Britain is sanctioning 178 individuals who are deemed to be “propping-up the illegal breakaway regions” in eastern Ukraine, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has announced.
Truss said the Foreign Office has long planned to focus on those behind the Russian-backed so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.
She said that the shelling of a railway station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk had spurred the British government into action.
She added that the sanctions are being coordinated with the European Union.
According to Western intelligence, Russia has refocused its military efforts in recent weeks as Russian President Vladimir Putin looks to mount an offensive on the Donbass region.
“In the wake of horrific rocket attacks on civilians in eastern Ukraine, we are today sanctioning those who prop up the illegal breakaway regions and are complicit in atrocities against the Ukrainian people.
“We will continue to target all those who aid and abet Putin’s war,” the foreign secretary said.
Truss also said that the latest package of punishing measures would include extending the import ban on Russian goods.
She added: “From tomorrow, we are banning the import of Russian iron and steel, as well as the export of quantum technologies and advanced materials that Putin sorely needs.
“We will not rest in our mission to stop Putin’s war machine in its tracks.