June 18, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

“We will tirelessly continue to support Ukraine and strengthen its defense,” – said Minister of Defence of the Netherlands Ruben Brekelmans.

“A murderous attack on Ukraine by the regime of putin, whose cruelty and cynicism know no bounds. To the kremlin that would like to establish peace in the Middle East – start with Ukraine,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs of France Jean-Noel Barrot.

“A staggering number of people have been killed in one of russia’s most brutal attacks on Kyiv. I sympathize with all those who are suffering because the pressure on putin was not enough to make him stop. I repeat: only strong, sustained economic and political pressure on russia can put an end to this cycle of death and destruction,” Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Margus Tsahkna responded to the June 17 attack.

“russia is a terrorist state that continues to act on its true intentions every day: the destruction of Ukraine. A “wait and see” attitude or simply hoping for peace will not stop the kremlin. The root cause of this aggression is russia itself, and it must be addressed without delay. The 18th EU sanctions package must be adopted now,” Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Kęstutis Budrys commented on russia’s June 17 air attack on Ukraine.

Against the background of the russian air attack on Ukraine on the night of June 17, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Baiba Braže has called for abandoning illusions about russia and continuing to support Ukraine on its path to peace.

“This attack lays bare russia’s ruthless way of warfare. Norway stands firmly united with our partners in our support for Ukraine’s fight for freedom,” Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway Espen Barth Eide commented on the russian air attack on Ukraine on the night of June 17.

“I strongly condemn the brutal attack on a children’s hospital, a kindergarten, a student dormitory and a residential building in Kyiv. The targeting of the most vulnerable is a flagrant violation of humanity and international norms. Croatia continues to stand firmly on the side of Ukraine,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Croatia Gordan Grlić Radman.

“Poland is always with Ukraine and constantly puts pressure on russia. Now we are talking about imposing the 18th package of sanctions and setting a price ceiling on russian oil, as this is what primarily feeds the russian war machine. We deeply sympathize with the people of Ukraine who are now under russian carpet bombing,” said Spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of Poland Paweł Wroński.

“We strongly condemn this violence. Ukraine can count on our support in its quest for a just peace,” said the Italian Embassy in Ukraine in a statement on the June 17 attack.

President of Moldova Maia Sandu has also condemned the russian attack on Ukrainian cities and called for strengthening Ukraine’s air defense and decisive actions.

Federal Chancellor of Austria Christian Stocker has announced that Vienna is ready to host a future Ukraine Recovery Conference.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine Matthias Schmale strongly condemned the strikes on Kyiv, Odesa, and other cities, calling for an end to attacks on civilians.

The World Bank is expanding its initiative to support internally displaced persons in Ukraine to purchase housing.

On July 9, the European Court of Human Rights will announce its decision on the merits in the case of Ukraine and the Netherlands against russia over the downing of Malaysian Boeing flight MH17 in July 2014 in the skies over Donetsk region.

At its plenary session in Strasbourg, the European Parliament supported the extension of the EU-Ukraine road transport agreement adopted in June 2022, until the end of this year.

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The EU Council extends sanctions against russia, introduced in June 2014 in response to the occupation of Crimea, until June 23, 2026. The restrictive measures include bans on imports to the EU of products manufactured in Crimea or Sevastopol, as well as infrastructure or financial investments and tourism services in those regions. The sanctions apply, in particular, to the export of certain goods and technologies to Crimean companies for use in Crimea in the transportation, telecommunications and energy sectors, as well as for the search, exploration and production of oil, gas and mineral resources.

The United Kingdom has announced a series of new sanctions against russia over its war against Ukraine. The sanctions target four individuals, six organizations and 20 vessels, including oil tankers, maritime companies and suppliers of goods to russia, including electronics. Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the United Kingdom has already imposed sanctions on more than 2,300 individuals, organizations and vessels.

Spain has introduced transit visas for russian citizens. Prior to that, visa-free transit for russians was canceled by the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom.

Republican member of the House of Representatives Don Bacon has said that russia cannot return to the G8 as long as it continues its war against Ukraine and occupies the latter’s territories. “Let the G7 remain the G7, not the G8. russia should not be part of this forum until it stops its invasion of Ukraine and withdraws its troops from the occupied territories. The war criminal putin deserves to be ostracized,” the Congressman said.

In France, MPs and journalists are calling to strip putin of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour.

The University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland, is to eliminate the russian philology speciality and the department of the russian language and literature.

The volume of russian wheat exports from June 1 to June 15, 2025, decreased 4.8 times compared to the same period in 2024, having amounted to 565 thousand tons. At the beginning of June, russia shipped 37.7 thousand tons of wheat daily, compared to 185 thousand tons a year earlier. At the end of the month, exports will amount to approximately 1.1-1.15 million tons. The grain was shipped to 11 countries (compared to 40 countries in the same period last year). Egypt became the key importer, but the volumes of supplies to that country decreased almost fourfold to 179 thousand tons (against almost 700 thousand tons in the first half of June-2024). Türkiye is the second largest importer (91.6 thousand tons against 374 thousand tons, a 4.1-fold decline in exports).

The budget of the state program for the procurement of medicines for people with rare diseases has been almost exhausted. As of the end of May, 67.9 billion rubles out of the 69.1 billion rubles allocated for the year had been spent. Although the money has de facto run out, the needs of patients remain unmet – medicines worth at least another 10 billion rubles are needed. Shortages of medicines are recorded in 28 regions. The most difficult situation is with medicines for hemophilia, malignant tumors and multiple sclerosis.

The kremlin-style redistribution: on June 17, the moscow region arbitration court fully satisfied the claim of the russian prosecutor general’s office to recover the assets of “dme holding”, which owns the assets of “domodedovo” airport, for the state’s revenue.

Two-time Olympic hockey champion fetisov has said that the exclusion of the russian national team from the 2026 Olympic Games indicates a loss of the country’s influence on world hockey. He pointed out that if the rf is excluded from the competition, it means that it has lost its status as a hockey power.

Since 2020, at least 107 people have been convicted of “treason against the state” in the rb.

Over the 30 years of lukashenko’s staying in power, the number of hospital organizations in belarus has decreased by 35.2 % (from 871 at the end of 1994 to 564 at the end of 2024).

In recent years, the government has “figured out how to develop livestock farming,” lukashenko said. However, as early as May 29, he stated that the decline in livestock “has reached a historic high.” In 2024, cattle deaths across the country increased by 19.1 %.

lukashenko, who advised belarusians to eat less potatoes and blamed “politics” for the shortage, gave another piece of advice – to remember about personal plots: “At least plant two rows of potatoes”.

In belarus, workers at the rechitsa hardware plant began to be sent on unpaid leave due to downtime. Capacity load decreased, in part because of customers from russia who signed a contract but then refused to fulfill it. The reason for this was the arrival of competitors from China on the russian market: the rechitsa hardware plant lost a large-scale order. The plant suffered losses of up to seven million dollars.