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

US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff has announced that trilateral talks on ending the russian-Ukrainian war will take place next week in Abu Dhabi.

UK Secretary of State for Defence Wes Streeting has reiterated that during any potential talks, “decisions regarding Ukraine cannot be made without Ukraine”.

Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz has announced that Berlin will host a “Coalition of the Willing” summit in the coming weeks.

A meeting on security guarantees for Ukraine, with the participation of representatives from our country, the European Commission, the USA, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, NATO, and the World Bank, will take place on November 4.

On November 9, in Nowa Dęba (Poland), the “Coalition of the Willing” military exercises are scheduled to begin; their aim is to test the ability of this 36-nation alliance to deploy its forces in Ukraine once hostilities have ceased.

EU Deputy Ambassador to Ukraine Gediminas Navickas has reported that the European Union has already invested approximately EUR 1 billion in Ukraine’s housing sector, with an additional EUR 370 million currently in the planning stages.

The government of Norway plans to allocate 1 billion kroner (about $107 million) to attract private Norwegian investment in the Ukrainian defense industry.

The United States intends to ask its NATO allies to allocate additional funds for arms deliveries to Ukraine under the PURL program.

Slovakia is joining the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children. This was announced by State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia Marek Eštók.

“…What the russians are really aiming for is to inflict as much harm as possible on civilians – to ensure that warning systems don’t work, so that as many people as possible die,” – said EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, commenting on the appearance of false alerts about a nuclear and radiation threat in the Ukrainian “Air Alerts” app.

“We are deeply shocked by the russian bombing of the humanitarian aid and shelter center in Komyshuvas, which killed at least 26 civilians. Attacks on people seeking humanitarian aid are a gross violation of international law,” said Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset, expressing solidarity with Ukraine in the wake of the deadly russian airstrike on a school in Komyshuvakha, Zaporizhzhia region.

Romania is no longer dependent on russian gas and intends to stop purchasing it. This was stated by State Secretary at the country’s Ministry of Energy Marius Poșa.

The European Commission opposes the “normalization” of russian and belarusian athletes’ participation in international competitions as long as russia’s war against Ukraine continues.

The Ice Hockey Federation of Finland intends to use all possible means to prevent russia’s return to the World Championships. “Our position is that we will not play against russia as long as the war of aggression against Ukraine continues,” said Heikki Hietanen, President of the Federation. The Finnish Federation has held talks with other members of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It hopes to rally as many countries as possible to jointly declare their refusal to play against russian teams.

Norway and Latvia have also announced that their national teams will not play against the russian team at the 2027 World Championship.

Sponsors and advertisers have begun withdrawing from the tournaments following the decision to allow russian hockey players to return. The Swedish furniture company AJ Products, which has been sponsoring the World Hockey Championship since 1989, decided to sever ties after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne ruled that russia must participate in the tournament. Additionally, the Czech betting company Tipsport called the CAS decision “scandalous” and stated that it would not run advertisements during matches involving russia.

The Czech Republic’s top political leadership has spoken out against allowing russian hockey players to return to international tournaments until the war in Ukraine ends.

• “I believe that it is definitely not the right time to talk about any normalization of relations with russia at this moment, until it itself demonstrates a willingness to seek a peaceful settlement, until it ceases hostilities and sits down at the negotiating table,” emphasized President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel.

• Since it was decided that russian hockey players should not participate in world championships, this decision must remain in effect until the end of the war in Ukraine. This was stated by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. He called the decision made by the CAS incorrect.

• Regarding the possible participation of russian junior female hockey players in the upcoming U-18 Women’s World Championship, scheduled to take place in January in the Czech Republic, Interior Minister Lubomír Metnar has reminded that the country still has a ban in place on issuing short-term visas to russian citizens.

Indonesia has officially demanded that russia stop recruiting its citizens to participate in the war against Ukraine. The demand was prompted by the death of an Indonesian man who was recruited into the russian army and sent to the front lines. Jakarta is now demanding that moscow officially enforce a ban on the recruitment of its citizens.

During talks between putin and Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Li Qiang, the Chinese side requested that the “sila baikala” gas pipeline project not be discussed. China does not want to significantly increase its consumption of russian gas, while russia does not have sufficient funds to finance its share of the project.

In October 2026, russia exported only 2.3 million tons of grain via its port infrastructure, which is three times less than a year earlier.

A decline in tourism, primarily within the rf, led to widespread closures of businesses in this sector. From January through September 2026, the number of liquidations of organizations and entrepreneurs specializing in tourism rose by 33.6% year-on-year.

Catering establishments have faced difficulties repaying loans as russians switched to a frugal lifestyle. As of September 1, 2026, the overdue debt of cafes and restaurants reached 24.3 billion rubles. Over the course of the year, this figure rose by 27%, with an increase of 1.25 billion rubles in August alone. Meanwhile, the total loan portfolio of food service establishments stands at 184 billion rubles. Consequently, these businesses are unable to repay nearly one in every eight rubles (13%) to the banks.

“sberbank” has reported a slump in family mortgage lending in October 2026, when the number of loans issued under the program fell by a factor of 4.4.

The tightening of conditions for russia’s most popular subsidized program– the “family mortgage” – has sparked pessimism among developers. Three-quarters of developers (74%) are bracing for a worsening situation following the program’s stricter requirements. Three months ago, 63% were pessimistic, while a year ago – only 30%.

In the rf, rebar prices fell by 36% compared to July–August. The reasons include a decline in construction and an oversupply in the market amid limited exports.

russian consumers are increasingly cutting back on food purchases by reducing the number of trips to stores and choosing the cheapest products. Foot traffic at medium- and large-format grocery sshops (supermarkets and hypermarkets) in russia from January through September 2026 fell by 2–7% compared to the same period last year. Hypermarkets recorded the sharpest decline – 10.4% compared to the same period last year. Traditional retail shops lost 7% of their customers. Only hard-discounters, which sell a minimal assortment at the lowest prices, saw an increase in foot traffic. This negative trend is linked to a general slowdown in consumer activity and changes in purchasing behavior.

By the end of October 2026, the wholesale price of broiler chicken in the rf had risen by 37% year-on-year – to 250 rubles per kilogram. The price of the product is rising due to a significant increase in poultry farmers’ costs and a decline in production. At the same time, the price of chicken breast rose by 42% year-on-year, of thighs – by 38%, of drumsticks – by 31%, and of wings – by 22%.

The cost of tyre service in russia as of the end of October 2026 rose by 12% compared to the same month last year.

Laptop sales fell by nearly 20% as russians began cutting back on spending en masse.

Amid a budget “shortfall”, russia began cutting costs even on law enforcement uniforms, having given up fur and wool. The “rosgvardia” will be without several uniform items, including fur hats and wool jackets.

Demand for mass-market new construction within “old” moscow fell by 49% during the first nine months of 2026.

The vacancy rate in moscow’s shopping centers is rising: in 2026, it could reach 12.2%. For the most part, clothing, electronics, and home goods shops – whose sales continue to decline – are leaving the shopping centers. Shopping centers do not expect a mass influx of new foreign brands.

In st. petersburg, the one-time payment from city authorities for signing a contract with the ministry of defense of the rf has been cut for the second time in two weeks. The amount has been reduced to 400,000 rubles. Compared to mid-October, the bonus for contract soldiers has decreased nearly ninefold. At the beginning of last month, it stood at 3.5 million rubles. This significant reduction in bonuses for those willing to fight comes amid the st. petersburg authorities’ struggles with the city budget. Previously, the authorities cut spending on social programs and urban improvements by 70 billion rubles to reduce the deficit to 109 billion rubles.

Relatives of russians from belgorod region, udmurtia, and karelia claim that their loved ones were coerced – through deception or threats – into signing military contracts and sent to the front lines. Complaints of forced detentions and coercion to sign contracts have come from at least 33 russian regions.

In yakutia and the krasnoyarsk territory, northern supply routes were disrupted: some vital cargo could not be delivered before the end of the river navigation season. Fuel was not delivered to the Arctic regions of yakutia, and food shortages arose in tura and other settlements of the evenki people in the krasnoyarsk territory.

A state of heightened readiness has been declared in chita due to problems with rubbish collection. Currently, only 12 trucks are collecting rubbish from the city, which has a population of about 330,000.

The shortage of engineers in russia could reach 695,000 by 2030. The shortage of specialists in industry, construction, and the transportation sector will increase more than sixfold, while the proportion of enterprises with sufficient engineering staff will drop from 95.8% to 77.8%.

belarus’ trade deficit in goods with countries outside the CIS has approached $6.6 billion.

From January through September, one of belarus’ best-known manufacturers of building materials, “zabudova”, incurred a net loss of over 5.7 million belarusian rubles.

Across belarus, for the first time since the 1990s, Catholics were unable to pray at the sites where victims of soviet repression perished. Commemorating the victims of soviet repression contradicts the ideological stance of the lukashenko regime, which maintains that only the Nazis carried out executions during the war, while the mass repressions by the soviet authorities are glossed over.