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

The United Kingdom and Germany will provide Ukraine with 220,000 shells for the German Gepard anti-aircraft system and will finance the supply of modern UAVs.

Minister of National Defence of Canada David McGuinty has announced additional 20 million Canadian dollars ($14.6 million) to support the maintenance of Leopard–2 tanks for Ukraine.

Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Støre has confirmed the intention to finance the purchase of a Patriot air defense system for Ukraine.

According to Minister of Defence of the Netherlands Ruben Brekelmans, his country will make a significant contribution to supplying Ukraine with US Patriot air defense systems and will provide “additional air defense equipment, such as ammunition for F-16s, anti-drone equipment, radars, etc.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, following a  meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in the Ramstein format, called on NATO Defense Ministers to buy more weapons from the United States to support Ukraine.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of France Jean-Noël Barrot has confirmed that French defense companies are seeking to establish joint production with Ukraine.

“The next 1,300 drones produced in Latvia are on their way to Ukraine. After this delivery, 12,000 drones worth more than EUR 17 million will be delivered to Ukraine this year,” said Minister of Defense of Latvia Andris Sprūds.

The Lithuanian campaign “Radarom!”, which united Lithuanian people and companies to help Ukraine, has purchased more than two thousand drones for the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

The French non-profit organization “Pour l’Ukraine, pour leur liberté et la nôtre!” (“For Ukraine, for their freedom and ours!”) has filed a lawsuit in the International Criminal Court against russia for the looting of Ukrainian cultural heritage.

rf

The United Kingdom has updated its list of sanctions against russia, adding two oil and transportation companies and 135 oil tankers from moscow’s “shadow fleet” involved in circumvention of Western sanctions. The new restrictions are intended to “disrupt the flow of oil revenues to putin’s war treasury” and “paralyze the work of his “shadow fleet”. The new sanctions affected Litasco Middle East, a Dubai-based oil trading division of Lukoil that specializes in trading in Asian countries. The shipping company Intershipping Services, which is also located in the UAE, was also subject to restrictions. According to the EU authorities, the company is involved in the transportation of russian oil by ships flying the flags of Gabon and the Comoros. London’s new sanctions list includes another 135 oil tankers involved in the transportation of russian oil (Agni, Akademik Gubkin, Almond, Amber 6, Aquatica, Aria, Ariadne, Arno Babajanyan, Avior, Berra, Blacksea Eagle, Bolognia Falcon, etc.) Some of them have already been blocked by the EU and/or the USA.

European sanctions against the Indian oil refining company, in which “Rosneft” owns almost half of the shares, have already begun to affect the cooperation of its counterparties. This could lead to a slowdown in the supply of russian raw materials and the export of its oil products. Shipowners are wary of doing business with Nayara Energy, whether it is exporting fuel produced by it or supplying it with crude oil.

Bank cards of the Chinese payment system UnionPay issued by Rosselkhozbank, one of the rf’s largest state-owned banks, have stopped working in 27 EU countries.

Oman has begun to restrict financial flows from russia due to US sanctions.

Kyrgyzstan has also stopped russian financial flows after the introduction of US sanctions.

The volume of russian wheat exports to China in the first six months of 2025 in monetary terms decreased more than 15 times – from $38.9 million to $2.5 million.

russia’s largest automaker, “AvtoVAZ”, will cut its working week in the autumn due to the state of the car market. The car manufacturer will switch to a four-day workweek instead of a five-day one due to declining sales caused by the high key rate and a large number of imported cars on the market.

russia’s authorities have begun to add to Rosfinmonitoring’s list of “extremists and terrorists” the citizens accused and convicted in cases of spreading “fakes” and “discrediting” the russian army, which entails blocking their bank cards and accounts, as well as a ban on teaching, real estate transactions and other restrictions.

The rf’s prosecutor general’s office has declared undesirable in russia the activities of the German Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, which aims to educate the public and supports young scientists with scholarships and postgraduate scholarships. The Foundation allegedly “under the pretext of” public education “spreads radical sentiments of foreign agents among young people” and “actually implements anti-russian projects all over the world” and “supports discrediting the russian authorities in various ways”.

The second quarter of 2025 was not easy for russian oil companies. The strengthening of the ruble worsened their financial performance, and prices for russian oil declined. In ruble terms, export prices were down by 30 % year-on-year. In addition, a reduction in dampener payments had a negative impact on refining profitability.

The pace of housing commissioning has slowed down in St. Petersburg: from January to June 2025, 1.25 million square meters of residential real estate were commissioned, which is by 10.5 % less than in the same period last year. In Leningrad region, this figure was even lower (21 thousand flats) and has declined more sharply since last year (-13.9 %).

Members of the state duma have proposed to fine individuals and organizations for feeding stray animals and obstructing their capture.

Poland has completed the construction of an electronic barrier on the river sections of the border with belarus. This has been announced by the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration of Poland Tomasz Siemoniak. “We have recently completed the construction of an electronic fence along the entire length of the border, including the river sections”, he said.

As of June 2025, Lithuania revoked 97 residence permits issued to belarusian citizens due to a threat to national security. In this regard, 121 belarusians were denied a residence permit, while  in another 303 cases, residence permits in Lithuania were not extended.

There is “no point in talking about the resumption of transit of belarusian potash fertilizers through Lithuania” because such supplies are subject to US and EU sanctions, said Ramunas Dilba, the Chief Adviser to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda on environment and infrastructure.

Against the background of the discovery of the largest oil field in the country’s history in Poland, lukashenko is once again demanding that belarus be more active in its search for oil. Not long ago (April 20), he admitted that belarus has no hydrocarbons to sell abroad. “The Lord did not put oil and gas in this land so that we could pump it, sell it through a pipe to someone, and divide the money”, lukashenko said.

In belarus, the YouTube channel of the Lithuanian web portal Delfi has been recognized as “extremist”. In June, it published an interview with Sergei Tikhanovsky, who was released after more than five years in prison and expelled from the rb. The inclusion of information in the list of extremist materials is used by the belarusian authorities for repression. For example, to detain people for reposts, likes and comments.