June 19, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney has confirmed that his country will provide Ukraine with military aid worth more than two billion Canadian dollars ($1.48 billion), which will include “drones, helicopters, ammunition”. “We are allocating the next tranche of the loan funded by frozen russian assets worth more than two billion dollars”, the Prime Minister of Canada has also announced.

The military of Ukraine have received a new MV-25 OSKAR barrage munition, developed by the French company KNDS France in cooperation with DELAIR and EOS Technologie. It is equipped with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead weighing 550 grams and is capable of operating at a distance of up to 25 km, being in the air for up to 45 minutes.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Jan Lipavský has said that his country intends to extend the program of supplying heavy ammunition to Ukraine until 2026.

“If we don’t help Ukraine further, we should all start learning russian. The stronger Ukraine is on the battlefield today, the stronger it will be around the negotiation table when russia finally is ready to talk,” said High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas.

The European Commission has officially proposed to integrate Ukraine into the EU roaming zone from January 1, 2026.

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The European Commission has proposed to legally ban the import of all types of russian gas to the EU by the end of 2027. To prevent Hungary and Slovakia from blocking the plan, it is supposed to be implemented in accordance with trade and energy legislation, and not by imposing sanctions.

“Today we set out our proposal to ban russian gas imports by the end of 2027. Europe has already significantly reduced its dependence. Now we turn off the tap for good. russia will no longer be able to use energy as a weapon against us,” said Chief of European Diplomacy, Kaja Kallas.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas has also warned that russia poses a direct threat to the EU. “Last year, russia spent more on defense than the entire European Union. This year, russia spends more on defense than on its own healthcare, education, and social policy combined. This is a long-term plan for long-term aggression,” she said.

The EU has developed a new package of “unprecedented” sanctions against russia. This was stated by President of France Emmanuel Macron following the G7 summit in Canada.

The Government of Canada has expanded sanctions against russia, having added 77 individuals and 39 companies, as well as 201 vessels of the shadow fleet of the rf to the sanctions list. The new restrictions affected, in particular, Putin’s ex-wife lyudmila ocheretna and her husband artur ocheretnyi, cousins of russian dictator mikhail putin and mikhail shelomov. Also, the sanctions, which include a ban on entry to Canada and the freezing of assets in the country, have been imposed on former head of “rusnano” anatoly chubais, daughter of the first president of the rf boris yeltsin, tatyana yumasheva, and her husband valentin yumashev, who headed the presidential administration in 1997-1998. The sanctions list includes the artistic director of the mariinsky and the director of the bolshoi theatre valery gergiev, billionaire vladimir yevtushenkov, chairman of the board of “gazprom neft” aleksandr dyukov, head of infowatch natalia kasperskaya, former executive director of the operator of “nord stream 2” AG Matthias Warnig, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria Karin Kneissl, media manager kristina potupchyk, associated with the propaganda network of Telegram channels, and others.

The sanctions against “surgutneftegaz” have been strengthened, and restrictions have been imposed on three financial organizations and 15 individuals and companies associated with the russian shadow fleet, whose vessels transport oil above the price ceiling. In addition, Ottawa has imposed new bans on imports, in particular on goods related to the production of chemical and biological weapons, as well as on industrial products and advanced dual-use technologies. Restrictions on imports from the rf have been extended to coal, metals and other goods, the export of which brings russia revenues.

Australia has imposed restrictions on 60 vessels of the so-called tanker fleet, which moscow used to avoid oil sanctions. The restrictions will apply to the vessels’ access to ports, insurance and maintenance.

The duration of the truck inspection procedure at the border between russia and Kazakhstan has increased dramatically. Kazakhstan’s customs particularly scrutinizes shipments of food, medicines, as well as industrial goods, machinery and chemicals. Delivery times increased by 32  % in the first four months of 2025, while the cost increased by 25 %.

In response to the toughening of the rules for entry to russia for residents of Kazakhstan, Minister of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Sadenov has announced his readiness to toughen measures for russians. In response to the introduction of the RuID program for Kazakhs, the Minister has said that Kazakhstan has a similar program.

In May 2025, the russian economy’s export revenues from the sale of hydrocarbons abroad fell to their lowest level since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Last month, the export of oil, gas, petroleum products and coal brought in €565 million daily to the country. Compared to May 2014, the inflow of commodity currency decreased by 19 %, and compared to the first months of 2022, it almost halved.

The government commission responsible for foreign businesses leaving the russian market continues to review dozens of applications from those wishing to leave the market every month, deputy minister of finance chebeskov said. According to him, the commission has not received a single application for the return of foreign companies. In 2022, 109 deals were made with foreigners withdrawing from business in russia for a total of $16.31 billion. In 2023 – 97 (for $11.14 billion), and in 2024 – 58 (for $3.38 billion).

The popular German online translator DeepL has stopped working in belarus and russia.

The International Luge Federation has banned russians and belarusians from international competitions – they will not compete at the Olympics in any status.

The European Union may impose a complete ban on transactions with the belarusian banking system. Such a restriction is envisaged in the 18th package of EU sanctions being discussed in Brussels.

After the EU imposed sanctions against belarus in 2024, glass manufacturing plants saw a huge decline in sales. We are talking about “gomelsteklo” and “grodnensky steklozavod”, which lost 40 % and 85 % of the EU market, respectively. So, the plants are now once again asking for loans and support from the state.

lukashenko has expressed serious concern about the situation in livestock farming. “If there is a decline in livestock, like now or yesterday, it will continue – you will tell me fairy tales as if you don’t know where I come from – and livestock will keep dying, we will come to the point where we ourselves will have nothing to eat.”

Amid a potato shortage in belarus, lukashenko has urged citizens to “stop whining” but work in their vegetable gardens. He also addressed young people, saying that potatoes “do not grow on the Internet.”