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

The European Union is considering creating a EUR100 billion (about $117 billion) fund to support Ukraine.

Czech arms manufacturer Excalibur Army has announced the opening of a representative office in Ukraine.

Lithuania and Finland are planning to start manufacturing anti-personnel mines for their own armies and to supply Ukraine next year.

US President Donald Trump has sharply criticized putin, saying that he talks “a lot of nonsense” about Ukraine.

“The means and resources of diplomacy are exhausted when a criminal regime openly questions the right to existence of an entire country by using military force and seeks to destroy the political order of freedom across the European continent. The federal government I lead will do everything in its power to prevent this from happening,” said Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz. He also promised Ukraine further support.

“Our absolute red line is the demilitarization of Ukraine. We must be consistent. We cannot refuse Ukraine’s accession to NATO and at the same time accept the fact that it no longer has an army. Ukrainians should be able to provide for their own security,” said Minister of Defence of France Sébastien Lecornu.

“Ukraine wants to negotiate for peace. russia wants to continue the war for imperialism,” said Minister of Defense of the Netherlands Ruben Brekelmans.

Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Fernando Arias has emphasized that the situation in Ukraine remains an alarming reminder of the threat of chemical weapons in modern conflicts and has stressed the need for enhanced international cooperation to prevent such crimes.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Kęstutis Budrys has called for the immediate adoption of the 18th package of EU sanctions against russia after russia’s massive nighttime air strike on Ukraine.

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The European Parliament has adopted a resolution strongly condemning russia’s war crimes in Ukraine and expressing its firm support for the investigations conducted by the International Criminal Court. MEPs have also called on EU states to confiscate frozen russian state assets to be used for Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction.

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that russia was behind the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over the Donbas in 2014, which killed 298 people. The Netherlands called the ECHR’s decision in the case of Ukraine and the Netherlands v. russia an important step towards justice, particularly for the families of the victims of the MH17 plane crash. According to Minister of Defence of the Netherlands Ruben Brekelmans, the ECHR “confirmed what we have known for 10 years”: russia is responsible for the plane crash.

In another decision, the ECHR stated that russia violated international law during the war in Ukraine.

The Government of Norway has announced sanctions against the two largest russian fishing companies – JSC “Norebo” and “Murman Seafood” LLC. These measures effectively prohibit the vessels of both companies from fishing in Norwegian waters and entering the country’s ports. The decision was made as part of the implementation of the EU’s 17th package of sanctions. According to Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway Espen Barth Eide, this step was part of efforts to counteract the activities of russian secret services and moscow's “hybrid campaign” against Western countries.

“We must continue to strive to persuade our allies, especially those to our west or south, that russia’s aggressive intentions are not just rhetoric, but reality, and no European country can feel safe without being prepared,” said President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda.

Collections of VAT, a key tax for the federal treasury that is embedded in the cost of all goods and services in the country and provides the rf’s government with every third ruble of tax revenue, declined in real terms in the first half of 2025. Between January and June, the treasury collected 6.999 trillion rubles in VAT, compared to 6.521 trillion rubles a year earlier. Although revenues increased nominally (by 7.3 %), this growth was below inflation (9.4 %). In real terms, VAT collections thus dropped by 2.1 %. According to the law on budget, the ministry of finance is supposed to collect 15.456 trillion rubles in VAT over the course of the year, and in the first half of the year it has fulfilled only 45 % of the plan. Other non-resource revenues are also almost a month behind schedule, with only 43 % of the plan fulfilled in the first six months.

During the three years of the full-scale war, the russian state has seized assets worth 3.9 trillion rubles, or $50 billion, from their owners. This amount covers one-third of the annual war expenses (13.5 trillion rubles), and is comparable to “Rosneft”’s capitalization and the annual federal budget deficit.

prime minister of the rf Mishustin has announced a shortage of more than two million workers in civilian industries.

Due to the problematic situation on the domestic market of petroleum products in the rf, a complete ban on petrol exports from the country is being considered.

Azerbaijani producers: “Allbay” LLC and “Dairy Products” LLC refused to allow russian inspection of their goods, and later expressed disinterest in further deliveries of their products to russia.

Wholesale prices for pork in russia have increased by 30 %.

The state duma is considering the possibility of state regulation of purchase prices for basic foodstuffs as in the USSR,– said deputy chairman of the duma committee on agrarian affairs Ogloblina.

In June, the rf’s banks issued 66 % fewer mortgage loans than a year earlier – only 68 thousand. In money terms, this is 311 billion rubles, or by 61% less than a year ago.

Since the beginning of 2025, about 200 car dealerships have ceased operations in russia, which is about 5 % of the total number of dealers (4,000) in the country. The massive closure comes amid a sharp decline in demand: in the first half of the year, new car sales in russia declined by more than a quarter.

moscow exchange has updated a two-month low amid the risk of new sanctions. Thus, the moscow exchange index was below 2,700 points for the first time since May 27 during the trading session on July 9.

Top managers of the microelectronic holding “Element”, owned by “Rostekh”, received almost 400 million rubles as an annual bonus for 2024. At the same time, due to the lack of money, “Rostekh”   froze three factories – two in Moscow region and one in Kazan.

The number of the rf’s regions where the network was blocked over the past day reached 77, including Primorye, Sakhalin and Kamchatka, which are the most remote from Ukraine. More than half of the russia’s regions also faced interruptions in the operation of the wired Internet.

In russia, in the first six months of 2025, against the background of tens of thousands of soldiers returning from the front in Ukraine, 333,251 crimes under grave and especially grave articles were recorded. This is a record number of such acts over the past 15 years.

Taxi prices in moscow have soared by 70 % within a year due to the outflow of drivers.

Celebration of Ivan Kupala is not just a folklore pastime, but a direct threat to the russian state system. This statement was made by Archpriest Rybakov of the Russian Orthodox Church. The clergyman called for a legislative ban on the celebration of Ivan Kupala and imprisonment of those who “promote” it under the article on “creating a sect”.

Occupying authorities have fined a Crimean resident 100 thousand rubles under the article on “LGBT propaganda” for memes with men in wedding dresses. “The memes show the appearance of men with significant signs of an image that culturally in russia does not correspond to the image of a man of traditional sexual orientation, which clearly emphasizes and demonstrates traditional female features and characteristics,” the ruling says.

belarusian siloviki continue to identify belarusians who participated in solidarity rallies abroad. Criminal cases are being opened against them in absentia, and their property remaining in the country is being arrested.

In belarus, 105 political prisoners have been “pardoned” since the beginning of the year, but 167 new ones have appeared.

To resolve the demographic problem in the country, it is necessary to “cut off the electricity and the Internet” in belarus. This solution was proposed by lukashenko’s propagandist Mukovozchik.

belarusian metallurgical plant has stopped “production of some types of products due to sanctions in order not to operate at a loss”. At the same time, Chinese manufacturers have entered the russian market, so belarus has nobody to sell its products to.