Twisted wreckage shows sanctions have not stopped Russia yet

Since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Western countries have imposed far-reaching sanctions on the invaders to stop their war efforts.

But on the ground in Ukraine, these sanctions appear to be limited.

Outside Kharkiv, located in a secret location, is a series of twisted metal residues from attacks in and around the city. It’s barbaric waste – the remains of many Russian bombs, rockets, missiles and drones have been attacked in and around Kharkif in the past three and a half years.

“This is a major evidence of our internal crimes committed by prosecutors as prosecutors,” Dymtro Chubenko of the Khalkif District Attorney’s Office told me. Every rocket and drone here has been carefully collected and analyzed.

Dmytro showed me one of the latest versions – the Russian version of the Iranian Shaheed drone. Russia recently launched hundreds of these Kamikaze drones in Ukrainian towns. He told me that they are relatively cheap to make – about $20,000 (£15,000) each.

He pointed out the nearby Russian cruise missile corpses. He said these cost millions.

But these weapons are not entirely made in Russia – they contain “many components of Western countries,” Dmytro said. He added: “It is possible (Russia) to circumvent sanctions, but doing nothing is not an option.”

Donald Trump seems to have lost patience with President Vladimir Putin. After early efforts to reconcile between the United States and Russia, the U.S. president is now threatening to raise sanctions on the Kremlin unless Russia agrees to this Friday.

Trump says Secondary sanctions will also take effect That day, any country that affects trade with Russia. He has imposed an additional 25% tariff on India to buy Russian oil. US envoy Steve Witkoff meets Putin Negotiations are held in Moscow on Wednesday before the looming deadline.

So if President Trump chooses to impose more sanctions on the Kremlin, is it enough to force Russia to change the course of this war? Dymtro believes hitting Russia’s oil and gas exports could have a significant economic impact.

“We won’t be able to stop it with a snapshot of our fingers, but we need to do it, we need to take action,” he said. Hopefully President Trump can take action.

Kharkiv, only 30 kilometers from the Russian border, was the first to be hit in the entire war. Thousands of buildings have been damaged or destroyed. In the entire region, nearly 3,000 civilians were killed, including 97 children.

Police Colonel Serhii Bolvinov showed me the shell of the police headquarters where he used to work. A Russian strike in 2022 killed three of his police officers and six civilians. He pointed to Zhang Kong on the wall where the missile entered. He said that Russian tactics have not changed. “Russia is trying to hit and kill as many civilians as possible.”

Colonel Borvinov’s job is to investigate every civilian death. He left no stones. He has 1,000 men and women working for him and is now scattered throughout the city’s basement offices. They are doing hard forensic work to establish criminal cases against those in charge.

Photos of Russian officers associated with the specific attack were smeared on the wall – wanted.

In another building, crime scene investigators conducted DNA tests to determine the latest casualties – Ukrainian civilians were killed in a Russian rocket attack as they lined up to collect water. Colonel Bolvinov showed me the shot of the strike – the unrecognized burnt body lying on the ground.

“It’s hard to do this work, but it’s very important for the Ukrainian people to our future justice,” he said. He showed me an image of a three-dimensional computer with more than 400 bodies in Izium. “Some cases have scarred us all and we will never forget this trauma,” he said.

Colonel Borvinov said he wanted to see the end of the war. He hopes that President Trump will be under increasing pressure on President Putin. But the Chief of Police does not want peace at any cost. “Peace without justice is not true peace.” Even if a ceasefire can be agreed, it still cannot solve the wounds of most Ukrainian people.

In a cemetery outside Kharkiv, this again reminds the cost of war: the growing Ukrainian soldiers. Each grave is marked with the blue and gold of the national flag. The silence here was only broken by the sound of their slapping in the wind.

Near the civilian area of the cemetery, the mother and her family laid flowers on their daughter’s grave. Sofia was only 14 years old when the Russian gliding bomb took her life last year. She was sitting on a park bench in Kharkiv and spent a warm summer afternoon with a friend.

I asked her mother Yulia if President Trump’s increased pressure on Russia could bring any comfort, but she was not optimistic.

“These conversations have been going on for too long,” she told me.

“But so far, no results…hope is disappearing.”