Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sanctioned top Georgian officials, including the prime minister and the billionaire founder of the ruling party, in a bid to halt the country’s apparent drift into Russia’s orbit.

President Zelenskyy announced the sanctions yesterday after a seventh consecutive night of protests against Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s decision to delay talks on joining the European Union, a move thought to have been steered by Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country’s wealthiest man who founded the governing party Georgian Dream.