Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Minister of Defence of Germany Boris Pistorius has said that Berlin will provide Ukraine with additional air defense systems and the necessary ammunition. “… During my trip to Washington last week, Pete Hegseth (US Secretary of Defense) and I agreed that Germany would join in providing five urgently needed Patriot systems as soon as possible,” Pistorius said.

“putin wants to buy time with this cynical game (interest in negotiations). He believes that his war machine will win in the long run, but he is wrong,” Minister of Defence of the FRG Boris Pistorius has also said.

King Philippe of Belgium has called for continued strong support for Ukraine. “For decades, international law has been a reliable pillar on which states could rely. Today, this foundation is openly questioned. But when international law is violated, the whole world loses. And unpredictability and violence are unleashed,” he said.

“Only military aid for Ukraine and overwhelming pressure on russia can force moscow to abandon its imperialist campaign,” Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Margus Tsahkna emphasized in response to the rf’s another large-scale air attack on Ukraine.

The Ukrainian company Odd Systems has announced a strategic partnership with the Danish defense concern Terma Group to work together on a low-cost drone interceptor based on artificial intelligence.

The Czech initiative “A Gift for putin” (Dárek pro Putina) has raised 60 million Czech crowns (more than EUR 2.4 million) for the purchase of six 122-mm D-30 howitzers for Ukraine.

Lithuania will help bring home kidnapped Ukrainian children. “Lithuania will make every effort to ensure that their journey home is safe, dignified and as soon as possible,” Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Kęstutis Budrys said. He reminded that the number of Ukrainian children illegally deported to the rf reaches almost 20 thousand.

Ukraine and France have signed declarations on the creation of a new EUR 200 million fund to support critical infrastructure and the economy starting in 2026 and on the preparation of an intergovernmental agreement on strategic projects: defense, energy, digitalization, and critical minerals.

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Germany’s Military Counterintelligence (MAD) has stated that russia is intensifying espionage and destructive activities in the country. MAD President Martina Rosenberg has said “we are witnessing a marked increase in cases of espionage and hybrid tactics”. “The approach is more aggressive and much more extensive,” she said. According to her, russian secret services act in the same way “as during Cold War”. It is also pointed out that the number of incidents has almost doubled within a year, and russian agents continue to arrive in Germany through third countries.

The European Union has confirmed that part of a new package of sanctions against russia aimed at restricting the flow of fuel made from russian crude oil will come into effect in January 2026.

The European Union has imposed sanctions on a well-known Iranian oil trader and several of his companies as part of another package of measures against russia over its war against Ukraine. Hossein Shamkhani, whose father is a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been added to the EU sanctions list for his involvement in the russian oil trade and as a central figure in russia’s so-called “shadow fleet”.

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent believes that if the USA imposes secondary duties on russia, Europe should do the same. “Any country that buys russian oil under sanctions will be subject to secondary duties of up to 100 %,” he said.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev’s advice to Ukrainians to “never surrender”, “never agree with occupation”, and “never accept violations of territorial integrity” caused outrage among the pro-war russian public. Propagandists began to threaten the Republic with an invasion, considering the statement of the head of state “hostile” and “russophobic”. They also disliked Aliyev’s intention to file a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice against russia over the downing of the Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane that killed 38 people.

The management of the Royal Palace of Caserta in Italy has announced that it has canceled a concert featuring russian conductor and “putin’s friend” Valery Gergiev. The event provoked a strong reaction and was criticized by the Italian central government and Ukrainian associations.

The profitability of coal export transportation in the rf in July for railroad operators declined significantly even compared to the unsuccessful June, and on the southern and northwestern directions it was zero. There are also directions with negative profitability. In fact, the margin now does not even cover the operation and payroll.

Since the beginning of the year, the number of companies planning to lay off employees has almost doubled in russia. While in January, the share of such organizations was 6.9 % of the total, in June it was 11.5 %. The most frequent reports of intentions to lay off some employees were made by companies operating in the mining, engineering, and pharmaceutical sectors. As one of the reasons, they mentioned a decline in demand for their products. At the same time, companies’ plans to raise wages became more restrained. The share of organizations expecting an increase in wages decreased from 84 % at the beginning of the year to 71 % in June, while the median estimate of expected wage growth decreased from 8.4 % to 5.3 %. This trend is typical for all industries, especially trade, mining, chemical industry, construction, and agriculture.

By the end of 2025, russia will face a series of bankruptcies of companies that build infrastructure, as they have faced a sharp reduction in orders amid the Central Bank’s high key rate.

“Severstal” cut its EBITDA by 36 % year-on-year to RUB 39.3 billion in the second quarter of 2025. The company has also announced that it will not pay dividends for the second quarter of 2025.

Demand for contraceptives has increased in russia amid putin’s demand to raise the birth rate to the levels of the times of the USSR.

russian authorities are planning to introduce fines for cryptocurrency payments starting in 2026. The fines for individuals will range from 100 to 200 thousand rubles, and for legal entities – 700 thousand to 1 million rubles. Besides, cryptocurrency used illegally as a payment will be confiscated.

russia remains the world’s largest country in terms of natural gas flaring. The reason for gas flaring is “the reluctance of companies to invest in gas capture”.

The forecast for the grain harvest in Rostov region of the rf has been lowered from 11.4 to 8 million tons. May frosts and drought damaged 1 million hectares of crops, while 180 thousand hectares of crops were lost beyond repair.

russians became less likely to buy fashion goods in 2025. In particular, in January–June, footfall in clothing and footwear shops in the country’s shopping centers decreased by 6 %, and in moscow the decline was 9 %. Besides, sales and revenues of russian fashion retailers decreased by 15–20 %, and for some companies even by 50 %. The reasons for the decline in demand for clothing and footwear in russia are the increase in basic costs, rising debt burden and the desire to keep free funds on deposits.

The list of persons with information about their involvement in extremist activities or terrorism (the “list of terrorists and extremists”) maintained by Rosfinmonitoring, has begun to include the accused and convicted in cases related to the spread of so-called fakes about the russian army, as well as its so-called discrediting. The new practice is related to the entry into force of a law that expanded the list of grounds for inclusion in the list. It is no longer necessary for a case to be directly related to allegations of terrorism or extremism to be included in the list.

russia is confidently becoming the world’s main movie pirate. For example, in the fourth quarter of 2023, almost a third of all movie premieres were posted on pirate websites immediately after the film’s release on the big screen. For the whole of 2024, almost half (approximately 48 %) of movie releases were leaked. In January–May 2025, this figure rose to 51 %.

In January–June, imports of belarusian potash to the PRC decreased by 21.7 % to $376.2 million in value terms, while russian potash decreased by 2.3 % to $647.2 million.

The European ban on transactions affects four belarusian banks, including “Belagroprombank”, “Dabrabit” Bank”, “Development Bank of the Republic of belarus”, and “Belinvestbank”. Now they will face not only disconnection from SWIFT, but also a complete ban on transactions.

Algis Kisielius, the Commander of the Kapčiamiestis border checkpoint, has said that in his opinion, migrants in belarus are trained to quickly overcome the physical barrier established on the Lithuanian–belarusian border.

In the rb, the trial of people detained within the framework of the criminal case of “yard chats” is starting. Last autumn, a wave of detentions in the case of “yard chats” swept across belarus. The reason for this was the KGB’s recognition of a number of yard chats as “extremist formations”: “Zlyie Kogtiki”, “Sukharevo”, “Senitsa2.0”, “Solidarnost”, “Volnyie Vavki”, “Navagrudskia Partisany”, “VILIA”, “Skromnyie Matreshki”, and “Sosedi”.

In 2024, russian-language publications accounted for 80.9 % of the rb’s book market (5,798 books with a circulation of 12,994.8 thousand copies). The share of belarusian-language books was only 12.5 % (893 books with a circulation of 3,070.5 thousand copies).