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

Germany will provide Ukraine with additional EUR 200 million to strengthen its defense against russian bombarding.

Sweden has allocated additional 600 million Swedish kronor (approximately EUR 56.38 million) to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund.

Iceland has contributed additional EUR 2.7 million to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund.

Ukraine and Germany have signed an agreement to extend the preferential mortgage lending project for internally displaced persons with new funding of EUR 33 million.

The government of Sweden is allocating more than SEK 71 million (USD 7.8 million) to support women and girls in Ukraine.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency has purchased four pyrotechnic vehicles, 12 minibuses for transporting personnel, and 100 sets of protective equipment for female deminers for the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.

The French charity Aide Médicale et Caritative France-Ukraine has donated six powerful generators to medical facilities in Kyiv region.

Within the framework of the agreement between Germany and Ukraine, Ukrainian military instructors will help Bundeswehr soldiers prepare for any possible russian attack on NATO.

“The membership of Moldova and Ukraine in the European Union by 2030 at the latest is a strategic goal for Lithuania,” said President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda.

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President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has commented on the proposal to return to purchasing russian energy carriers amid an energy crisis that could result from the conflict in the Middle East. According to her, such a scenario would not make the European Union safer, but would make it “weaker” and “more vulnerable”. “In the current crisis, some are saying that we should abandon our long-term strategy and even return to russian energy carriers. This would be a strategic mistake,” she said. “It would make us more dependent, more vulnerable, and weaker”.

The European Commission “strongly condemns” russia’s return to the Venice Biennale for the first time since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This is stated in a statement by Vice-President of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty Henna Virkkunen and European Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport Glenn Micallef. The European Commission believes that the decision of the organizers of the Venice Biennale is incompatible “with the EU’s collective response to russia’s brutal aggression”. “If the Biennale Foundation continues to adhere to its decision to allow russia’s participation, we will consider further action, including the suspension or termination of the EU grant provided to the Biennale Foundation,” said the statement.

Ministers of Culture and Foreign Affairs of 22 countries have signed a joint letter against russia’s participation in the Biennale. The letter of protest, initiated by Latvia, was signed by representatives of 22 countries, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, and Ukraine.

“Lithuania, in cooperation with Estonia, is preparing to start compiling a list of russians who fought in Ukraine, who will be banned from entering the country,” said Minister of Internal Affairs Vladislav Kondratovich.

The government of Moldova is initiating the procedure for the country’s final withdrawal from the CIS. “This decision was made in the context of the rf’s failure to comply with the fundamental values and principles of the Commonwealth, within which states recognize and respect each other’s territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders. russia has regularly violated these principles – the act of aggression against Georgia, the brutal war against Ukraine, the occupation and annexation of the territories of those countries, and the illegal deployment of russian troops near the Republic of Moldova. These actions have undermined the role of the CIS as an organization designed to maintain peace and stability in the region,” the government said in a statement.

The collapse of commodity rents and the economic slowdown continue to eat into russian budget revenues, with every third ruble this year having to be spent on the army and the war. In January-February this year, the federal treasury received a deficit of 3.449 trillion rubles – almost 1.5 times more than in the same period a year earlier.

psb bank, which is the main bank of the russian military-industrial complex, ended 2025 with a loss. At the end of the year, it lost 19.2 billion rubles, compared to the net profit of 65.3 billion rubles a year earlier. The quarterly minus in October-December was also seen at the moscow credit bank, which is linked to “rosneft”, where delinquencies on loans issued jumped by 600%. In total, the volume of problem loans in the banking system reached 10.4 trillion rubles: in January-September, debts that companies and individual entrepreneurs were unable to repay on time increased by 1.9 trillion rubles. In fact, a latent banking crisis has begun in the country.

Since putin came to power, consumer prices in russia have risen 10.3 times. Goods and services that cost 100 rubles at the beginning of 2000 cost approximately 1,033 rubles by the end of 2025. On average, prices have been growing by 9.4% per year. Thus, the cumulative inflation rate over 26 years has been about 930%.

As of March 2, A-92, A-95, and A-98 petrols reached their highest prices since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine (62.52 rubles, 67.94 rubles, and 91.74 rubles per liter, respectively), even though the government took various measures, including export restrictions, to stabilize prices. On February 25, 2022, these three types of petrol cost 47.60, 51.63, and 60.01 rubles per liter, respectively.

The jump in housing and utility rates that russian citizens faced in early 2026 was the highest in 16 years. In January, average utility rates across the country increased by 15.02% year-on-year – the greatest increase since September 2010. The record-breaking regions, where bills jumped by more than 20%, were mordovia (+23.65%), kemerovo region (+22.9%), and the perm territory (+20.23%). At this, in no region of the rf did housing and communal services become more expensive by less than 10%.

At the end of 2025, russians’ bad debts on loans exceeded 2.4 trillion rubles, having increased by a third over the year. They accounted for almost 7% of the retail loan portfolio of banks, compared to 5.7% a year earlier. In this regard, russians’ total debt to financial institutions increased by 1.1 trillion rubles over the year – to 38 trillion rubles.

While in 2023 the share of bankruptcies among people under 25 in russia was 1.5%, by 2025 it had risen to 14% – an almost tenfold increase.

In most large cities of russia, the cost of dental treatment has risen sharply since the middle of last year. In moscow, prices increased by an average of 48% – from 1,352 to 1,996 rubles, and in st. petersburg, the increase was 27% – from 1,182 to 1,509 rubles. A big  growth was also recorded in novosibirsk (+37.6%), ufa (+22%), naberezhnye chelny (+27.6%), and omsk (16.4%). Of the 35 major cities in russia with a population of over 500,000, prices rose significantly in 27. At this, most dentists in russia work in the lower price segment.

Authorities of the rf have come up with yet another way to take money from russians. Tax authorities have started to levy taxes on those who bought a car on credit at the minimum rate in 2024. Loans with rates significantly lower than the key rate are considered a taxable material benefit.

Sea transportation of coal from ports of the far east to China rose in price by 17–27% in the last week of February.

Construction in russia all in all declined by 16% in January.

In 2025, the cost of renting graphics servers (GPUs) in russia for corporate clients increased by 30%.

russian automaker “uaz” has officially raised prices for its vehicles. The price increase affected all 2026 model year vehicles of the brand. The biggest jump was seen in the compact trucks of the “Profi” commercial line, whose prices rose in the range from 57,200 to 60,600 rubles, and now cost from 1,990,000 to 2,535,000 rubles.

russians continue to buy esoteric attributes. In the first two months of 2026, demand for talismans against the evil eye and other amulets soared by 120% compared to January-February 2025.

The supreme court of the rf allowed the UN Human Rights Committee’s requests to be ignored – it was the only “alternative” to the ECHR, which russia had rejected.

The industrial production index in chelyabinsk region fell by 24.9% in January compared to December. Production in the category “other transport vehicles and equipment” fell by 72%, production of medicines and medical supplies – by 71.2%, of motor vehicles, trailers, and semi-trailers – by 70.7%.

In ivanovo region, production of machinery and equipment fell by 49.9%, of finished metal products – by 28.3%, of metallurgical production – by 47.3%, of other non-metallic mineral products – by 46.5%.

In moscow and st. petersburg, people began to complain about the inability to connect to public Wi-Fi networks. In some places, even regular cellular communication does not work. russians cannot receive SMS messages with authorization codes for Wi-Fi networks, without which they cannot access the internet. Massive mobile internet outages and voice communication disruptions have been going on for six days. The internet outage has already caused moscow businesses losses of 3 to 5 billion rubles. Courier services, taxis, car sharing, and retail businesses have been hit the hardest.

The UN Independent International Commission on Ukraine has recognized the forced deportation of Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied territories to russia and belarus as a war crime and a crime against humanity.

Poland is starting to build an additional four-meter fence on the border with belarus.

minister of education of the rb andrei ivanets has announced the country’s readiness to become one of the key venues for international events promoting not the native language, but russian.

belarus’ economy may collapse along with russia’s one, so prime minister of the rb aleksandr turchin has instructed belarusian diplomats to insistently explain the “pointlessness of sanctions” to their European colleagues.

belarusian farmers do not have enough people to carry out the sowing season. Therefore, they plan to recruit workers from industrial enterprises, interns, and students.