On August 20, 2026, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed Presidential Decree No. 744/2026, putting into force a National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) decision of August 12, 2026 that applies personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions) to a fresh list of individuals and legal entities. The decree entered into force on the day of its publication, August 20, 2026, and assigns implementation control to the NSDC Secretary.
The designations were proposed by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and adopted by the NSDC under Article 5 of the Law of Ukraine "On Sanctions". Two annexes define the scope: Annex 1 lists the sanctioned individuals and Annex 2 the sanctioned legal entities. The Cabinet of Ministers, the SBU, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and the Commission of State Awards and Heraldry are tasked with implementing and monitoring the measures, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is instructed to inform the European Union, the United States and other states and to request that they introduce analogous restrictions.
What changes for screening and compliance teams?
The package is now binding Ukrainian law, not a proposal. NBU-supervised banks, payment institutions and non-bank financial institutions must screen customers and counterparties against Annex 1 (individuals) and Annex 2 (entities) and apply the asset-freeze and transaction-blocking obligations set out in the Law "On Sanctions". Trade-compliance and export-control teams at firms with Ukraine counterparties should treat any match as a restricted party and block payments, transfers and new business until cleared.
Because the annexes are published as downloadable documents, compliance teams should ingest Annex 1 (individuals) and Annex 2 (legal entities) directly from the presidential site into screening tools, rather than relying on secondary reporting that may lag or abbreviate the lists. The two annexes are the only authoritative designation lists; the decree body itself contains no names.
Who must act, and by when?
The obligation is immediate. The decree took effect on publication on August 20, 2026, so covered institutions must apply the freezes from that date. The NBU and the SBU, together with the Cabinet, form the domestic enforcement chain and will monitor effectiveness, meaning supervised firms should expect follow-up scrutiny of how quickly and completely they applied the designations. Under Ukraine's sanctions architecture, the NSDC decides designations and the President puts them into force by decree; the Verkhovna Rada steps in only to approve sectoral sanctions within 48 hours, which this personal package does not require.
What is the international mirroring track?
Point 4 of the NSDC decision instructs the MFA to notify the EU, the United States and other states and to raise the question of equivalent restrictions. This is the standard Ukrainian mechanism for seeking partner alignment: Ukrainian designations do not bind foreign firms unless the partner jurisdiction mirrors them, but they are a leading indicator that EU and US sanctions desks will review the same names. Firms running consolidated group screening should pre-position the Annex lists against their EU and US restricted-party data so any mirrored designations are caught on day one rather than after a separate designation is published in Brussels or Washington.
How does this fit Ukraine's wider sanctions and EU-alignment track?
The decree is the latest in a sustained wave of NSDC personal-sanctions packages and sits within Ukraine's effort to align its restrictive-measures regime with the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) acquis ahead of accession. The Law "On Sanctions" (Law No. 1644-VII of 2014) was last materially amended through 2025 by Law 4537-IX, and EU accession negotiations opened in July 2026 on Cluster 6, including Chapter 31 (foreign, security and defence policy), which sets benchmarks for provisional closure that require systematic alignment with EU Council restrictive-measures decisions and stronger enforcement against circumvention. A single designation decree does not itself close that chapter, but the cadence of packages and the formal mirroring request are the operational signals of convergence.
| Actor | Role under Decree 744/2026 |
|---|---|
| SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) | Proposed the designations; co-implements and monitors |
| Cabinet of Ministers and SBU | Ensure implementation and monitor effectiveness |
| National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) | Supervises banks and payment institutions applying the freezes |
| Commission of State Awards and Heraldry | Co-implements and monitors effectiveness |
| MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) | Notifies EU, US and other states; requests mirroring |
| NSDC Secretary | Controls execution of the decision |
Continuous, per-jurisdiction monitoring surfaces a designation decree like this the moment it publishes on the presidential site, before secondary reporting catches up.
Take advantage of this real-time watch
What to do next
- Download Annex 1 and Annex 2 and screen your customers, counterparties and beneficial owners against both lists.
- Apply any required asset freezes and transaction blocks effective August 20, 2026, and document the screening timestamp.
- Brief your sanctions, trade-compliance and export-control teams on the MFA's mirroring request and the likely EU and US follow-up.
- Watch EU and US sanctions registers for the partner designations the MFA is now seeking, and pre-position the Annex names against your group screening data.
Obsidian tracks these Ukrainian designation packages, and their EU and US mirrors, as they publish.
