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

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has said that the EU summit should choose one of two options for financing Ukraine: the first – financing through the EU budget and budget borrowing; the second – a “reparations loan”.

President of the European Council António Costa has assured that EU leaders at the summit in Brussels will agree on a decision on financing for Ukraine for the next two years.

The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy has reiterated that the European Union is focused solely on preparing a “reparations loan” for Ukraine based on russia's frozen assets and that alternative scenarios for financing Kyiv are not currently being considered. She also believes that in order to hold elections in Ukraine, a ceasefire within the framework of security guarantees is necessary first and foremost. K. Kallas also advocates for “fair and transparent” elections in russia. The head of diplomacy has pointed out that “negotiations on security guarantees for Ukraine are moving in the right direction”.

“Now we have a simple choice – either money today or blood tomorrow. And I am not talking about Ukraine only,  I am talking about Europe”, said Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk before the start of the European Council’s meeting  on options for EU support for Ukraine in 2026-2027.

Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz supports the use of frozen russian assets to help Ukraine.

Prime Minister of Latvia Evika Siliņa has stressed that a “reparations loan” is not the EU’s only available financing option for Ukraine, but that the decision must be made by Europe itself.

Prime Minister of Estonia Kristen Michal has cited two reasons for using frozen russian assets: “The first is the principle that the aggressor must pay for the damage caused. Not European taxpayers, not everybody else, but the aggressor himself must pay. The second is that Ukraine must know that Europe is ready to fulfill its task and will support Ukraine at any moment. And if we can make a decision on frozen assets, it will also be a signal to our partners that we are serious.”

EU diplomats have preliminarily agreed on a mechanism for using frozen russian assets to provide Ukraine with a so-called “reparations loan” in 2026-2027, but the final decision will be made by the leaders of those countries.

President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda believes that reliable security guarantees for Ukraine could include “a guarantee similar to NATO’s Article 5 provided by the USA, NATO troops on Ukrainian territory, and a strong Ukrainian Army”. He also stressed the need to impose sanctions on russian companies that have so far been considered untouchable in this regard. “Sanctions against russia and belarus must be tough. Now is not the time for hesitation. We must touch the untouchables, such as “Gazprom”, “Novatek”, and “Lukoil”,” said the Lithuanian President.

As part of a £600 million military aid package to Ukraine, the United Kingdom will help strengthen Ukraine’s air defense for the winter period. In particular, the UK has already supplied Ukraine with over a thousand missiles and more than 250,000 rounds of ammunition for air defense systems. In 2026, it will purchase more than twenty remotely controlled anti-drone turrets from Estonia, provide five RAVEN air defense systems, and continue to supply GRAVEHAWK air defense systems.

Ukraine and Germany have signed a series of defense agreements worth a total of more than EUR 1.2 billion. In particular, the countries agreed on the joint production of 200 “Bohdana” self-propelled artillery systems on Mercedes-Benz Zetros chassis, the supply of spare parts for Patriot air defense systems, the purchase of Ukrainian drones worth EUR 200 million, the joint production of “Lensa” drones, and a contract for the supply of the latest electronic warfare systems.

The government of Germany is providing Ukraine with additional aid in the amount of EUR 70 million “to meet basic energy needs”.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Baiba Braže has announced that her country is contributing EUR 200,000 to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund.

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The European Union has imposed sanctions on more than 40 ships of russia’s “shadow fleet”.

The European Commission plans to present proposals for the 20^th package of the European Union’s sanctions against the rf after the New Year.

The United Kingdom has expanded sanctions against russia by 24 items. In particular, russian companies “Tatneft”, “RussNeft”, “Rusneftegaz”, “NNK-Oil”, “Tekstil-Service”, “Fabrika Vaty”, the UAE’s company Saphira Energy, and Uzbek companies “Fergana Chemical Plant”, “Gelion Business Trade”, and “Chemistry International”.

Ukraine, Austria, Germany, Croatia, Moldova, Romania, and Slovakia – member states of the Danube Commission – have decided to create a Registry of Damages from russian Aggression on the Lower Danube.

For the first time since the Cold War, the government of Poland has decided to start mass production of anti-personnel mines to mine its eastern border. The mines will be part of the Eastern Shield program, aimed at strengthening Poland’s border with belarus and russia.

Starting December 1, Chinese citizens can enter russia without a visa. However, Chinese tourists have not yet appreciated this opportunity. Many have encountered blocked SIM cards and a lack of mobile internet. Tourists also point out that large hotel chains have left russia, and the options available are too expensive. Tourists also noted inconveniences with payment: the Chinese services AliPay and WeChat do not work in russia, nor do foreign Visa and MasterCard cards. They have to rely on cash “in this digital desert”.

Military spending in the russian budget for 2025 will exceed the initial plan by almost 20  %.

russians do not believe that inflation will decline and are preparing for accelerated price growth. According to rosstat, inflation was 0.42 % in November, only 0.05 % in the first week of December, and slowed to 6.34 % in annual terms. People, as a month ago, estimate price growth over the past year at 14.5 %, while expectations for the next 12 months have even increased: 13.7  % after 13.3 % in November. The last time inflation expectations were this high was in February, when official annual inflation was in double digits (10.06 %).

russian companies are increasingly preparing to raise prices as the date for the VAT increase approaches. Over the next three months, 15,800 companies surveyed by the Central Bank of the rf plan to raise prices by an average of 8.5 % per annum, compared to 6.2 % a month earlier. Business inflation expectations have reached the highest level since December 2024.

In 2025, for the first time since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, the number of companies in russia decreased. From January to December, the number of organizations registered in the unified state register of legal entities decreased by 67,395.

The number of bankruptcies of  IT companies in russia has risen sharply. Since the beginning of 2025, 630 organizations in the field of information technology have declared their insolvency. This is by 28 % more than in the same period last year.

In 2025, sales of premium cars from China, which were previously among the top 10 most popular models, fell sharply on russia’s market. From January to November, the number of Lixiang cars sold fell by 45 % year-on-year, of Zeekr cars – by 40 %, and of Tank cars – by 37.1 %. More expensive luxury brands from China also saw a sharp decline. Sales of Yangwang declined by 73.7 % year-on-year, of HiPhi – by 61.5 %. At this, the russian car market as a whole declined by 17.8 % from January to November compared to the same period last year.

Sales of hangover remedies have risen sharply in russia: in January–October 2025, pharmacies sold 1.96 million packages of such medicines. This is by 27 % more than in the same period last year.

russia’s government plans to register all russians’ mobile phones and put them on the state register.

russian science continues to lose ground in the world, including in the exact and technical disciplines, in which it had been among the leaders since soviet times. At the end of 2024, russian scientists dropped out of the world’s top 5 in terms of the number of publications in physics and mathematics in scientific journals indexed in the Scopus database. Compared to 2020, the number of publications by russian researchers in physics decreased by 11,350 (-38 %), and in mathematics – by 1,800 (-14 %). As a result, russia dropped from 4^th to 7^th place in the world in physics and from 5^th  to 8^th – in mathematics in terms of the number of publications. russia’s share of global publications over four years almost halved, from 7.81 % to 4.01 % in physical sciences and from 4.86 % to 2.01 % – in mathematics.

The leader of the russian patriotic center Elena Belikova has said that freedom is a controversial value.

The state duma has proposed to oblige women to inform their current and former husbands about terminating a pregnancy.

Mobile internet has been almost non-functional in St. Petersburg for a week.

The European Parliament condemned belarus’ hybrid war against Lithuania and called for new sanctions against lukashenko’s regime.

Minister of economy of the rb Chebotar has called digitalization a risk to the belarusian economy.

According to the results of January-November 2025, freight turnover in belarus amounted to 66,043.3 million ton-kilometers. This is by 3 % less than in January-November 2024. The decline in freight turnover continues for the third year in a row.