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

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, President of France Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni, Chancellor of the FRG Friedrich Merz, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer, President of Finland Alexander Stubb, Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk, and President of the European Council António Costa have issued a joint statement following the meeting between US President Donald Trump and putin, emphasizing that the EU is looking forward to a trilateral summit with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and is ready to participate in its preparation. “We make it clear that Ukraine must have inviolable security guarantees in order to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. We welcome President Trump’s statement that the United States is ready to provide security guarantees. “The ‘Coalition of the Resolute’ is ready to play an active role,” says the document.

“There should be no restrictions for the Armed Forces of Ukraine or Ukraine’s cooperation with third countries. russia cannot have the right to veto Ukraine’s path to the EU and NATO,” European leaders emphasized separately in a statement following the meeting between US President Donald Trump and putin.

“If there’s a trilateral meeting between President Donald Trump, President Zelenskyy and putin, then I am cautiously optimistic that this war will end well before Christmas. If the meeting doesn’t happen, I think President Trump may deliver severe consequences to putin and those who buy his oil and gas,” said US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

“The starting point of the proposal is the definition of a collective security clause that allows Ukraine to benefit from the support of all its partners, including the United States, ready to intervene in the event of further attack. In this phase of negotiations, European states remain united in their support for Ukraine,” Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni welcomed the “glimmers of peace” and emphasized security guarantees for Ukraine.

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer believes that the meeting between US President Donald Trump and putin in Alaska has brought the possibility of ending the russian-Ukrainian war “closer than ever before”.

“The European Union is working closely with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the United States to achieve a just and lasting peace,” said President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

After the meeting between US President Donald Trump and putin, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Dick Schoof stressed the importance of continuing to support Ukraine and putting pressure on the rf.

“The harsh reality is that russia has no intention to end  this war anytime soon. Even during the meeting of the delegations, russia carried out new attacks against Ukraine,” said High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, insisting on further sanctions pressure on the rf. “Therefore, Europe will continue to support Ukraine, in particular by working on the 19th package of sanctions against russia,” emphasized Kaja Kallas.

President of France Emmanuel Macron has announced a new meeting of the Coalition of the Determined to be held in the near future.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Margus Tsahkna believes that the main reason why the war unleashed by the rf is still ongoing is that putin does not want to come to terms with the collapse of the ussr.

Germany’s Member of the European Parliament and Chair of the Defense Committee Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann has stated after the summit in Alaska that peace is no closer and that Europe and its partners must follow their own path. Strack-Zimmermann has pointed out that democracies must show strength in order to achieve peace.

The Government of Norway has decided to allocate nearly $100 million to Ukraine for the purchase of natural gas.

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History shows that the russian army can be defeated in battle, said President of Poland Karol Nawrocki at a military parade marking the 105th anniversary of the victory of Polish defenders over the Red Army in the Battle of Warsaw in 1920. “russia is not invincible. It lost to Japan at the beginning of the 20th century, was defeated by the Poles in 1920, and today, for more than three years, has been going through difficult times after the attack on Ukraine – thanks to the support of allies and the solidarity of free countries,” Nawrocki said.

The Moscow Exchange Index fell by 2 % on Saturday, August 16, losing  130 billion rubles in capitalization. Gazprom’s shares fell by 2.9 %, Rosneft’s – by 2.6 %, Gazprom Neft’s – by 2.2 %, Sovcomflot’s – by almost 3 %, and the shares of state banks Sberbank and VTB became cheaper by 1.5 %. Shares of metallurgical companies lost more than 2 %: Severstal became cheaper by 2.5  %, NLMK – by 3 %, GMK Norilsk Nickel – by 2.6 %, and Aeroflot – by 2.9 %.

Total mortgage debt in russia rose to 20.4 trillion rubles as of July 1.

In the first six months of 2025, 11,600 people moved to russia under the voluntary resettlement program for compatriots, which was the lowest figure in 11 years. During the same period in 2024, 15,400 people moved to russia. At this, only 31,700 people took advantage of the program in 2024, the lowest figure in 14 years. The number of people willing to return declined especially sharply after russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine.

In at least 57 regions of russia, state employees and officials are being forced to switch to the Max messenger. The requirement applies to both house chats and regional governments and airports.

Minister of Industry and Trade of Tatarstan Korobchenko has said that russians have a distorted idea about the Taliban movement. He compared the militants to “barmaaleys” from children’s fairy tales, adding that they are actually “kind”.

UN experts are calling on belarusian authorities to stop the cruel treatment of prisoners.

About 300,000 residents of Gomel region were herded to a regional “subbotnik” to raise money for the reconstruction of a military glory complex in honor of Operation “Bagration”.