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

The government of the FRG has allocated EUR 90 million to finance the purchase of 50,000 Ukrainian Shrike drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Denmark has contributed an additional EUR 10 million to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund. As a result, Denmark’s total contribution to the Fund has exceeded EUR 78.5 million.

“Latvia is doing its share: we have just donated additional amount of money to PURL initiative, and we are supporting drone production. In other words, we are taking these steps to ensure that the Ukrainians will prevail,” said Parliamentary Secretary of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Artjoms Uršulskis, assuring that his country would not agree to any proposals to ease sanctions against russia.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has expressed support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. “It is impossible to defeat a nation that strives for independence and preservation of its identity. It is impossible to subjugate it; it is impossible to impose one’s will on it. This realization must dawn on those who, even today, advocate for the continuation of military operations,” he pointed out. According to him, following the start of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Azerbaijani natural gas supplies to the European Union have increased by 65%, and the country is ready to ramp up production.

“Bulgaria is ready to support the 21st package (of anti-russian sanctions) as it stands. There are several countries whose concerns have not yet been resolved, but I hope we will be able to adopt the package soon,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria Velislava Petrova-Chamova.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Kęstutis Budrys is calling to increase energy support for Ukraine.

“In July, there were no longer any objective obstacles to opening all the clusters. But tomorrow (July 14), we will open only one more – the sixth cluster – and postpone all the others until the autumn,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Kęstutis Budrys regarding the progress of Ukraine’s EU accession process.

A member of the US House of Representatives Michael McCaul believes that American defense contractors, particularly Lockheed Martin, are interested in allowing Ukraine to produce interceptor missiles for the Patriot systems.

Ukraine has received new mobile F-16 simulators from its partners.

Germany has delivered 20 transformers to Ukrenergo.

EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs are set to conclude discussions and adopt the 21st package of sanctions against russia by July 15, when the deadline for reviewing the price cap on russian oil expires.

The European Union has condemned russia’s malicious cyber activities and its use of an extensive cyber ecosystem to target EU member states and its international partners. In response to these activities, the EU has imposed new sanctions against nine individuals and four organizations. An official EU statement points out that the 16th center of the rf fsb controls a number of cyber groups that pose a threat to European states, including the TURLA hacking group. France, Germany, Poland, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Romania, Finland, as well as Ukraine, were among the countries affected by russian operations.

The United Kingdom has joined the European Union’s sanctions efforts targeting individuals responsible for organizing russian cyberattacks against European countries. 24 individuals and organizations were added to the “blacklist”, including high-ranking officials from the main directorate of the general staff of the armed forces of the rf – vyacheslav stafeev, ivan senin, and ivan kasyanenko – as well as the “29155” cyber unit of the general staff of the armed forces of the rf and others.

The European Union has added the russian company “vk” and its subsidiary, “communication platform” LLC – the developer and operator of the state-run messaging app “Max” – to its sanctions list. The justification states that the holding company helps monitor citizens, enforce censorship, and identify those who disagree with the policies of the rf’s leadership.

The European Commission, following the reopening of the russian pavilion, confirmed the withdrawal of the EUR 2 million grant that had been allocated to the Venice Biennale for the three-year period from 2025 to 2028.

A group of US senators has announced that they had agreed with the Donald Trump administration on a bill imposing “hellish sanctions” against russia. The bill grants the US President the authority to impose 500 percent tariffs on imports from countries that continue to purchase russian oil, gas, and uranium, as well as to impose secondary sanctions on companies and states that help moscow circumvent existing restrictions.

In Finland, a decrease in cases of syphilis and gonorrhea has been recorded following the closure of the border with russia.

The ministry of foreign affairs of the rf has begun drafting a law to introduce exit visas.

russia has suspended shipping on the Azov-don sea canal, which connects the don river to the Sea of Azov. The suspension of the canal’s operations could affect nearly a quarter of russia’s wheat exports, which are shipped via the Sea of Azov.

According to the results for the first half of the year, the wearable electronics market in russia shrinked by 15.3% in volume terms compared to the same period last year, and by 2.65 billion rubles, or 11.3%, in monetary terms.

From January through June 2026, foot traffic at food service establishments across russia fell by 10%.

Beef prices in russia rose by nearly 16% over the course of the year.

“kamaz”, russia’s largest truck manufacturer, has halted production and went on a two-week company-wide vacation.

russia plans to introduce a new type of recycling fee for railway equipment. “The ministry of industry and trade is constantly looking for sources to replenish the budget,” said minister of industry and trade anton alikhanov. Please, be reminded, in russia, the recycling fee is a mandatory one-time payment levied on every vehicle authorized for operation within the country or imported from abroad.

The number of new construction projects in major russian cities in the first half of 2026 decreased by 6.4% compared to the same period last year.

russia’s potential financial losses due to the insufficient development of port, icebreaker, and emergency rescue infrastructure in the Arctic could reach trillions of rubles. This was reported by coordinator of the expert council of the Arctic development project office aleksandr vorotnikov.

In russia, coffee may become a drink for the wealthy by the end of the year. By the end of this year, coffee prices could rise by 20%, and the average cost of a single cup will be 300–350 rubles. This was stated by economic analyst denis mirolyubov.

There is a 30% shortage of teachers in russian schools.

The Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) has warned of the risks of human trafficking involving Ukrainian children displaced to belarus from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

The Senate of the Czech Republic has called for tougher sanctions against the lukashenko regime.

Poland will once again extend for the next 60 days the suspension of accepting applications for international protection at the belarus-Poland border.

Lithuania has extended its mission to assist Latvia in securing its border with belarus.

belarus’ trade deficit in goods for 2025 amounted to 6,498,296.9 thousand dollars – 65.3 times higher than in 2022 (“minus” 99,570.5 thousand).

During a visit to the shklov district agricultural service, lukashenko demanded that facilities be heated with pellets and that gas be saved. “Pellets, and once again, pellets. Natural gas or any other fuel source should be used only as a backup,” lukashenko said. Please, be reminded, numerous pellet production plants were built in belarus with the intention of supplying products to European Union countries. However, in 2022, lukashenko supported russia’s military aggression against Ukraine. This led to a new round of sanctions, which closed EU markets to belarusian pellets.

Chronicles of the Fuel Crisis

During the first ten days of July, median prices for AI-92 and AI-95 petrol in russia rose by 20% and 24%, respectively.

Rising fuel prices began to speed up inflation in russia. In June, the consumer price index rose by 0.87% – the highest rate for that month since 2012. The annual rate of price growth accelerated for the first time since the January VAT hike – from 5.31% in May to 6.01%.

In russia, against the background of the fuel crisis, vegetables and meat have begun to rise sharply in price. Average prices for potatoes and onions have risen by 27.7%, for cabbage – by 18.8%, for beets – by 17.2%, for – carrots by 13.1%, and for chicken – by 6.1%. Petrol and diesel prices have risen by 8.9% and 10.5%, respectively, over the same period, while annual fuel inflation has approached 20%, setting a record high for the past 15 years.

Petrol production in russia has fallen to 65% of the average summer consumption level.

russia’s largest marketplace, “wildberries”, has encountered problems delivering orders due to a fuel shortage.

Psychics and magicians have begun actively promising russians that they can reduce petrol consumption through esoteric practices. For a fee, they offer to “cleanse” a car of negative energy, inscribe special runes, search for hidden “needles” inside the vehicle, and even perform two-week rituals involving salt and incantations.

In kirov region – following kuban, transbaikal, novosibirsk, and irkutsk regions – siloviki are patrolling filling stations due to long queues.

In volgograd, filling stations have begun en masse to refuse service to ordinary drivers who are willing to pay with cash or standard bank cards. Filling station operators are requiring car owners to present only corporate fuel cards issued to legal entities and various government agencies.

In kamyshin, volgograd region, organizers have completely canceled the popular annual “hell” motorcycle festival due to acute petrol shortages.