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

On October 26, the Council of the EU adopted a package of eight decisions allowing for the use of EUR 4.7 billion from the European Peace Facility for EU member states providing support to Ukraine. The decisions also provide for additional funding for the EU Military Assistance Mission to Ukraine (EUMAM) totaling EUR 230 million.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy Antonio Tajani has stated that a new military aid package for Ukraine is already ready. “My position is well known: we stand with Ukraine and will continue to support it for as long as necessary. The next military aid package is already ready, and we will send it to Kyiv as soon as possible,” he said.

Ministers of Defence of the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Poland, and France have identified russia as the main long-term threat to European security and pledged to continue supporting Ukraine. “Our countries share the view that russia poses the most acute and long-term threat to Euro-Atlantic security and stability,” the final statement reads.

“Whether we call russia an aggressor or an enemy does not affect our policy. Both the EU and NATO have clearly and unequivocally stated that russia poses the greatest threat to our security. We are not at war with russia, but we are observing increasingly hostile behavior on its part,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Tom Berendsen in response to russia’s reluctance to be called an “enemy”.

President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda believes that both Ukraine and Europe must participate in any negotiations aimed at ending the russian-Ukrainian war. “It is essential to ensure that Ukraine and Europe participate in any discussions regarding Ukraine’s future – and especially in peace negotiations – because it is Ukraine itself or the European Union as a whole that will be the first to feel the consequences of this peace agreement,” the President of Lithuania emphasized.

Lithuania insists on the practical implementation of a mechanism to verify the origin of grain in order to prevent the use of EU ports and EU transport infrastructure for the shipment of Ukrainian grain stolen by russia from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. This was stated by Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Lithuania Rolandas Taraškevičius.

Estonia plans to completely block the transit of russian grain through its ports and is seeking legal mechanisms to implement a corresponding ban. This was stated by Minister of Regional Affairs and Agriculture of the Republic of Estonia Hendrik Johannes Terras.

The government of Latvia plans to extend the ban on international non-scheduled passenger bus transportation through border crossings with belarus and russia for one year.

A UN commission has labeled russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as war crimes.

In 2026, the volume of overdue debt owed by companies and sole proprietors to one another in the rf rose by the largest amount in more than 20 years. Business accounts payable increased by 28% over the year – or by 32 trillion rubles – and reached 155 trillion rubles as of the end of June.

Debt collection agencies in the rf sharply increased the volume of overdue debts they purchased from russians through microfinance organizations. From January through September 2026, they purchased obligations totaling 96.78 billion rubles, which is by 16% more than during the same period the previous year. At the same time, the weighted average price of the debts purchased by collection agencies rose from 17.46% to 22.05% of the total debt.

Foot traffic at russian shopping centers in January–September 2026 fell by 2.8% compared to the same period last year. The market is under pressure from consumers’ general desire to save money, disruptions in fuel supplies, and operational issues at the stores themselves. The November sales season is unlikely to remedy the situation.

Box office receipts for russian films abroad totaled $4.6 million over the nine-month period – by nearly 46% less than last year.

Starting in November 2026, employees of the electric scooter and bicycle rental service whoosh will switch to a four-day workweek with a 20% pay cut. In 2025, revenue fell by 13% to 12.5 billion rubles, and instead of the 1.99 billion rubles in profit recorded a year earlier, whoosh posted a net loss of 2.9 billion rubles.

As of mid-October, the sunflower harvest in the key regions of volga region and central russia had declined by 16–22% compared to 2025.

From January through September, 10,200 profit-sharing agreements were terminated in russia – by 18% more than the previous year. The highest rate of terminations was recorded in the khanty-mansi autonomous okrug – 18%. In buryatia, it stood at 8%. Most of the contracts terminated since the beginning of the year were for projects with imminent completion dates. Homes scheduled for completion in 2026 accounted for 47% of the terminations.

Faced with a record deficit in local budgets, russia’s regions began cutting back on healthcare spending, reducing funding for clinics and hospitals to cover the costs of recruiting soldiers for the war against Ukraine. In the first half of 2026, regional budget expenditures under the “Health Care” category decreased by 5.8%. Over the course of six months, governors allocated 999 billion rubles to healthcare – approximately by 61 billion less than during the same period a year earlier. 42 regions of the rf slashed hospital funding, and in 11 regions, the cuts exceeded 20%. Medical spending saw record cuts in the altai republic and kirov region – by 40.6% and 39%, respectively. kemerovo region, which has been suffering from a long-standing crisis in the coal industry, cut spending by 33.2%; orenburg region – by 32.1%; tver region – by 29%; moscow region – by 28.5%, vologda region – by 27.2%, and novosibirsk region – by 23.4%.

russians with diabetes in more than 30 regions have been left without the life-saving mwdicine – glucagon, which is used in cases of a critical drop in blood sugar levels when a person loses consciousness. Hospitals have stopped dispensing the medication to patients in chuvashia, udmurtia, buryatia, bashkortostan, komi, and ivanovo, tver, kemerovo, oenburg, omsk, volgograd, and samara regions, as well as in the altai territory, the nenets autonomous okrug, and other regions.

Authorities of st. petersburg intend to cut housing benefits for large families by at least 30%.

The primorye territory’s ministry of labor has reported delays in the payment of a number of social benefits. “Currently, the regional budget is operating under increased strain, particularly due to the need to address nationwide tasks related to the conduct of the special military operation,” the ministry has stated.

From July through September, russia’s courts handed down 186 verdicts in cases involving treason, espionage, covert collaboration with foreigners, and aiding the enemy. On average, the courts issued two verdicts per day. At least 203 people were convicted in such cases.

Since the beginning of the year, at least 11 defendants in politically motivated cases have died in penal colonies or pretrial detention centers in russia.

During the 25 days of October, neighboring EU countries recorded nearly 900 attempts at illegal migration from the territory of belarus.

The number of people employed in the belarusian economy decreased by 10,900 in September.