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

A group of EU member states, including Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, and Poland, has called on the European Commission to resume work on the “reparations loan” – a plan to use russia’s frozen assets to finance Ukraine.

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, a co-author of the bill on sanctions against russia, hopes the legislation will be finally adopted in September 2026.

European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos has pledged continued support for Ukraine, particularly in advancing the EU accession process.

US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby has emphasized that the United States expects Europe to assume the main responsibility for its own conventional defense, as well as a leading role in supporting Ukraine.

The government of Latvia will continue to provide financial support for the education of Ukrainian children and youth studying in the country.

Communities in Sumy region have received a new shipment of physical protection equipment for energy infrastructure from Sweden.

“russia wants to starve the world. Attacks on grain infrastructure, ports, and sea lanes harm about 400 million people globally, including in some of the most vulnerable countries”, said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Baiba Braže.

russia’s refusal to assist Armenia during the escalation of the conflict with Azerbaijan in 2022 undermines its status as a “strategic partner”, stated  Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

MSC Mediterranean Shipping, the world’s largest container carrier, has stopped accepting new bookings to the port of novorossiysk.

Maritime oil shipments from russia have declined significantly: total shipments from ports in the South and North West fell by 26% in August compared to July, and from novorossiysk alone, they decreased 4.4-fold.  Analysts suggest that the decline in shipments from southern ports may prove to be sustained.

One in two  russian banks has experienced a withdrawal of deposits.

37% of russians cited cash as the best way to store savings. This is the highest percentage since October 2022.

russians have once again begun rapidly transferring money to Georgia amid a possible new wave of mobilization this autumn. In July, the volume of ruble deposits in Georgian banks increased by 32.9% compared to the previous month. Year-on-year, the figure rose by 48.4%.

As of the end of July 2026, overdue wage arrears in russia totaled 2.04 billion rubles. On an annual basis, the amount of unpaid wages nearly doubled. Debts incurred in 2026 account for 42.8% of the total amount.

Tatyana Kim, the founder of Wildberries, has lost $3.1 billion (nearly 40%) of her fortune.

 russia’s diamond mining company “alrosa”  reported a net loss of 9.5 billion rubles in the first half of 2026, compared to a profit of 40.6 billion rubles a year earlier.

The “fix price” retailer’s  net profit declined by 30% in the first half of the year.

The “cherkizovo” group, russia’s largest meat producer, reduced its export volume by 10% in the first half of 2026.

The cost of planting winter crops in russia will rise by at least  by 20% due to rising fuel prices.

The area planted with industrial hemp in russia has shrunk by more than 30% over the past year. Many projects established to produce fiber for the light industry have either been suspended or continue to operate at a loss.

russians have begun ordering petrol deliveries to their cars en masse. The service costs up to 15,000 rubles.

In August 2026, prices for single-family homes in russia rose by 7% year-on-year.

russian businesses now need several times more actual resources than before to acquire a single customer, after adjusting for inflation. The cost of customer acquisition in performance advertising rose by 144% in 2022 through 2025, while cumulative inflation in russia over the same period was approximately 24%.

The area of forest fires in russia that have been consumed by flames since the beginning of this year has reached 5 million hectares, equaling the territory of Slovakia, the republic of dagestan, or smolensk region.

5G service is not expected to become available in russian cities with populations of one million or more until at least the end of 2027. The world’s first commercial 5G networks were launched in 2019. In russia, they were originally promised to be launched by 2020, but the timeline has been revised more than once since then.

putin’s calls to start families and have children as soon as possible and the promotion of “traditional values” have not influenced russian youth. Starting a family ranked only eighth out of nine life priorities for russians aged 14 to 24. For citizens aged 25 to 35, starting a family does not rank among the top three life goals either.

russia is facing a shortage of medication for hemophilia.

russian schools are facing a shortage of teachers. Math teachers are in the highest demand, followed by russian language teachers, with literature teachers rounding out the top three.

In the first half of 2026, 90% of belarusian investments abroad went to russia, while 66% of investments coming from russia were directed to belarus.