June 4, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has said that US President Donald Trump does not rule out participation in a potential meeting between the leaders of Ukraine and russia to end the war.

“… barbaric attacks on civilians aimed at breaking Ukraine’s spirit and erasing the country. Only increased pressure will force russia to end this war,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Margus Tsahkna.

“The situation continues in the same vein: russia’s demands highlight its refusal to conduct peace negotiations in good faith. Thus, the list of demands demonstrates its ongoing aggression toward Ukraine,” European Commission Spokesperson Anitta Hipper commented on russia’s proposals to Ukraine in Istanbul.

“In response to a precise Ukrainian strike with zero civilian casualties, russia again resorts to atrocities,” European Union’s Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Mathernova commented on the russian rocket artillery strike on Sumy on June 3.

European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos has said that the European Union should open the first cluster of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU.

President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda’s Chief Policy Adviser Asta Skaisgirytė has emphasized that it would be a mistake to give in on Ukraine’s NATO membership prospects.

rf

The US Senate could begin work this month on a bill that would impose a 500 % duty on countries buying russian energy resources, – US Senate Republican Majority Leader John Thune said.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson claims that he and many Congressmen support the bill to strengthen sanctions against russia, which was prepared in the Senate. Johnson expressed support for Congress’ efforts to impose sanctions on the kremlin over russia’s war against Ukraine. “Many members of Congress want us to sanction russia as strongly as possible. And I support that,” he said.

US Senator from the Republican Party Lindsey Graham believes that the deputy head of the russian security council has proved by his statements that “putin and russia are not interested in peace at all”.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of France Jean-Noël Barrot has called for sanctions to force russia to cease fire in Ukraine.

European Commission Spokesperson Paula Pinho has said that the issue of lowering the price ceiling for russian oil “may be discussed” at the June G7 summit in Canada.

Roderich Kiesewetter, Deputy Chairman of the Bundestag Committee overseeing intelligence services, suggests expelling russian diplomats and agents who remain in Germany. “We have to expel the remaining agents and diplomats,” said Kiesewetter, linking this to the increase in russian cyberattacks and sabotage. According to Kiesewetter, Berlin should also close the russian house, a cultural center controlled by the russian ministry of foreign affairs and already under EU sanctions.

The German police has reported a record level of cybercrime in the country last year, which was caused by hacker attacks from pro-russian and anti-Israel groups.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Moldova has warned citizens of the country about the danger of traveling to russia due to the deteriorating security situation in the region, as well as cases of coercive measures taken by russian authorities against foreign immigrants.

Sanctions for the war in Ukraine have severely affected the supply of russian diamonds to the world market: in 2024, russia exported the smallest amount of gems in more than 10 years of statistics. According to the Kimberley Process, exports decreased by 6.27 % in physical terms to 30.37 million carats over the year. The figure was lower than in 2015, when the first sanctions were imposed on russia for the occupation of Crimea – 30.8 million carats were exported that year. At the same time, in 2021, supplies to foreign markets reached 48.6 million carats. In terms of money, diamond exports also declined sharply: in 2024, they were by 28.6 % less than a year earlier and amounted to $2.62 billion. According to the Kimberley Process, this was partly due to a decrease in prices for russian diamonds, which fell by 24 % year-on-year to $86.36 for a carat.

russian energy, transportation, and communications companies have refused to switch to russian software due to a lack of money.

The share of russian software at machine-building enterprises does not exceed 30 %.

Sales of “lada” cars in russia in January-May 2025 amounted to 131.2 thousand units. This is by 26.3 % fewer than during the same period last year. The number of products manufactured also decreased compared to the previous year.

The International Aviation and Space Show, which was supposed to be held in summer in Zhukovsky near moscow, will not take place again. The country’s largest aircraft exhibition, which had been held since 1993 and gained federal status in the mid–2000s, has been canceled for the third year in a row. There is nothing to show at the show, which before the full-scale war, had been attended by the world’s largest manufacturers: the flagship projects of the russian aviation industry, the MS-21 and SJ-100, have not been completed.

Agricultural organizations of the rf sold 3.756 million tons of grains and legumes in April, which is by 39.1 % less than in April last year (6.169 million tons). In particular, sales of wheat decreased to 2.525 million tons from 4.169 million tons, and of corn – to 400.1 thousand tons from 707.1 thousand tons.

The rf’s economy has entered a period of cooling, with more and more real sector industries showing a decline, said minister of economic dvelopment maksim reshetnikov.

In 2024, almost half (46.5 %) of russians with orphan (rare) diseases had to interrupt the therapy they needed due to lack of medicines. The diagnoses include cystic fibrosis, hypophosphatasia, lysosomal acid lipase deficiency, phenylketonuria, Fabry disease, Pompe disease, etc. One third of russians (33.7 %) faced a pause in treatment for 1-2 months. Treatment interruptions of 3–4 months were experienced by 22.8 % of patients, and of 5–6 months – by 10.9 %. Almost a third of patients (32.6 %) did not receive treatment for more than six months. Lack of medicines was the main reason for the interruption of treatment in 70.7 % of cases, and another 18.5 % faced refusals to provide treatment at the level of doctors and local ministries of healthcare, who also cited the lack of necessary medicines.

The rf’s ministry of justice has proposed to ban convicts under extremism articles, as well as foreign citizens, from being transferred to colonies in regions where their close relatives live.

The “mayor” of Kerch, oleg katorgin, appointed by the russian occupying authorities, deprived 40 employees of his administration of their bonuses for not liking his posts.

In two days in June, the EU countries prevented more attempts to cross the border from belarus than in the whole of January.

The negative balance of the rb’s foreign trade in goods with non-CIS countries increased more than 1.5 times over the year.

In April, 52,468 people were hired in belarus. At the same time, 70,230 people were laid off during the month. This means that organizations lost 17,762 more specialists than they hired. This is the largest gap over the past six years. Looking at industries, the healthcare sector saw a serious outflow of almost 2.8 thousand people. They fired twice as many people as they hired: 5.2 thousand versus 2.5 thousand. Only the utility industry lost more – above 4 thousand. The manufacturing industry lost the same number of employees as healthcare – almost 2.8 thousand.