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

“We’re going to work with Ukraine. We’re going to work with everybody, and we’re going to make sure that if there is peace, then peace is going to stay long-term,” US President Donald Trump commented on a potential peace deal.

The working group of national security advisors and NATO representatives that will develop a draft security guarantees for Ukraine will be headed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“The idea of a trilateral (Zelenskyy – putin – Trump) meeting is very important... But I think that in the future we will need a quadripartite meeting, because when we talk about security guarantees, we are talking about the security of the entire European continent,” said President of France Emmanuel Macron.

“The peace agreement requires reliable security guarantees for Ukraine. We and the Americans are ready to do this. One thing also remains clear: the weapons must finally be silent,” Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany Johann Wadephul believes that putin must agree to a ceasefire. France supported this position of its German colleagues.

“It will be a neutral country, so maybe Switzerland, I’m for Geneva, or some other country. The last time we had bilateral discussions was in Istanbul,” President of France Emmanuel Macron said about the possible venue for President Zelenskyy’s negotiations with putin. At the same time, he expressed doubt that the russian president is ready to end the war against Ukraine.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis has said that his country is “more than ready” to host a summit between russia and Ukraine.

Prime Minister of Japan Shigeru Ishiba has said that his government will consider Tokyo’s possible participation in providing security guarantees to Ukraine.

“The leaders of Canada, Japan, Türkiye, New Zealand and European countries have very realistically assessed the results of the meeting in Alaska. We all have reaffirmed the need for further support for Ukraine in the war against russia,” said Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk.

“Ukrainians, like Europeans, will not believe in another paper guarantee. Ukraine had such guarantees and theoretically has them from russia, but they were brutally violated by putin in 2014 and 2022,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Marcin Bosacki emphasized the need for effective security guarantees for Ukraine.

“China supports all efforts aimed at achieving peace,” said Spokesperson for Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC Mao Ning.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has said that all Ukrainian children abducted by russia should be returned to their families.

Four countries from the IT Coalition (Luxembourg, Ireland, Belgium and Estonia) have donated EUR 10 million in equipment to Ukraine.

rf

“A country that invests 40 % of its budget in such equipment, that has mobilized an army of more than 1.3 million people, will not return to a state of peace and an open democratic system overnight,” President of France Emmanuel Macron said of russia.

“They are triune: he wants russia to be perceived as a superpower, he wants to split the West, and he wants to deny Ukraine’s sovereignty. This is the reality that we are dealing with,” President of Finland Alexander Stubb commented on putin’s strategic goals.

The European Union will continue to put pressure on russia’s economy with sanctions until a just and lasting peace is established in Ukraine.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia has updated a warning for Estonian citizens about the dangers of traveling to russia.

European Union Regulation No. 2025/1494, which extends export restrictions on russia, has entered into force. The ban includes non-food flavors – mixtures of aromatic substances used in perfumes, cosmetics, household chemicals and other non-food products. European companies are now prohibited from selling, supplying or transferring such flavors to russia directly or indirectly, including through third countries. This will inevitably lead to higher prices, as even Chinese flavors do not meet the tastes of russian consumers yet. The adjustment will take years.

The duties on goods from India imposed by Donald Trump demanding to stop buying russian oil, as well as the EU sanctions against “Rosneft”’s Indian refinery, have led to a sharp decline in the supply of raw materials to that country. The average daily export of Urals crude oil, which India buys with delivery from the Black Sea and Baltic ports of russia, decreased to 400,000 barrels in August, while previously it amounted to 1.18 million barrels.

Current indicators of business activity of russian enterprises continue to decline. In August, estimates of current output (production, contracting, turnover, and services) fell to their lowest level since December 2022. The decline has been recorded for the third month in a row. The worst situation is in transportation, services, and water supply. Current estimates of consumption also remain low, close to August 2022. The weakest consumption indicators are in construction and wholesale trade. In transportation and services, consumption estimates remain negative. At the same time, price growth accelerated in the electricity sector (after the July rise in tariffs), water supply, transportation, and manufacturing. Companies cite tariffs for utilities and electricity, and rising prices for raw materials and fuel as the key drivers of cost growth. Rising costs and staff shortages remain the main constraints to business development. An additional barrier is the lack of funds to finance working capital.

Petrol prices continued to rise on August 19, rising by almost a percentage point to new record highs by the close of the previous day, as shown by the data from the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange. The cost of AI-92 according to the national index, which reflects the weighted average cost at all major refineries in russia, increased by 0.74 % to 72.044 thousand rubles for a ton as of August 19, and of AI-95 – by 0.9 % to 81.154 thousand rubles a ton. Both figures are historical highs and broke the records set the day before.

Following the deterioration in the economy, wage arrears and hidden unemployment began to grow rapidly at russian enterprises. In July, wage arrears increased by 25 % to RUB 1.7 billion, while the number of employees at risk of dismissal increased 1.5 times compared to the same period last year. The number of idle jobs also increased by a third.

First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy Nikolai Arefyev has said that a tax of 60-80 % should be introduced for rich russians. According to him, the budget faced a deficit of 3.7 trillion rubles in the first half of the year, while bankers and oligarchs earned 4 trillion rubles last year and 3.9 trillion the year before. Their total income amounted to $25 billion, and, as Arefyev noted, there is no reason “to give such funds into private hands” in times of war.

Repairs of European cars in russia have risen in price by 35 % over the year. Prices for parts for European cars are rising due to difficulties with supplies. Supply channels are narrowing under sanctions pressure, the delivery time for spare parts is increasing, while demand remains strong. There are no prerequisites for lowering prices; by the end of the year, repair prices could rise by another 5-10 %.

The government of the rf is discussing measures to support AvtoVAZ amid the load dropping. They are considering granting tax breaks to the company. From July 28 to August 17, the 40,000-employee company took a corporate vacation, and in early autumn, AvtoVAZ will consider transferring its production sites to a reduced four-day work schedule starting September 29. The reason is the situation in the car market, which is under pressure from the macroeconomy and large warehouses.

Chairman of the State Duma Committee for Information Policy Sergei Boyarky, has stated that public criticism of the Max messenger could lead to a citizen being checked for foreign influence.

According to a letter from First Deputy Head of the Duma Committee for Family Protection Tatyana Butskaya, smartphones are interfering with the “patriotic education” of russian children in health camps for underage russians,

During the 3.5 years of the full-scale war in Ukraine, garrison military courts in russia have handed down at least 18,341 sentences in cases of desertion and abandonment of duty.

The Gomel prosecutor’s office has succeeded in recognizing several songs as “extremist”.Two songs from 2020, performed by an unnamed russian singer, were recognized as such, which “contain insults to the president of the republic of belarus, deliberately false information about the social and political situation in the country, and calls for a violent change of the constitutional order in the country”. Also recognized as extremist materials were songs by the “russky korpus” and “Ruki na odeyalo”, calling for violence against law enforcement officers, the “Elysium” band and singer Kornei Tarasov, who spread “deliberately false information about the political and social situation in Belarus”.

In January-July, for the first time this year, belarus recorded a decline in industrial production. The decline was recorded in Vitebsk region (by 2.9 %), Gomel region (by 2.6 %) and Grodno region (by 1.5 %).

Since the beginning of 2025, rental prices in Minsk have increased by 10-15 %.