May 9, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The European Commission has disbursed the fourth tranche of macro-financial assistance to Ukraine in the amount of EUR 1 billion under the G7 initiative, which provides Kyiv with financial resources from the proceeds of russia’s frozen assets.

Romania and the Netherlands will set up a joint center to train Ukrainian technicians to maintain F-16 fighter jets.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, speaking on the 80th anniversary of the surrender of Nazi Germany, called the battle lines in Ukraine “the front line for Western values”. “This isn’t just a fight for freedom and democracy in Ukraine. No, it’s a new, more dangerous era of history, a period of global instability that fuels insecurity for working people here at home,” Starmer said.

“putin’s war of aggression, his campaign against a free, democratic country, has nothing in common with the fight against Nazi tyranny in World War II. This historical lie is nothing more than a disguise for imperial madness, grave injustice and the most serious crimes!” President of the FRG Frank-Walter Steinmeier thanked the Allies and the soviet army for liberation of Europe from national socialism at a special meeting of the Bundestag on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the liberation of Europe from Nazism.

“Europe will defend and support Ukraine by all means,” Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany Johann Wadephul said. “Everyone in moscow should know that they will have to reckon with us,” he emphasized.

Chairman of the European Union Military Committee, General Robert Brieger assured of the unwavering support for Ukraine in meeting the latter’s military and defense needs. “The EU’s unwavering support, which takes into account the real needs of Ukraine, will be the main topic of the next meeting of the EU Military Committee. We will continue to help Ukraine meet its urgent military and defense needs, including supplying ammunition, missiles, air defense systems, training and providing the necessary equipment for the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Brieger emphasized.

“We will continue to support your beautiful country (Ukraine), and the new government will make even greater efforts to do so. We will increase the volume of aid, particularly military aid. We are also ready to join the Coalition of the Willing when a peace deal is concluded,” said Minister of Defence of Belgium Theo Francken.

The Lithuanian Seimas has unanimously voted for a resolution in which it emphasized that it does not recognize the territories of Ukraine temporarily seized by russia as russian “either de jure or de facto”.

“For the fourth year in a row, the russians have been bombarding Ukrainian cities with missiles and killing innocent people. It doesn't bother them. But the Ukrainian socks, which symbolically depict what it would be like if the same thing happened in their cities, made them angry. I would like them to show the same sensitivity to the cities where they themselves cause this,” the Czech Government’s Envoy for the Reconstruction of Ukraine Tomáš Kopeční commented on russians’ outrage over his socks with the burning kremlin.

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on the return of Ukrainian children forcibly removed and deported by russia.

According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, April was the month with the highest number of civilian casualties in Ukraine since September 2024 – at least 209 people were killed and 1,146 others were injured.

The European Parliament has extended for three years the so-called “trade visa-free regime” – the suspension of quotas and customs duties – for Ukrainian iron and steel.

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As part of the upcoming 17th package of sanctions against russia, the European Union is considering imposing restrictions on individuals suspected of using chemical weapons in Ukraine.

On May 8 and 9, the German capital banned the use of soviet and russian symbols during events dedicated to the anniversary of the end of World War II.

Türkiye has canceled all flights to russia on May 8.

In January-March 2025, russian exports to China decreased by 6.7 % (year-on-year), while imports from China decreased by 6.3 %.

At the beginning of 2025, Chinese automakers faced serious problems selling their cars in russia. Since January, the number of closed dealerships of Chinese brands has reached 213, which is more than last year. This trend is being recorded against the background of a sharp decline in sales of Chinese cars. In the first quarter, sales of the “big four” (Haval, Chery, Geely and Changan) in russia fell by an average of 31 %. The dynamics is driven by regular increases in scrappage fees, high lending rates, and major quality issues.

russia plans to double gas prices on June 1, 2025.

russian civil aviation, which is suffering from Western sanctions, is already at the limit of its technical capabilities, the russian academy of sciences has said. soviet-made aircrafts, including all types of the AN family, have significant engine problems, which is why they crash from time to time. Since such aircrafts carry out 100 % of transportations in the Far East and the Far North, they are forced to be reduced to a minimum, as the risk of transportation increases to a maximum.

russia has begun to install more and more mock air defense systems. In particular, in the Far East, models of S-300 and S-400 air defense missile systems have been deployed, which are imperfect, have no radars, have irregular dimensions and shapes, and are painted in too bright colors.

On the 80th anniversary of the victory, russia will pay 80 thousand rubles to “veterans” – 10.5 times less than Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, twice less than Moldova, and 1.5 times less than Belarus.

“yandex” satisfied 74 % of requests from the rf’s government agencies to disclose users’ personal data in 2024. This is 57,434 satisfied requests, which is a record figure for the last five years.

The ministry of education of the rf has decided for russian children how long they should prepare their homework: in the first form, schoolchildren have 1 hour, in the second and third forms – 1.5 hours, and in the fourth form – 2 hours.

chairman of the committee for spiritual and patriotic education of the russian book union oleg roy has said that children’s literature in russia should be filled with books about the so-called “special military operation”. “If we do not give our children today stories about what is happening in the Donbas and on the front line, the enemies will.”

The Belarusian Republican Youth Council and the European Youth Forum have presented a report on the persecution of belarusian youth to the UN. The report outlines the facts of expulsion of students, arrests, forced emigration, recognition of organizations as “extremist”, etc. “These are not individual violations – this is a system aimed at destroying independent and active youth. But it did not work. Young people continue to act, organize and build the future – in Belarus and in exile,” the authors pointed out.

The Telekhany carpentry plant in Brest region, once known for its skis, is up for auction, and the auction is a downward one.

The rb continues to facilitate illegal migration from its territory: On May 7, 48 people attempted to cross the belarusian-Lithuanian border – a repeat of the record set on February 4 this year. 21 people, Pakistanis and Afghans, were detained. Another 16 people were detained while trying to cross the River Neman.

lukashenko urges citizens of the rb to “endure a month” without potatoes. Since citizens want to buy potatoes at low prices, while farmers are interested in selling them at a higher price, “it so happened that in russia the prices for the same potatoes were a few times higher than in belarus". Instead of supplying their own population, producers focused on the russian market.