Zelensky calls for tougher sanctions as Russia launched 2,000 drone attacks on Ukraine in October using foreign-made parts

Russia launched over 2,000 Shahed-type drones at Ukraine in October, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Nov. 2, while urging Western allies to apply more sanctions against the providers of components used in Russian drones.

Russia continues to avoid sanctions through the use of sanctions evasion networks and shell companies. Russia is also aided in sanctions evasion through its allies, including China, Iran, and North Korea.

"This volume of 'Shahed' drones means over 170,000 components that should have been blocked from reaching Russia," Zelensky said in his evening address. "Microchips, microcontrollers, processors, and many other parts are essential for enabling this terror."

"All of these are supplied to Russia from abroad, unfortunately, from companies in China, Europe, and America—a multitude of small but significant contributions to Russia’s ongoing terror," Zelensky added.

Zelensky's comments come as Russia launched a mass drone attack on Kyiv on Nov. 2, which caused a fire in a 16-story residential building and an office building, and left an 82-year-old woman with shrapnel injuries to the head.

During his evening address, Zelensky called for sanctions against companies that deliver components to Russia to be made more expansive and effective.

"Such schemes also allow Russia to help strengthen the regimes in Iran and North Korea. This is a global threat, and it can only be overcome through global, coordinated pressure."

Zelensky's comments come a few days after the United States imposed sanctions on Oct. 30 against nearly 400 entities and individuals directly or indirectly involved in supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine.

The limitations applied to companies involved in sanctions evasion networks in 17 jurisdictions, including China, India, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Thailand, and Turkey, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

On Nov. 1, the U.S. imposed a $500,000 against GlobalFoundries for shipping chips without authorization to an affiliate of sanctioned Chinese chipmaker SMIC, Reuters reported.

Russia has launched tens of thousands of cheap but effective Iranian-designed Shahed-type drones against Ukraine since the fall of 2022.

On Oct. 20, Zelensky said that a total of 6,130 Shahed-type drones since the start of 2024 — although that number does not account for the hundreds of drones launched in the past two weeks.

In recent months, Russia has stepped up its drone attacks targeting cities and towns across Ukraine on a near daily basis since the start of September.