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

The German company Hensoldt has received an order worth over EUR 340 million to supply Ukraine with radars to strengthen its air defense.

The USA will sell Ukraine air defense equipment worth $180 million.

Germany is preparing to supply Ukraine with the eighth IRIS-T air defense system.

IMF Communications Director Julie Kozack has said that in the coming weeks, IMF staff and Ukrainian authorities will intensify discussions on assessing our country’s financial needs for the coming year and the medium term.

American helicopter manufacturer Bell Helicopter plans to invest and operate in Ukraine.

As part of a grant agreement between the governments of France and Ukraine, the first batch of telemedicine equipment has arrived in our country.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Margus Tsahkna condemned russia’s latest massive shelling of Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities.

“New russian attacks on Ukrainian cities, new casualties and wounded. Significant destruction in Odesa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with its monuments and history. We stand with Ukraine and Odesa, and within the framework of Italy’s patronage of the city and region,” – was the reaction of the Italian Embassy in Ukraine to the massive attack by russian troops on Odesa on the night of July 24.

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More than 40 OSCE member states have issued an official call for an independent investigation into russia’s cruel treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war.

The US Department of the Treasury has imposed sanctions on the North Korean company Korea Sobaeksu Trading Company and three of its representatives who were involved in a scheme to circumvent UN and US sanctions.

Germany’s Ministry of the Interior is suspending the issuance of humanitarian visas to citizens of russia and belarus.

In the coming years, russia is unlikely to be able to overcome its labor shortage, which is already estimated at 2.4 to 3 million people. This was stated by the president of the russian union of industrialists and entrepreneurs, Shokhin. According to him, the key to overcoming the crisis could be to attract more migrants to the rf.

48 out of the 100 largest banks in russia showed worse financial results in the first half of 2025 than in the same period in 2024. The number of banks with financial problems has increased: at the end of 2024, about a third out of the top 100 credit institutions showed a decline in profits or losses.

KamAZ, following GAZ and AvtoVAZ, is switching to a four-day week over the collapse of the automobile market. At the same time, AvtoVAZ has announced that it will take a corporate vacation from July 28 to August 17.

Watermelon sales in the rf have decreased by 15 % year-on-year. The decline in demand is associated with consumers’ desire to cut costs. Because of savings, they are refusing to buy not only melons. For example, demand for strawberries and cherries at the peak of the season declined by 5–9 % year-on-year. However, this is also explained by a significant increase in prices – by 24 % and 38 %, respectively.

“Russneft”’s net loss in the first half of 2025 amounted to 2.4 billion rubles. During the same period in 2024, the company received 18.3 billion rubles in net profit. Revenue declined by 17.7 % to 121.3 billion rubles; cost of production – by 17.9 % to 91.2 billion rubles.

russian railways lost 820,000 tons of coal shipments in the first half of 2025 due to the Kuzbass’ failure to fulfill the terms of the agreement. Of this volume, about 100,000 tons were lost due to the failure to use innovative rolling stock for transportation. russian railways forecast a 5 % decline in cargo volume in July and a 5 % decline for the whole of 2025.

A survey on poverty levels was conducted in russia. The results show that ordinary citizens are more critical of this issue than official bodies. 23 % of respondents consider a monthly income of 20,000–30,000 rubles to be the threshold for poverty. And 21 % believe that even those who earn 30-50 thousand can be considered poor. In response to the question of how much a person should earn per month to be considered rich, the same 21 % of respondents named the amount of 50-100 thousand rubles (26 thousand hryvnias).

More than 90,000 foreigners have been registered for military service in russia. To this end, 5,000 raids were carried out in the regions to search for migrants, – said head of the investigative committee Bastrykin.

Head of VTB Kostin has confirmed that russia’s only aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, may be decommissioned after seven years of repairs costing 86 billion rubles.

russia needs to “make more active” the creative industry and create its own analogue of the popular Chinese toy Labubu, said Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko. She stressed that similar russian products are currently not popular in the world. “Our matryoshka dolls no longer surprise anyone,” Matvienko complained.

russian citizens who “discredit” domestically produced goods should be punished, said member of the state duma Novichkov. He said that public criticism of russian brands and goods is an act that contradicts the patriotic feelings and interests of the russian people. Citizens must understand that the priorities of domestic companies are absolute in both consumer goods and means of production.

It is reported that between January and June 2025, russians purchased more than 553,000 packages of medicines for the treatment of alcohol dependence, which is by 13.5% more than in the first half of last year. The number of patients seeking medical help for alcohol dependence is also growing.

The Federation Council has approved a law on the transfer of information about foreign minors by regional and municipal authorities to the territorial divisions of the ministry of internal affairs of the rf.

In St. Petersburg, the main naval parade and fireworks display on russia’s navy day have been canceled. The parade of sailing and motor vessels has also been canceled.

The State Security Department of Lithuania has recorded the kgb of the rb’s active campaign on social media to recruit belarusian citizens abroad.

Poland has imposed sanctions against the managing company of the “belarusian cement company” holding (BCC). The sanctions have been imposed because the BCC cooperates closely with russian organizations and supplies products that could contribute to strengthening russia’s military potential and its aggression against Ukraine. The sanctions include freezing the company’s assets in Poland, prohibiting the transfer of financial and economic resources, and excluding it from public procurement and tenders.

belarus is discussing the possibility of attracting additional funding from russia, – said minister of finance Seliverstov. According to him, the money is needed in particular for the belarusian budget, which this year has a deficit of 4.5 billion belarusian rubles, or 1.6 % of GDP. According to World Bank data for 2023, the rb was russia’s largest debtor, accounting for $8.2 billion of intergovernmental loans issued by the kremlin. This is more than a quarter of the total amount of foreign countries’ debt to russia, which the bank estimated at $28.9 billion.

In January–May 2025, 18.7 % of all organizations in belarus (excluding small businesses) were unprofitable, which is by 4.1 % more than in the same period in 2024 (14.6 %).