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

The European Commission has allocated EUR 2.86 billion to Ukraine for drones, missiles, and urgent battlefield needs.

“My message to the Ukrainian people could not be clearer: we will stand with you for as long as it takes, and we will strengthen and speed up our support for your courageous fight for peace in Europe,” said Andy Burnham, the UK’s Prime Minister. From the 45 million pound sterling missile package, London will expedite the delivery of 10 million pounds worth of weapons to meet Ukraine’s most urgent needs ahead of winter, as well as the implementation of plans to fully enforce a ban on maritime services for the export of russian liquefied natural gas (LNG).

“The United States continues to sell our equipment and ammunition to our European and Canadian allies, who then transfer them to Ukraine. I am not aware of any changes to this program,” said the USA’s Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker.

russia is intensifying its hybrid war against Ukraine’s allies. This statement was made by Director General of Britain’s MI5 Ken McCallum. Speaking about russia, the chief of MI5 endorsed the assessments of other European intelligence agencies, according to which russia is employing tactics that border on full-scale military conflict. “It is no coincidence that russian aggressors are trying to destabilize the situation in European countries right now, when their military successes in Ukraine are minimal and the cost of these actions is horrific,” said McCallum. He emphasized that russia remains “the number one aggressor”.

France has expanded its operations against russia’s “shadow fleet” to the Indian Ocean, where a key consumer of russian energy carriers is located.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Radosław Sikorski has rejected proposals to unfreeze frozen russian assets and return them to moscow. UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has also stated that the EU should review its policy on russian assets. “Europe must make important decisions, including regarding russian sovereign assets. I think we need to return to this issue,” he urged.

Estonia supports Finland’s initiative to completely ban the issuance of tourist visas to russians in European Union countries, – stated Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Margus Tsahkna.

The International Tennis Federation (World Tennis) has extended the suspension of the russian and belarusian national teams from tournaments held under its auspices. The World Tennis Council has also voted to maintain the suspension of russia’s tennis federation and belarus’ tennis federation from membership in the Organization.

The Netherlands has denied visas to three leading russian gymnasts – angelina melnikova, viktoria listunova, and anna kalmykova – on the eve of the World Championships, where the first team spots for the 2028 Olympics will be up for grabs. listunova attanded a meeting-concert for putin in March 2022; melnikova was seen wearing a “z” symbol; and kalmykova has a contract with the russian national guard.

“I do not miss the russian tanks that crushed the uprisings in Prague and Budapest, nor do I miss the Berlin Wall. And no one will convince me that the surrender of those defending their freedom can be called peace. The peace we strive for and are working to build – even at the cost of losing consensus – is a just peace,” said Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni.

“russia wants us to focus on our own problems and grow weary of supporting Ukraine. We must not let that happen. Estonia will continue to provide military support to Ukraine,” said Prime Minister of Estonia Kristen Michal. Former head of Poland’s National Security Bureau Stanisław Koziej believes that sooner or later NATO will have to establish a forward missile defense zone if russia’s aggression intensifies and the number of air incidents increases.

It will soon be a year since russia’s oil production has been steadily declining. According to OPEC, in September, the average daily output fell for the 10th month in a row – by 38,000 barrels compared to August, when the decline was 174,000. As a result, actual average daily production stood at 1.306 million barrels, which is by 13.2% lower than the quota allocated to russia under OPEC+.

“business russia”, an association of “private non-resource companies”, has proposed that the government of the rf raise taxes on small and medium-sized businesses. In contrast, the organization has prepared a series of tax incentives for large businesses.

Declining demand for housing – amid the elimination of preferential mortgages, stricter requirements for families, and expensive credit – has led to a sharp drop in the number of new residential construction projects. From January through September 2026, the rf approved the construction of 3,030 high-rise buildings – the lowest figure in the past six years. During the same months in 2025, permits were issued for 3,800 buildings, and in 2024 – for 4,810.

By early autumn 2026, the average serving size in russia’s ready-to-eat food segment had decreased by 10.3% year-on-year, to 266 g. The main reason for this change in size is linked to a reduction in standard package volume while prices remained unchanged.

In the first eight months of 2026, production of caviar substitutes in russia grew by 28.9% year-on-year, with growth reaching 46.9% in August. Production of red caviar has already fallen by 68.4% this year, while prices have risen by 59%.

The number of people in russia who do not wish to start their own business has risen sharply following the government’s tax increases. While in September 2025, 34% of russians did not consider entrepreneurship as an option and preferred to work as employees, by September of this year, that share had increased to 40%.

Using maternity capital to improve housing conditions in 2027 will allow for the purchase of only 4.9–6.5 square meters of real estate on the secondary market in 40 major cities of russia. On an annual basis, the value will decline by 3.9–4.4%. The current rise in housing prices is several times higher than the rate at which maternity capital is indexed.

In russia, the number of counterfeit gas cylinders for cars has tripled. The number of counterfeits rose significantly after the July rush caused by petrol supply disruptions and car owners switching to gas.

The rejection of “rzd”’s applications to transport ferrous metals to the northwestern ports of the rf threatens to bring metallurgical enterprises to a rapid standstill due to the inability to export their products. The main reasons for the crisis are a lack of port capacity, a shortage of locomotives and crews to haul empty railway wagons, and the railway’s prioritization of grain shipments.

In moscow, sales of office space have plummeted amid the economic downturn and tax hikes. From January through September, by 29% less office space was sold in the capital than during the same period last year.

russia will cut social spending to fund the war in Ukraine. In the draft budget, spending on social policy in 2027 will be reduced by 7%. They have also decided to cut spending on healthcare. The plan is to allocate 7 trillion rubles to healthcare next year. This is by 6.8% less than was allocated the previous year.

mp from the communist party of the rf (kprf) anatoly lokot has stated during a speech in the state duma that “the burden of the war” against Ukraine must be borne by all russians.

At least ten political prisoners have died in russian prisons since the beginning of the year.

In belarus, as of September 1, 2026, outstanding debt on ruble-denominated and foreign-currency loans issued by banks to legal entities totaled 68 billion 867.7 million rubles – by 13.4% more than on the same date in 2025 (60 billion 715.2 million). Overdue debt as of that date amounted to 432.9 million rubles (a 2.3-fold increase).