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

Germany has provided a EUR 5.7 million aid package to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SES), which included, among other things, the Alpha Robotics Wolf R1, LUF 60, LUF-CRV, and Magirus AirCore TAF60 robotic systems for firefighting and operations in hazardous conditions, fire tanker trucks, a heavy-duty evacuation tractor, trucks equipped with crane-manipulators, buses and minibuses for transporting personnel, portable fire pumps and booster pumps, as well as personal protective equipment for rescue workers.

“If it weren’t for Ukrainian citizens, we’d be waiting 10 minutes for the bus instead of 5. That’s because they’re the ones filling the labor shortage in the Polish labor market. So, a certain part of Poland’s economy depends on refugees from Ukraine – and, in general, on Ukrainians living in Poland – and we must reiterate this more and more often, because one day – if such a situation were to arise – if all Ukrainians were to decide not to go to work, the Polish economy would grind to a halt,” said Poland’s Deputy Minister of the Interior Maciej Duszczyk.

The Ukrainian company Ukrainian Unmanned Technologies (UUT) and the Danish company Vidar Industries have signed a memorandum of understanding. The document provides for the joint production of “Ravlyk” ground-based robotic systems in Denmark. Production capacity allows for the manufacture of over 3,000 systems per year.

Ukraine has reached an agreement with Moldova on a 50% discount for railway transit.

Against the background of hybrid threats from russia, Germany is expanding the powers of its intelligence services. Specifically, the BfV (Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution) will be granted the authority to infiltrate attackers’ computer systems, disable them, and launch counterattacks, as well as sabotage terrorists’ weapons and explosives. The BND (Federal Intelligence Service) will also be tasked with defending against internal threats in order to weaken attackers. The work of the intelligence services will no longer be limited to gathering and analyzing information; they will be authorized to actively intervene.

Switzerland has added nine individuals and 45 organizations – representatives of russia’s industrial and defense sectors – to its sanctions list against russia. The list includes, in particular, the 18th  central research institute of the ministry of defense of the rf, executive director of “rostec” oleg yevtushenko, and others.

The World Curling Federation Council has extended the suspension of russian adult athletes from competition through the end of 2026. The Federation first suspended russian curlers in March 2022, and the suspension has been extended since then.

Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze has stated that Tbilisi has no intention of restoring diplomatic relations with russia as long as moscow continues to recognize the “independence” of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Japan has tightened the requirements for the documents needed for russian citizens to obtain visas.

russia’s federal budget deficit grew again in July. Over the first seven months, the government collected 22.112 trillion rubles in taxes – by 8.8% more than a year earlier. At this, expenditures grew nearly twice as fast as revenues – by 14.5%, to 28.567 trillion rubles. As a result, by early August, a “hole” of 6.455 trillion rubles had formed in the budget – an amount equal to moscow’s annual budget, four times st. petersburg’s annual budget, and 11 times the annual budgets of large regions such as tatarstan or the krasnodar territory. Compared to the same dates last year, the deficit has increased 1.4-fold and now nearly twice exceeds the full-year target (3.786 trillion rubles).

The growing “deficit” in the rf’s budget is fueling business concerns that taxes will rise again next year – for the third year in a row. 27% of companies consider an increase in the tax burden to be the most likely risk in the near term.

The rf government’s actual support for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) is dwindling before our eyes. In the first half of the year, it amounted to 142.3 billion rubles, or by 13.7% less than a year earlier (164.9 billion). In the first half of 2024, support for SMEs totaled 269.7 billion rubles, and in January–June 2023, it was 355.7 billion. Thus, the volume of state support has been declining for three consecutive years, and is now nearly half what it was in 2024, amounting to only 40% of the 2023 level. By the end of last year, support for SMEs had fallen by one-third. Adjusted for inflation, the real decline is even greater.

In russia, the number of cases related to tax evasion has risen sharply following increases in the VAT rate and the tax burden on businesses. In January–June, 3,362 such offenses were detected, which is by 17.2% more than during the same period last year. This marks a record increase over at least the past 12 years.

In russia, production volumes of major stainless steel products fell by 18.3% year-on-year in the first half of 2026.

russian manufacturers of road construction equipment are  facing a sharp drop in sales for the third consecutive year amid a deteriorating economic situation. In January–June 2026, the companies’ product sales fell by 30.2% year-on-year, to 14.8 billion rubles. Meanwhile, at the end of 2025, equipment sales fell by 28% compared to the previous year, to 54.7 billion rubles, while in 2024, they declined by 15% year-over-year, to 75.8 billion.

In the first half of 2026, the sharpest declines in sales were recorded for skid-steer loaders (by 64.4%), pipe-laying cranes (by 56.5%), and crawler bulldozers (by 53.8%).

Kilometers-long lines at filling stations and restrictions on petrol sales have returned to regions across the rf. Fuel shortages at filling stations have already affected at least 16 regions.

Starting today, authorities in orenburg region have imposed strict restrictions on fuel sales – they have begun dispensing fuel based on license plate numbers (the “even-odd” system). The restrictions apply to both individuals and companies.

Filling stations in lipetsk region will once again sell fuel based on the first digit of a vehicle’s license plate.

Advertisers have begun cutting back on ad placements or freezing their promotional budgets on “wildberries”. This is due to a decline in activity among sellers who lost their inventory when the marketplace’s warehouses were destroyed. Budgets for direct banner advertising in July fell by 63% compared to June.

In 2026, russian citizens began to cancel their vacation packages en masse due to a lack of money. 15% of russians who had been considering purchasing a summer tour ultimately changed their minds. More than two-thirds (67%) of those who opted out of this type of summer vacation cited various financial constraints. Nearly half (45%) of them cited “financial uncertainty” and the decision to “save money” as the reason for their refusal. Another 22% of respondents stated that tour prices were too high.

The “yandex pay” payment service, created by “yandex”, is no longer available on the russian version of the App Store. In July 2026, the app was removed from international versions of the App Store.

The “ozon bank” app was removed from Google Play following the imposition of EU sanctions.

According to the results for the first half of 2026, the net loss of the neftekamsk automobile plant (nefaz), part of the “kamaz” group, reached 1.037 billion rubles. This was more than twice the company’s loss for all of 2025.

Revenue for “rm communications” – the russian subsidiary of Chinese smartphone manufacturer Realme – fell by 7.8% in 2025.

In omsk, following penza and ulyanovsk, men began to be detained on the streets for forced conscription into the war against Ukraine.

The European Commission has approved Latvia’s restrictions on imports of goods from russia and belarus, including children’s toys and video games. Brussels has acknowledged that the country has the right to impose its own bans to protect moral principles.

On Wednesday, the government of Lithuania approved changes to the plan for constructing defensive engineering structures along the border with belarus and russia’s kaliningrad region, which call for the creation of a new defensive zone.

The government of Latvia has approved amendments to the law on the development of agriculture. These amendments provide for a further expansion of the ban on food imports from belarus and grant the government the authority to impose bans on imports of food products, including confectionery, baked goods, sauces, ready-made soups, non-alcoholic beverages, and beer.

The rb’s  trade deficit in industrial goods has increased nearly fivefold – from $1.5 billion in 2021 to $7.4 billion in 2025.