May 20, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

“Our partnership... will create new opportunities for our industry, as well as for open coordinated support for Ukraine (and this is important), both through joint orders of military capabilities that will be transferred to Ukraine and direct investment in Ukraine’s defense industry... We remain united around (supporting) Ukraine’s fight for its survival. We are strongly committed to a full and unconditional ceasefire that will lead to a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” said President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen following the EU-UK summit.

The EU and the United Kingdom have called on russia to agree to a full and unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine.

Minister of Defence of Austria Claudia Tanner has not ruled out that her country could join a potential foreign peacekeeping mission in Ukraine.

According to the Ministry of Defence of Finland, Finland has become one of the participants in the EU program that provides military assistance to Ukraine at the expense of the proceeds from russian assets frozen in Europe – EUR 90 million are earmarked for this purpose.

Germany’s Federal Government Spokesperson Stefan Kornelius has said that the EU is already preparing the  18th package of sanctions against russia in coordination with its American partners.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen believes that sanctions against russia should be further strengthened in response to the rf’s ongoing aggressive war against Ukraine, and the price ceiling on russian oil should be reduced to $40 a barrel.

President of Romania Ilie Bolojan has signed a law that expands the powers of the army and allows it to shoot down UAVs that illegally enter the country’s airspace.

Poland has confiscated 5 tons of tyres for Boeing airplanes bound for russia.

The decline in trade between russia and China in January–April compared to the same period last year was 7.5 %, with a volume of less than $71 billion.

The escalation of the military conflict in Ukraine threatens russia’s economy: it could lead to the depletion of the country’s financial reserves and the loss of control over the level of public debt, up to default. This risk was warned of by China Chengxin International Credit Rating, which for the first time since the outbreak of the full-scale war has assigned russia a credit rating of BBB+g. This rating indicates medium economic and financial stability and medium risk of default.

“russia’s continued military spending, coupled with declining oil and gas revenues and reduced tax revenues due to the projected weakening of economic growth, will lead to an increase in the budget deficit in the near future,” said the European Commission.

russian state TV is once again persuading its viewers of the “benefits” of Western sanctions ahead of a conversation between putin and Donald Trump scheduled for Monday, which could result in the US giving the green light to a new package of restrictive measures.

russian “kamaz” expects the heavy truck market in russia to decline by 30-40 % in 2025, to 60-70 thousand units against the previous 102 thousand units.

The volume of new business of leasing companies in the first quarter amounted to 85 thousand items, which is by 30 % fewer than a year earlier. An important factor in this dynamics is the collapse of automobile leasing amid a sharp increase in scrappage fees.

russian companies are facing a shortage of professionals in industrial software development and work with BIM, ERP, PLM and CAD systems amid sanctions and the rf authorities’ demand to replace imported software. While in the first quarter of 2023, organizations published 31 thousand relevant vacancies, in the first quarter of this year their number increased to 40 thousand. Thus, in two years, the need has increased by a third.

An adviser to Kursk Region Governor hinshtein has suggested that war-affected Kursk residents wait for putin’s promises to be fulfilled instead of housing certificates.

russia is going to ban “Harry Potter”, “Game of Thrones”, and a number of other movies and TV series because of “childfree propaganda”.

The prosecutor general’s office has declared the activities of the international non-governmental organization Amnesty International Limited undesirable in russia. The supervisory agency claims that the organization supports extremist organizations.

Sony has started blocking russians’ PlayStation Network accounts, which they registered in Türkiye, Kazakhstan and Ukraine to circumvent sanctions.

Lithuania has filed a lawsuit against belarus with the International Court of Justice in the Hague, accusing the lukashenko regime of organizing a migration crisis that violates international law.

Poland has recorded an increase in illegal migration from belarus – more than half a thousand foreigners have tried to illegally enter the country from belarus since last Friday, – one of the highest numbers in recent weeks.

The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) in its weekly macro review has emphasized the significant acceleration of price growth in belarus. According to the Bank, annual inflation in belarus amounted to 6.5 % in April after 5.9 % in March. “Price growth accelerated in all key components of the consumer basket, with the most noticeable growth in consumer goods (+8.3 % year-on-year in April after +7.5 % year-on-year in March),” the EDB said.

In 2024, belarus felled 23.2 million cubic meters of timber, one of the lowest figures in the last decade. The forest industry of belarus has been showing poor results for the second year in a row. In 2023, the minimum was recorded – only 21.8 million cubic meters of felled timber. For comparison, in 2021, this figure was 27.4 million cubic meters. The decline in felling is attributed to European sanctions. In March 2022, belarusian timber and wood products fell under the restrictions of the European Union, which used to be the main market for belarusian woodworking companies.

After the commissioning of the BelNPP, the price of electricity continues to rise, despite the belarusian authorities’ promises. The average price of electricity (for 100 kWh) in belarus in the first quarter of 2025 amounted to 27.34 rubles, which is by 8.9 % more than in the same period in 2024 (25.11).

Local authorities advised the residents of Mozyr, who are dissatisfied with the absence of heating, to endure it, just like in blockaded Leningrad.