizard tanker in Russia's Ust-Luga port caused an ammonia leak and is under investigation, the Russian Transportation Ministry announced on July 6.

Explosions have damaged five tankers at Russian ports since the beginning of the year.

The Russian Transportation Ministry alleged that "a minor leak of liquid ammonia" occurred at the Ust-Luga seaport in Leningrad Oblast due to "an incident" while unloading and loading the Eco Wizard tanker.

According to the Russian Telegram news channel Baza, "an explosion of an unknown nature" preceded the leak.

The ship's 23-person crew was evacuated and port emergency services are working on site to eliminate the consequences. Loading operations were stopped and emergency rescue services put on high alert. Russian Transportation Minister Roman Starovoit held a meeting on the incident and a diving inspection of the vessel is planned.

No casualties have been reported.

The Eco Wizard tanker arrived in Ust-Luga from Antwerp, Belgium on July 3, according to ship-tracking data from VesselFinder. The vessel was built in 2024 to transport liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and flies the flag of the Marshall Islands.

The vessel is suspected to belong to Russia's "shadow fleet," a group of tankers Moscow uses to circumvent sanctions.

A week prior to the Eco Wizard explosion, a blast occurred on the shadow fleet tanker Vilamoura shortly after it visited Russian ports. The ship was carrying 1 million barrels of oil at the time of the explosion.

The Eco Wizard is the sixth tanker linked to Russia to have suffered an explosion since the start of this year.

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The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk

Russia has lost control over a part of its sanction-evading oil business. Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR) says a powerful explosion occurred in the engine room of the Vilamoura tanker on 27 June, while it was en route from the Libyan port of Es-Zuwaytina.

The vessel was located about 150 km northeast of Libya’s territorial waters and was carrying approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil.

The tanker was sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands and, according to intelligence, had been repeatedly used to transport oil products from ports of the aggressor state. In April, it was spotted in Ust-Luga, and in May, near Novorossiysk.

Currently, the damaged Vilamoura is being towed by the firefighting ship Boka Summit (flying the Maltese flag) to the Laconian Gulf in Greece. The tanker is owned by TMS Tanker Ltd., a company registered in Marousi, Greece.

“The Kremlin is losing an important tool used to circumvent international sanctions and fund its war of aggression against Ukraine,” Ukraine’s intelligence emphasized.

Earlier, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the largest sanctions package in the country’s history, targeting 100 Russian oil tankers linked to Russia’s shadow fleet. According to an official press release, the targeted vessels have collectively carried over $24 billion in Russian oil since January 2024. 

Russia is making another attempt to expand its exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) after U.S. sanctions disrupted production at its flagship Arctic LNG 2 plant, Bloomberg reported on June 28.

Arctic LNG 2, owned by the Russian company Novatek, was envisaged as Russia's largest LNG plant and aimed to produce almost 20 million metric tons of LNG per year. The U.S. State Department targeted the Arctic LNG 2 project with sanctions in 2024.

An LNG vessel has reportedly docked at the Arctic LNG 2 facility for the first time since October, according to ship-tracking data and satellite images analyzed by Bloomberg. Data suggests that at least 13 vessels of Russia's "shadow fleet" have been assembled to potentially serve Arctic LNG 2.

These include four ice-class vessels, including the one currently docked at Arctic LNG 2. Three others are idling in the Barents Sea, along with three traditional LNG vessels. Two more vessels are being repaired in China and another two are idled in the Gulf of Finland. One ship is located near a floating storage facility in Russia's Far East.

While pipeline shipments of Russian gas to Europe have declined sharply since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia's shadow fleet — a group of aging oil tankers used to circumvent global sanctions — continues to grow.

Moscow now has more vessels at its disposal than it did last year, according to Malte Humpert, founder of the Arctic Institute think tank.

"If (Russia) can find buyers, this small fleet should be sufficient to lift cargoes," Humpert told Bloomberg.

Finding buyers may present a difficulty, due to wariness about sanctions violations. Former U.S. President Joe Biden sanctioned ships and companies connected with exports from Arctic LNG 2 in 2024, thought it is not yet clear if U.S. President Donald Trump will enforce sanctions as strictly.

Representatives of Arctic LNG 2 have continued to search for buyers in China and India, but have not yet made any sales, traders familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

Arctic LNG 2 cut production from its gas fields to almost zero in November 2024, after halting liquefaction the previous month due to Western sanctions. The U.S. sanctioned two vessels and two entities connected to Arctic LNG 2 in September 2024, after previously targeting the project in a sweeping round of sanctions late August.

The August sanctions likely forced Novatek to scale back its operations at the facility. Novatek itself was sanctioned after the outbreak of the full-scale war in 2022.

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The Kyiv IndependentDmytro Basmat

New Zealand has committed 16 million New Zealand dollars (approximately $9.5 million) in new aid to Ukraine, combining military and humanitarian support as the country’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon prepares to attend a NATO Summit in The Hague. The package is split between battlefield assistance and relief for war-affected civilians, and builds on New Zealand’s ongoing backing of Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion.

This latest assistance brings New Zealand’s total aid to Ukraine to more than NZD 168 million (approx. $100 million) since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. That support includes up to 100 New Zealand Defense Force personnel deployed to train Ukrainian troops.

Breakdown of funding: Military and humanitarian support

As reported by 1News and RNZ, the NZD 16 million package includes two contributions of NZD 4 million each to multinational military aid initiatives: the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine fund and the UK and Latvia-led Drone Coalition. These funds are intended to provide both lethal and non-lethal equipment and support.

An additional NZD 7 million (around $4.1 million) will fund humanitarian relief for communities inside Ukraine, while NZD 1 million ($600,000) is allocated to help Ukrainians displaced in neighboring countries.

No invitation—not even a mention: Ukraine to be left out of NATO’s summit statement

Political context and timing

The announcement came just before Luxon’s scheduled participation in the NATO Summit in The Hague. Speaking to media in Brussels, he emphasized New Zealand’s principled stance.

“Its war of self-defense is well into its fourth year and our condemnation of Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion remains undiminished,” he said, as quoted by 1News.

Luxon told reporters,

“There’ll be a lot of conversation, obviously, about the Middle East, but there’ll also be a lot of conversation about Ukraine as well. We may be a long way from these conflicts, but it’s important, if you’ve got values, that you stand up for them, you articulate them, and, where you can, put support to them.”

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Foreign Minister Winston Peters said that New Zealand would continue collaborating internationally “to uphold a rules-based order that serves all our interests.”

The aid also follows recently announced sanctions on Russian maritime logistics and supply actors, including what RNZ describes as Russia’s “shadow fleet”—a network of vessels and operations circumventing global restrictions.

Australia has, for the first time, imposed sanctions on Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" of oil tankers, targeting 60 vessels used to circumvent international sanctions and sustain the Kremlin's war effort in Ukraine, the Australian government said on June 18.

The move aligns Canberra with similar measures introduced by the United Kingdom, Canada, and the European Union.

Australia's Foreign Ministry said the sanctioned vessels operate under "deceptive practices, including flag-hopping, disabling tracking systems and operating with inadequate insurance," enabling illicit Russian oil trade that undermines international sanctions.

"Russia uses these vessels to circumvent international sanctions and sustain its illegal and immoral war against Ukraine," the ministry said in a statement.

With this move, Australia has now sanctioned more than 1,400 Russian individuals and entities since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, the government said.

The step comes amid the continued operation of Russia's shadow fleet. According to a recent study by the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), Russia currently operates 435 tankers outside the control of Western regulators to evade sanctions such as the G7-EU price cap on Russian oil.

These vessels are typically un- or underinsured and pose a rising environmental risk due to their age and operational opacity.

KSE estimates that as of April 2024, 83% of Russia's crude oil and 46% of its petroleum product exports were shipped using shadow fleet tankers. The study warns that this undermines the effectiveness of Western sanctions and increases the likelihood of maritime disasters, as many of these ships fall outside international safety and insurance standards.

The EU formally adopted its 17th sanctions package against Russia in May, sanctioning nearly 200 vessels tied to the shadow fleet. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the new measures also target hybrid threats and human rights violations, with more sanctions under consideration.

Some EU member states and observers have criticized the package for lacking stronger provisions to disrupt Russia's sanction evasion schemes.

Now, the EU seeks to approve its 18th sanctions package, which will add 77 more shadow fleet vessels to comply with the cap to prevent Russia from circumventing sanctions and propose imposing a ban on imports of petroleum products made from Russian oil.

The United States has signaled reluctance to pursue additional sanctions despite Moscow's continued aggression in Ukraine and rejection of ceasefire proposals supported by Western allies.

Putin ‘cannot be trusted’ as mediator, Kallas says, urges EU to tighten Russian oil cap after deadly Kyiv strike

EU High Representative Kaja Kallas urged the European Union to press forward with lowering the oil price cap on Russian crude, even without U.S. support, warning that Middle East tensions could otherwise drive prices up and boost Russia’s revenues.

The Kyiv IndependentAnna Fratsyvir

An uninsured Russian Aframax-class tanker has been illegally conducting ship-to-ship oil transfers in international waters near Greece and Cyprus since July 2024, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) reported on June 16.

According to the agency, the vessel, operating without Western insurance, is part of Russia's expanding shadow fleet used to bypass G7 and EU sanctions on Russian oil exports.

HUR said such transfers "pose an environmental threat, allow the aggressor to conceal the origin of oil, evade international control, and ensure its supply to third countries in circumvention of sanctions."

Ukraine has identified the tanker as IMO 9247443 and listed it on the War&Sanctions platform, along with 159 other tankers allegedly belonging to Russia's shadow fleet and 55 captains involved in sanction-busting operations.

Despite price caps and Western restrictions, Russia continues to profit from oil and gas exports, which remain a vital revenue source. According to HUR estimates, roughly one-third of those profits are expected to fund Russia's war against Ukraine in 2025.

In May, the EU approved its 17th sanctions package, targeting nearly 200 shadow fleet vessels. The U.S. Treasury had earlier sanctioned over 180 tankers, which together accounted for nearly half of Russia's offshore oil shipments.

While the Biden administration ramped up pressure on Russia's oil trade early in 2024, U.S. President Donald Trump has since declined to impose new sanctions, despite Moscow's continued refusal to agree to a ceasefire.

EU leaders call for tougher sanctions on Russia at G7 summit

“To achieve peaceful strength we must put more pressure on Russia to secure a real ceasefire, to bring Russia to the negotiating table, and to end this war. Sanctions are critical to that end,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

The Kyiv IndependentAbbey Fenbert