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

The US Department of State has approved a potential sale to Ukraine of equipment for maintaining existing Hawk air defense systems, totaling $108.1 million.

“The government of Spain intends to allocate additional EUR 50 million in military aid to Ukraine,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs of the country José Manuel Albares. The Kingdom will provide the funds under the PURL program.

Italy will provide Ukraine with additional EUR 10 million for restoration and repair work in the energy sector.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has brought Estonia’s proposal regarding the possibility of assuming a long-term commitment to provide military support to Ukraine in the amount of 0.25% of GDP up for discussion among allies.

“Support for Ukraine will be one of the topics of discussion at the meeting of NATO Ministers in Sweden, and Norway will call for increased contributions to Ukraine’s defense capabilities,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway Espen Barth Eide.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy Antonio Tajani has emphasized the need to strengthen Ukraine’s position and pave the way for its full membership in the European Union.

Estonia believes that russia is responsible for the drone incidents in the airspace of the Baltic states, which occurred against the background of successful Ukrainian strikes on russia’s oil and gas sector. This was stated by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Margus Tsahkna.

Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Baiba Braže dismissed russian disinformation claiming that the Baltic states had allegedly granted Ukraine permission to use their airspace for strikes against russia, noting that moscow is seeking to justify its vulnerabilities to Ukrainian strikes.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Radosław Sikorski has stated that russia has no right to make groundless accusations against the Baltic states. Sikorski has emphasized that russia’s threats against Poland’s allies are unacceptable.

Finland has expressed support for the Baltic states and condemned russia’s disinformation following yet another statement from moscow claiming that they had allegedly allowed Ukraine to use their territory to launch drones at targets in russia.

Montenegro has made a statement strongly condemning russia’s threats, intimidation, and hybrid warfare tactics directed against the Baltic states.

“russia’s sabre-rattling, particularly with nuclear weapons, will not intimidate NATO, although this is the objective of the exercises currently underway,” said Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Republic’s Armed Forces Karel Řehka.

“France is using its dialogue with China to urge it to influence russia and bring about an end to the war against Ukraine,” said Spokesperson for the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France Pascal Confavreux.

The Council of the European Union has decided to suspend customs duties on key nitrogen fertilizers used in agriculture, specifically urea and ammonia, for one year: this exemption does not apply to the rf and belarus. The decision is intended to reduce the EU’s dependence on supplies from russia and the rb s and to promote the diversification of import sources.

Lithuania will ban entry into its territory and the Schengen Area for approximately 600 more individuals identified as combatants fighting on the side of the rf in the war against Ukraine.

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The government of russia is preparing to issue a new tranche of government bonds denominated in Chinese yuan to cover the budget deficit, which reached nearly 6 trillion rubles in January–April.

The decline in the russian electronics and home appliances distribution market in 2025 amounted to up to 35% in monetary terms, depending on the segment.

The financial situation of russian taxi fleets has deteriorated significantly amid rising costs, tighter regulation, and an increased tax burden. 81% of market participants reported a decline in revenue, and 90% reported a drop in net profit.

Separate waste collection points are closing across russia – due to falling prices for recyclable materials, rising costs, and a shortage of staff, the business has become unprofitable.

russian insurers plan to stop covering losses from business downtime following drone attacks – citing “new trends”. The loss ratio for such insurance has exceeded 100%.

The financial situation of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in russia is rapidly deteriorating. In the first quarter, the volume of non-performing loans rose by 4.3%, and their share in the SME loan portfolio increased to 18.9%.

The federal tax service of the rf has begun freezing the patents and trademarks of debtor companies amid a budget deficit of 6 trillion rubles.

The number of individual entrepreneurs who declared bankruptcy through the courts in January–March 2026 rose by 29% compared to the same period last year.

Over the ten years since the personal bankruptcy mechanism was introduced, russian courts have declared 2.22 million citizens insolvent.

president of the russian constitutional court valery zorkin has supported the confiscation of business assets without a statute of limitations.

The state duma has approved a draft law on the confiscation of relocants’ property for criticizing the putin regime.

Among the top 30 most popular toys in russia, there are virtually no items that were entirely designed and manufactured within the country.

The ministry of education of the rf has issued guidelines on what toys children should play with in kindergartens. Playing with dinosaurs is allowed, but unicorns are discouraged because they are not characters from russian folklore.

The rf’s ministry of industry and trade suspects that the new “irtysh” processors, marketed as a russian-developed solution for critical infrastructure, are based on Chinese technology and pose a threat to national security.

In 2025, bashkortostan allocated over 29.5 billion rubles for payments to participants in the war against Ukraine and their family members. At the same time, the region’s budget deficit for the previous year amounted to 28.6 billion rubles.

In the temporarily occupied city of Sevastopol, restrictions have been imposed on the sale of fuel, diesel fuel is being distributed via ration cards.

“lukashenko’s regime has long supported russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, so there is no point in discussing the idea of belarus participating as a mediator in peace talks,” said European Commission Spokesperson Anitta Hipper.

As of May 21, 2026, there are 841 political prisoners being held in belarusian prisons: 727 men and 114 women. At least 168 of them are in a high-risk category. Of these, at least 60 are in poor health, 8 have disabilities, 26 are over 60 years of age, and 9 suffer from mental disorders. 26 parents with multiple children and at least 17 foreigners are being held behind bars. Since 2020, 9 political prisoners have died in custody.

The total number of people repressed in belarus from May 2020, when the presidential election campaign began, through April 2026 is 500,000.