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

French and British commitments within the Coalition of the Willing remain unchanged, and support for Ukraine will be one of the key topics to be discussed by President of France Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Andy Burnham at their meeting in London.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Kęstutis Budrys has called for strengthening Ukraine’s air defense and finding ways to unblock sea lanes to protect Ukrainian grain exports.

Deputy Minister of National Defense of Poland Paweł Zalewski has pointed out that his country has the manufacturing capacity and readiness to begin producing PAC-3 interceptor missiles for Patriot systems on its territory and is ready to cooperate with Ukraine in this area.

The government of Sweden will transfer ten high-speed coast guard boats to Ukraine. They will be received by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. “Sweden supports Ukraine in several areas and is now further strengthening Ukraine’s capabilities at sea,” said Minister of Civil Defense of Sweden Carl-Oscar Bolin.

Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions have received new shipments of critical energy equipment from Lithuania. The shipments of energy aid, weighing a total of 28.31 tons, include transformers, surge protection equipment, an electric motor, and other essential components for the power grid.

russia has become the main destination for cars stolen in Canada, as Western sanctions have restricted legal imports but have not reduced demand for brand-name SUVs. According to Interpol, from February 2024 to July 2026, the organization received 4,798 reports of vehicles stolen in Canada that were later found in the rf.

Apple is blocking the upload to the App Store of apps from russian banks that provide access to the digital ruble wallet.

China has begun to displace russia from the arms market in the countries of the former ussr. These countries have become much more active in diversifying their military arsenals – so as not to depend so heavily on a country that considers the “near abroad” to be its sphere of unchallenged influence. Total arms exports from russia fell by 64% in 2021–2025 compared to 2016–2020, and its share of global exports dropped from 21% to 6.8%.

China has nearly halved its purchases of russian chicken – from 70,000 to 37,000 tons. Imports from China during the same period have nearly tripled – from 17,000 to 50,000 tons.

Oil exports from the Black Sea port of novorossiysk more than halved in August compared to July. This month, oil shipments from novorossiysk will total less than 350,000 barrels per day, compared to about 800,000 barrels per day in July.

The government of the rf has imposed strict restrictions on budget spending due to a growing deficit and a lack of resources to finance the war with Ukraine. Since April, the government has cut spending across all categories by 35%, with the exception of defense, social spending, salaries for public sector employees, subsidies to regions, and interest payments on the national debt. Government agencies were instructed to postpone all non-essential spending and to prepare for a 15% reduction in staff.

russia’s largest exporters – which include state-owned corporations and companies owned by the country’s wealthiest billionaires – have resumed the practice of hiding foreign currency proceeds from the export of russian raw materials in overseas accounts. According to the central bank of the rf, in July, a group of 43 major export companies reduced their currency sales on the exchange to a four-year low of $2.2 billion.

In russia, the market that had enabled the transportation industry to renew its fleet of trucks and specialized equipment for years has shrunk dramatically. Over the past year and a half, the number of leasing company clients has fallen from approximately 195,000 to 57,000, while the number of lessors has dropped from 714 to 465.

“rusal” plans to mothball four alumina and bauxite plants in russia due to annual losses of $800 million.

“tmk”, russia’s largest steel pipe manufacturer, saw its losses increase ninefold in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year – to 30.1 billion rubles.

The russian mining and metallurgical company “mechel” increased its losses to 43.2 billion rubles in the first half of 2026, compared to 40.5 billion rubles in the same period last year.

The “vtb”’s net profit for the first seven months fell by 13%.

The net loss of the real estate developer “samolet” in the first half of the year amounted to 22.3 billion rubles, compared to a net profit of 1.8 billion rubles for the same period last year. The company’s revenue for January–June fell by 31%.

“eurotrans”, the parent company of “trassa” – one of the largest filling station chains in moscow region – is facing bankruptcy. More than 50 lawsuits have been filed against the company regarding the fulfillment of contractual obligations, as well as payments on loans and securities. The total amount of the lawsuits exceeds 15 billion rubles. The “trassa” network is linked to former minister of industry and trade and first deputy prime minister of the rf denis manturov.

Over the past week, approximately 113,000 russians left for Georgia via the “Verkhniy Lars” border crossing, fearing mobilization. Georgia remains one of the few countries that can be reached by land from russia without a visa. On August 20 alone, more than 20,000 people crossed the border.

The directorate of internal affairs in penza region has published an official statement on its website confirming that residents of the region are trying to prevent the forced and illegal conscription of men to the war.

Wikipedia is no longer accessible in russia.

Due to sanctions, russian regions are left without ballot-processing centers on the eve of the state duma elections. This year, polling stations in at least 14 regions may be without electronic ballot boxes.

Prime Minister of Lithuania Mindaugas Sinkevičius and Prime Minister of Estonia Kristen Michal see no reason to revise their policies toward belarus, as minsk’s behavior has not changed and belarus continues to act in russia’s interests. “We shouldn’t delude ourselves into thinking that belarus isn’t on russia’s side… It would clearly be premature to assume they’re changing course – they aren’t acting independently and are aiding the russian authorities,” pointed out Kristen Michal.

Residents of belarus owe banks more than 32 billion rubles (~EUR 9.11 billion).