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

US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby has approved two arms deliveries to Ukraine worth $500 million each under the new PURL (Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List) mechanism.

Latvia has announced the transfer of another batch of Patria 6x6 armored personnel carriers and other equipment to Ukraine.

CEO of Danish defense company Terma A/S Henriette Hallberg Thygesen has announced the opening of a representative office in Ukraine.

The United Nations Development Program in Ukraine and Denmark’s Government are launching a three-year project called “Strategic Partnership for Mykolaiv”, which will allocate more than $36 million to speed up the region’s recovery.

Ukraine and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development have signed an agreement for a $88 million loan under the Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Enterprise project to support small and medium-sized enterprises.

The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has made a $75 million investment commitment to the Ukrainian-American Reconstruction Investment Fund.

The European Parliament will open a permanent office in Ukraine.

Ukraine and the Czech Republic have agreed to speed up the signing of an intergovernmental agreement that will help implement Ukraine’s reconstruction projects.

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The European Commission will propose to speed up the process of giving up imports of minerals from russia, said President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. She also pointed out that the next package of European sanctions will be directed in particular against russian crypto assets, banking, and energy sectors.

President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda has said that if the EU includes secondary sanctions against countries that help russia circumvent them when considering a new sanctions package, it will be “hitting the bull’s-eye”.

There is a growing movement in Europe to expand the use of frozen russian assets to finance Ukraine. European governments and their G7 allies are exploring ways to further use frozen assets to increase revenues to support Ukraine’s defense against russia’s aggression. Most of the approximately $300 billion in frozen russian assets are located in Europe.

Chancellor of the FRG Friedrich Merz has said that russia’s violation of NATO countries’ airspace is part of putin’s long-standing trend of testing borders and sabotage: “russia wants to insidiously destabilize our free societies”.

“russia is testing us. They are testing our unity,” Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen has said that her country will buy long-range precision weapons in response to russia’s actions.

The amount of unpaid compensation awarded by the European Court of Human Rights to russians who have suffered from illegal actions by the state has exceeded EUR 315.5 million.

17 % of russia’s largest companies cannot cope with their debts. Among them – VK, Ozon, UAC, Rusal, Mechel, and AFK Sistema.

Against the background of a record budget deficit, the federal tax service has sharply increased its on-site inspections of businesses. While in the first half of 2022, 5 % of such inspections across russia ended without additional tax assessments, in 2025, only 2.2 % did. The average amount of additional charges also increased: in moscow and St. Petersburg, in the first half of 2025, it reached a seven-year high of 120.68 million and 248.79 million rubles, respectively.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for russians to service their loans: one in five borrowers (22 %) is facing an unbearable debt burden and can no longer make loan payments. Another 18.5  % of russians who have taken out loans spend more than half of their family budget on repayments.

About 12 % of russian companies intend to reduce their staff in the autumn of 2025.

The petrol shortage in russia continues to worsen and is spreading to the central regions of the country. The fuel crisis that began in August has already affected at least 20 russian regions, from Chukotka and Sakhalin to Ryazan and Samara regions.

About 10 % of dealerships in the russian car market will close by the end of this year. It is the rise in the cost of loans, which dealers often use to buy new cars, that has led to most dealers ending the year with zero or negative results.

Passenger traffic of russian airlines in June–August 2025 has decreased by 5 %.

Sales of non-residential premises in new buildings in St. Petersburg decreased by 30.8 % over the year. The year-on-year decline in parking spaces was more pronounced, having reached 37.5 %. While 0.25 thousand parking spaces were sold in August, a year earlier the figure was 0.4 thousand. Compared to July, the indicator decreased by 16.7 %.

Men’s prostate cancer and women’s breast cancer are the most common types of cancer among russian residents, with colorectal cancer ranking among the top three types of cancer in both sexes. At this, the russian government has been cutting funding for cancer treatment for years. The 2022 budget allocated 189.6 billion rubles to the project, and in 2023 – 153.7 billion rubles.

The state duma’s defense committee has recommended the lower house of parliament to pass a draft law in the first reading that would allow conscription throughout the calendar year, rather than twice a year.

russian soldiers participating in the war against Ukraine suffer from various mental disorders, including PTSD. In the three and a half years that the russian authorities have been waging the full-scale war in Ukraine, they have failed to create an effective psychological support system. The rf lacks both psychologists and training programs for working with military personnel, while the combatants themselves prefer alcohol to meetings with specialists.

chairman of the state duma of the rf Vyacheslav Volodin believes that russian officials should stop holidaying abroad. “Some enjoy it, but it is clear how it will end”.

The kremlin has spent more than 400 million rubles promoting russia’s interests abroad – a record amount in 14 years.

When the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security issued an official permit for the belarusian national airline “Belavia” to use certain American-made aircraft, it retained a number of strict restrictions. According to the permit, “Belavia” may operate eight specific Boeing aircraft to and from any country (including belarus), as well as maintain, repair, and re-equip them. The supply of equipment and spare parts related to these aircraft is also permitted. At this, flights to russia, including the temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine, Iran, Syria, Cuba, and North Korea, as well as from them, are prohibited. Besides, the use of the Boeing 767 aircraft with registration number EW001PA, which is used by lukashenko’s family, and the transportation of goods that could be used to support russia’s military actions are prohibited.

In August 2025, 28 MAZ buses were sold on the russian market. This is significantly more than in the same month of 2024 (only 5 units). However, if we look at the data from the beginning of this year, 162 units were delivered, compared to 327 during the same period in 2024. In other words, deliveries decreased by 50.5 %. As for trucks, the Minsk Automobile Plant sold 210 to the neighboring country in August, compared to 428 a year earlier. Since the beginning of 2025, deliveries have reached 2,029 units. This is by 46 % fewer than in the same period last year.

On national unity day, lukashenko gathered ideological activists. He demanded a unified strategy for shaping historical memory, in particular, telling about the oppression of belarusians in Poland, and stressed that all periods of belarusian history should be analyzed in terms of emphasis: which dates and events are important, who are the heroes, and who are the enemies.

russia’s ambassador to the rb Boris Gryzlov made anti-Polish statements in his article published on national unity day in belarus. According to him, bringing the Red Army into Poland was allegedly intended to protect the belarusian population from the German army. “The bubble of Polish greatpowerness burst out on the bayonet of a soviet soldier”, he also wrote.