The European Union is preparing to blacklist more than 1,600 companies that it accuses of feeding Russia's war against Ukraine, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources. It would be the largest batch of firms named in a single European sanctions round, and it needs unanimous approval to take effect. Officials are aiming for adoption in the fall.

A blacklist built company by company

Together the listed firms turn over more than $20 billion a year and keep over 265,000 workers on their payrolls, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Approval would lift the number of entities the EU has sanctioned during the war by 50%, the same people said. The bloc's foreign policy arm, the European External Action Service (EEAS), has spent months on the draft, hunting for parts of Russia's military-industrial complex that earlier measures never touched. The draft skips category-wide bans and lists firms one at a time instead.

Bloomberg says the package would likely still fall short of the economic weight of earlier rounds aimed at Russian oil and banking. The EU adopted its 21st package on 23 July, with 218 new designations.

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Carve-outs keep blunting the packages

Adopting sanctions has grown harder as governments demand exemptions to limit damage at home, Bloomberg noted. Greece's objections shrank a proposed ban on moving Russian liquefied natural gas to third countries. France and Italy pushed to weaken a proposed entry ban on former Russian combatants, and other states killed proposed import bans on Russian fish. That same round also let raw Russian sable pelts back into the market.

Officials plan to send the draft to national capitals within weeks, leaving governments room to study it, with adoption planned for the October meeting of foreign ministers. The bloc is separately preparing restrictions tied to Russia's forced deportation of Ukrainian children, which could also land in the fall, the same people told Bloomberg. Nearly two dozen Russians have already been sanctioned over the abduction of Ukrainian children.

Ukrainian drones struck the Russian city of Penza on the morning of 1 July, hitting a research institute that helps build Russia's missiles, monitoring channels reported. The targeted site makes sensors for the cruise missiles and warplanes that Russia turns on Ukrainian cities, and it sits under US and Ukrainian sanctions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the strike as part of Ukraine's daily long-range campaign, which the same night also reached an oil refinery deep inside Russia.

A "visit" from drones

Residents of Penza reported an attack and impact early on 1 July, the Ukrainian monitoring Telegram channel Exilenova+ wrote. Astra, a Russian news Telegram channel, said Penza Oblast Governor Oleg Melnichenko had confirmed a strike on the region.

Melnichenko first claimed a downed drone whose debris hit a power line and an unfinished building. He later acknowledged a drone attack on the city itself. He added that emergency crews were on site and claimed there were no casualties.

What the Penza institute builds

Locals first pointed to a state bearing plant and the Mayak factory, Exilenova+ reported. Analysts then geolocated the main target: the Scientific Research Institute of Physical Measurements, known as NIIFI. Astra reached the same conclusion.

Ukraine has been hitting the factories behind Russia's missiles as part of its deep-strike campaign. In June, drones set a Voronezh semiconductor plant ablaze, and Flamingo missiles struck a Volgograd arms plant making Iskander parts.

Reports on a second Penza site stayed unresolved. One Ukrainian account described Mayak as a defense-electronics maker, while Astra's OSINT pointed to a power substation beside the Mayak pulp-and-paper mill, a civilian plant. Monitors cautioned that the Mayak damage could come from Russian air defense or a downed drone.

Zelenskyy confirms, and Ufa burns again

Zelenskyy confirmed the Penza strike. He said Ukraine's weapon reached a strategic military-industrial target that makes missile components used against Ukrainian cities, about 600 kilometers from the front.

The same night, Ukraine hit the Ufa oil refinery again, one of Russia's largest lubricant producers, more than 1,300 kilometers away, the President said. Zelenskyy called the strikes Ukraine's daily long-range answer to Russia dragging out the war.

At the time of publication, Euromaidan Press couldn't independently confirm a success or failure of the Ufa attack.