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

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, commenting on the russian leadership’s decision to hold a parade on May 9 without military equipment, has stated that this reflects the true course of the war against Ukraine. According to her, russia is failing to achieve its military goals, and “this is becoming increasingly evident”.

Minister of Defence of Finland Antti Häkkänen has announced that his country will officially join the Drone Coalition by the end of spring. “We have discussed in the government allocating more resources to support Ukraine in the field of unmanned systems. Thanks to this, we will be able to make a significant contribution to European support for Ukraine,” Häkkänen pointed out.

Belgium plans to join the Enlarged Partial Agreement on the Special Tribunal to Investigate russia’s Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.

Ukraine and the Netherlands intend to begin joint production of the Baton and K4 drones as early as this year.

russian diplomats in Paris have had their bank cards blocked from making fuel purchases. Earlier, in February 2025, France froze the accounts of the “russian house” in Paris. France also once again has not invited representatives of the rf to May 8 Victory Day celebrations marking the defeat of Nazism. Paris stopped inviting moscow to the anniversaries of the end of World War II following the rf’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine has stated that putin is assisting Iran in waging war. “There is no doubt that putin’s russia is taking serious steps to undermine our efforts to achieve success in Iran,” he said.

The government of Estonia has approved a draft law amending the Defense Forces Organization Act, aimed at combating phenomena such as the appearance of “little green men”. The document allows allies to participate in border activities.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Baiba Braže has stated that Europe must take greater responsibility for its own security and defence by increasing defence spending in light of russia’s aggressive policies.

Latvia’s pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale has launched a social media campaign called “Death in Venice” against russia’s participation, urging visitors to post using the hashtags #biennalearte2026 and #deathinvenice2026.

russia has once again fallen in the World Press Freedom Index, compiled annually by the international non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders. russia ranks 8th from the end out of 180 countries and was named in the report “the world’s second-largest prison for journalists”.

The German bank Sparkasse has massively suspended online banking services for russians.

Crude oil processing volumes at russian refineries have fallen to their lowest level since 2009, having dropped to 4.69 million barrels per day. Compared to the start of the year, volumes fell by 11%; by 12% - year–on–year; and, compared to 2021 – by 18% or nearly 1 million barrels per day.

Income inequality in russia has reached its highest level in the past 18 years. This indicator stands at 0.422 – the same high was last recorded in 2007.

The novolipetsk steel plant – the largest in russia – ended the first quarter of 2026 with a loss of 5.9 billion rubles. Compared to the same period last year, the plant’s loss increased 4.8-fold.

“magnit”, one of russia’s largest food retailers, reported a loss of 31.6 billion rubles for 2025, compared to a profit of 44.3 billion rubles a year earlier.

In 2025, the number of defendants and convicts held in pretrial detention centers in the rf reached a historic low of 81,000 people. One of the reasons for this is the opportunity for defendants to sign a contract and go to war before their trial. During the full-scale war against Ukraine, the number of detainees in pretrial detention centers has decreased by more than a quarter.

roskomnadzor, together with the ministry of digital development of the rf, has announced a large-scale blocking of the Bluetooth protocol throughout the country, starting September 1 of this year. The agencies cite frequent instances of “destructive content” being transmitted between devices at distances of up to 10 meters.

For the fifth time in eight years, putin has mentioned the need to build a bridge to sakhalin. However, he has been unable to find the funds for this project during all this time. In 2024, the cost of building the bridge was estimated at 800–900 billion rubles.

The only gas filling station in tuapse has burnt  down. At least 60% of residents will be left without gas.

Mayor of perm eduard sosnin advised residents to “be patient” following the “oil rains” and the fire at the oil refinery.

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Nordic and Baltic countries (NB8) have adopted a joint statement addressing, among other things, the situation in belarus. In the document, belarus was named an accomplice in russia’s war against Ukraine. The Ministers accused minsk of continuing internal repression and hybrid operations against neighboring countries and stated that a review of relations with belarus is out of the question until this situation changes.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Marcin Bosacki believes that following the exchange that took place this week, relations between Warsaw and minsk have warmed, if at all, only marginally. According to him, their “temperature” has risen from -20 to -15 degrees Celsius, and the fundamental reasons why Polish-belarusian relations are so poor – first of all belarus’ support for russia’s war against Ukraine – have certainly not changed.

belarus’ GDP fell by 0.4% in the first quarter of 2026. The national bank attributed the slowdown in the belarusian economy to weakening external demand.

belarusian individuals’ loan debt rose by 388 million rubles in March and stood at 30.3 billion rubles as of April 1. Over the year, individuals’ loan debt increased by 11.7%. Consumer loan debt rose by 13.2% to 12.06 billion rubles, while mortgage debt increased by 10.8% to 18.2 billion rubles. As of April 1, individuals had overdue loans totaling 55.3 million rubles, which is by 3.5 million rubles more than as of March 1. Over the past year, the amount of overdue debt has increased by 12.6 million rubles.

Outstanding debt on ruble and foreign currency loans issued by banks to legal entities as of April 1, 2026, amounted to 67.0943 billion rubles – by 11.4% more than on the same date in 2025 (60.2237 billion). Overdue debt as of April 1, 2026, stood at 245.6 million rubles.

The rb’s public sector’s overdue debt on loans has increased 2.5-fold year-on-year.

The net profit of enterprises of the rb for the year decreased by 6.7%.

The rb’s self-proclaimed president lukashenko has identified four categories of belarusians who “must be ruthlessly cracked down on: bribe-takers, crooks, swindlers, and those who want to destroy the country”.

Criminal liability has been established for failure to comply with lukashenko’s decree on the development of the dairy industry in belarus.