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

“History shows that such actions can lead to an escalation of the conflict that will spiral out of control. That is why President Trump is working to stop this war,” said Special Representative of US President Donald Trump, Keith Kellogg. He believes that russia’s attack on the government building in Kyiv does not signal plans to end the war through diplomatic means.

“For the first time, the heart of Ukraine’s civilian government was damaged. These cowardly strikes show that putin believes he can act with impunity. He is not serious about peace,” said UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“...russia’s terror against Ukraine has reached a new level: for the first time, a strike was carried out on a government building in Kyiv, accompanied by massive attacks on civilian infrastructure throughout the country,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria Beate Meinl-Reisinger regarding the rf’s air strike on Ukraine.

Following russia’s large-scale attack on Ukraine on the night of September 7, President of the European Council António Costa called on partner countries to “stay the course” in putting pressure on the aggressor.

“russia seems more interested in intensifying its attacks against Ukraine than in negotiating an end to hostilities,” said Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni after russia’s large-scale attack on Ukraine on the night of September 7.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Kęstutis Budrys believes that russia’s massive shelling of Ukraine using a record number of drones on the night of September 7 indicates an escalation of aggression on moscow’s part.

“Together with Ukraine and our partners, we stand for peace. russia, meanwhile, is locking itself ever deeper into the logic of war and terror. By Ukraine’s side, we will continue to do everything to ensure that a just and lasting peace prevails,” said President of France Emmanuel Macron.

“The EU and its member states remain deeply concerned about the risks to nuclear safety posed by russia’s illegal military aggression, its seizure of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and intense military activity near Ukrainian nuclear power plants,” said the EU delegation to the IAEA Board of Governors on nuclear safety.

Ukrainian drone manufacturer Ukrspecsystems has announced a £200 million investment project in the United Kingdom. The plan involves the construction of an 11,000 m² plant and creation of testing and training centers.

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The European Commission may submit proposals for the 19th package of sanctions against russia by the end of the week. Consultations on new restrictive measures have already begun. The package will focus on combating the circumvention of previously imposed restrictions. It also provides for tighter control over financial and energy services.

US President Donald Trump said on September 7 that he was ready to move to the second phase of sanctions against russia.

The USA is open to cooperation with EU countries to impose sanctions on russia’s partners. This could “destroy” russia’s economy, – said US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.

Obstacles created by russia in the operation of GPS and other satellite systems led to navigation failures during 122,600 flights by 365 airlines in the first four months of 2025, as reported by Sweden and five neighboring countries. russia’s jamming of GPS signals is described in the report as a comprehensive threat to international aviation safety.

Director of the Czech Security and Intelligence Service Michal Koudelka has said that russia seeks to destroy unity and undermine public confidence in the state authorities in the country. Koudelka also called russia the main adversary and the greatest threat to the security of the Czech Republic at present.

The authorities of the island of Jersey (a self-governing possession of the British Crown) have launched a criminal investigation into billionaire Roman Abramovich in connection with the origin of his billion-dollar fortune. The businessman is accused of corruption and money laundering.

841 russian citizens in Latvia have been ordered to leave the country by mid-October for having failed the Latvian language exam.

Latvia is preparing to impose national sanctions due to russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has prepared a draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers on the introduction of such restrictive measures. The draft has been submitted to the government for consideration and will be reviewed in the near future. The national sanctions regime is provided for by the relevant law, which gives the government the right to impose restrictions on certain individuals.

At the end of August, China’s purchases of goods from the rf decreased by 17.8 % year-on-year. Supplies of Chinese goods to the russian market declined by 16.4 % in annual terms, twice as much as in July, when the decline was 8.6 %. The cumulative result for the first eight months of this year shows that russian-Chinese trade turnover fell by almost 9 % to 1.03 trillion yuan, or $145 billion. russian exports to China declined by 8.8 %, while Chinese exports to russia –  by 8.2 %.

Against the background of a sharp slowdown in the russian economy, majority of companies (57 %) have begun to prepare for a further decline that will occur by the end of the year. Almost all companies (90 %) have had to look for new partners, suppliers, and other contractors in the last year, and half (51%) of enterprises have reduced their staff as part of financial optimization. At the same time, 73 % of companies continue to experience labor shortages, 44 % of them – since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine. Also, most (67 %) organizations admitted that they have could not enter new markets in the last three years. “Friendly” countries did not compensate for business losses from the war and sanctions for 62 % of companies.

Minister of Industry and Trade of the rf Anton Alikhanov has said that by the end of 2025, the decline in new car sales in russia will be 25-30 % compared to last year.

Analysts predict that petrol prices in russia will peak in September. By the end of the year, prices could rise by up to 10 %.

CEO of Aeroflot Sergey Aleksandrovsky believes that passenger traffic for russian airlines will decline in 2025 compared to the previous year.

Governor of the Khabarovsk Territory Dmitry Demeshin has announced the transfer of Komsomolsk-on-Amur Airport (Khurba airfield) to private management through a tender, given the airport’s huge losses.

In January–August 2025, the Far Eastern Railway (a subsidiary of RZD) transported by 5% less cargo than in the same period in 2024. The shipment of oil and petroleum products decreased by 6.3 %, of forest products – by 8.9 %, of ferrous metals – by 4.1 %, and of industrial raw materials and molding materials – by 15.3 %.

Due to significant financial difficulties, JSC Khabarovsk Shipyard, which is currently part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), will be transferred to state ownership (the Khabarovsk Territory) for one ruble by the end of 2025.

Representatives of the prosecutor general’s office of the rf have begun to actively fight rising food prices: in January–June 2025, they assessed more than 400 cases of price increases and issued warnings to the heads of 5,300 companies.

russian scientific organizations have seen a sharp decline in the number of employees with a candidate or doctor of science degree. In 2024, there were 89,586 such employees, which is by 20 % fewer than in 2015. The number of doctors of science decreased by almost 23 % to 21,705, and of candidates of science – by 19 % to 67,881.

The Federal Tax Service may increase the number of employer audits by 15-25 % in the second half of the year. The aim of the audits is to identify cases where labor relations are being replaced by civil law relations. The focus will be on industries where, according to russian tax authorities, the risks of informal employment and “gray” schemes are the highest: IT, retail, marketing, logistics, and service companies.

russia is experiencing a shortage of personnel in the oil and gas sector. From January to August 2025, russian employers had posted more than 170,000 vacancies in the oil and gas sector (+36 % for the year). moscow ranked first in terms of staffing needs (11,000 vacancies), followed by Bashkiria (10,000 vacancies), the Krasnodar Territory (7,500 vacancies), Tatarstan and St. Petersburg (7,000 vacancies each). The most sought-after specialists in oil and gas companies were electricians, welders, and general laborers.

According to rosstat, in the second quarter of this year, the number of russians with incomes below the subsistence level was 10.8 million people. The poverty line is 16,863 rubles.

Last week, prices for russian wheat (protein 12.5 %) with delivery in September decreased by $3 to $227–229 per ton.

A series of deaths of top managers and businessmen that swept russia shortly after the start of the full-scale war with Ukraine continues. On Monday, CEO of “K-Potash Service”, a potash and magnesium salt mining company, was found dead near Kaliningrad. The deceased became at least the 19th top manager to die in russia under mysterious circumstances in the last three and a half years.

Travel in russia has increased in price by 22.6 % over two years.

According to regional officials, 1.5 million people visited Anapa in the first eight months of this year. For comparison, during the same period last year, this figure was 4.3 million people. Tour operators say that the decline is even greater – three and a half times and even four times. According to them, this season, Anapa was visited mainly by those attracted by significant discounts on hotel accommodation, which reached 55 %. Some added free parking and spa treatments, late check-out, and early check-in to this. But even these measures did not help to achieve good room occupancy rates. Hotel owners say that occupancy rates during the summer season ranged from 35 % to 60 %, with many operating at a loss and incurring tens of millions of rubles in losses. Besides, about half of the hotels did not even open this season. The number of vouchers sold to children’s camps also decreased by 40 %.

The biggest problem for belarus today is to find new markets for domestic products that cannot be sold in russia “for certain objective reasons”, lukashenko said.

Tension in the belarusian labor market continues to grow. The dynamics of employment in the economy indicates that the effect of measures to attract additional workers to the labor market has been exhausted. The unemployment rate in the second quarter reached a historic low of 2.6 %.