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

Following the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (Ramstein format) meeting, Sweden will provide $8 billion in security assistance to Ukraine in 2026–2027; the Czech Republic will transfer a new package worth $72 million; Canada will provide $20 million for winter equipment and missile components; Portugal will contribute $12 million to the British IFU fund for the purchase of weapons for Ukraine; Finland is preparing its 13th military aid package. Partner countries have also contributed to the purchase of weapons from Ukrainian manufacturers: Norway – $600 million for UAVs, electronic warfare systems, and explosives; the Netherlands – $106 million for strike and reconnaissance UAVs; Canada – $8 million for interceptor drones; Iceland – $4 million under the “Danish Model”.

Denmark has allocated 1.1 billion kroner ($171 million) to support Ukraine’s defense capabilities – “from marine equipment to educational and training activities for Ukrainian servicemen”.

Minister of Defence of the FRG Boris Pistorius has announced a new initiative – military support for Ukraine, which includes assistance with the maintenance and modernization of Western equipment. “Its goal is to increase the combat capabilities and ‘lifespan’ of the land systems we have already transferred to Ukraine. Large combat systems, such as tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, need to be upgraded to meet the latest standards. These include new guns and the latest sensors,” he said.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Radosław Sikorski is convinced that fears that the transfer of Tomahawk long-range missiles to Ukraine will contribute to the escalation of the conflict are groundless.

“All we want from president putin is for him to stop killing Ukrainians and russians, because he is killing many russians!” said US President Donald Trump.

“If there is no path to peace in the short term, then the USA, together with our allies, will take the necessary steps to ensure that russia faces consequences for its continued aggression,” said US Secretary of Defence Pete Hagseth.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has announced that, following the Ramstein meeting, Ukraine had secured commitments from 17 NATO countries to contribute to the financing of the PURL program. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hagseth called the announced increase in the number of participants in the initiative to purchase weapons from the USA for Ukraine a powerful signal to the whole world.

UK Defence Secretary John Healey and Minister of Defence of the FRG  Boris Pistorius have acknowledged that Ukraine contributes to security and should have a place in NATO.

The EU is seeking to establish a drone alliance with Ukraine as early as next year.

“The roadmap has a very important promise. The ‘reparations loan’ is to be implemented by the end of 2025, and Ukraine is indeed ready to help us with its current battle-tested experience. We are building a European defense dome together,” European Commissioner for Defense Andrius Kubilius commented on the comprehensive plan to strengthen European defense capabilities, which includes countering drones and other threats from the air, sea, and space.

“We see that Ukraine is and will continue to be a true center of the European Union’s defense industry,” the European Commission said in its new EU’s Defense Readiness Roadmap to 2030 which does not rule out Ukraine’s participation in coalitions in which EU member states will focus on the production of certain types of weapons.

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Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Radosław Sikorski has said that russia had carried out a “tactically stupid and counterproductive” escalation of the war in Ukraine by launching drones into Poland’s airspace. “He (putin) has been at war with us, but we did not acknowledge it because it seemed too preposterous and too strange,” Sikorski said.

Minister of Defence of Romania Ionuț Moșteanu has confirmed his country’s readiness to shoot down drones that violate its airspace.

Minister of Defence of Finland Antti Häkkänen has said that russia is building up its military capabilities on the borders with the European Union, preparing for the second phase of potential aggression against the EU and NATO.

Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz has said his government wants to respond to russia’s hybrid warfare with a comprehensive action plan to counter such threats. Merz has pointed out that the National Security Council will discuss the plan at its inaugural meeting in a few days.

The European Parliament’s Energy Committee has supported a proposal to ban gas imports from russia to the EU a year earlier than planned. According to the new proposal, natural gas imports from russia will be suspended from the beginning of 2026, with the exception of a limited number of contracts concluded before June 17, 2025, which will remain in force until January 1, 2027.

Fiber optic cable production in russia in the first half of 2025 decreased by 25 % in real terms. In terms of kilometers of cable, the decline was 14 %, to 71,000, while the market’s monetary volume decreased by 17 %.

Next year, russia will discontinue state financial support for domestic developers of base communication stations. No budget funds have been allocated for them.

“Transneft” is facing a growing deficit due to an increase in the tax burden, said the company’s first vice president, Maksim Grishanin. According to him, this has forced the company to abandon its capital investment program.

The petrol shortage in russia, which has affected at least 57 regions, has led to an artificial decline in fuel quality at filling stations. This was reported by head of the russian Auto Service Union Yury Valko. According to him, filling stations have begun to dilute petrol with additives.

Owners of new Geely cars have complained about engines breaking down while driving. In a number of cases, drivers managed to drive less than 500 km in their newly purchased cars. Geely Motors has stated that the reason for the engine failures was, in particular, the lower quality of russian petrol, which has a higher level of impurities than Chinese fuel.

Member of the state duma Oleg Matveychev has proposed a radical method of resolving the demographic crisis in russia. The member of the parliament has stated that in order to increase the birth rate, it is necessary to reduce the standard of living of the population. He also criticized the idea of providing financial support to families with children: “All these talks about ‘give us flats, give us assistance, then we will deign to give birth for you’ is pure hypocrisy.” Matveychev compared abortions to military casualties, pointing out that they kill as many people as the war against Ukraine.

In russia, the incidence of obesity has increased by 42 % in four years.

The new concept of the rf’s state migration policy allows for ghettos and total (including ideological) surveillance of migrants.

In the first six months of 2025, russian garrison military courts sentenced 6,192 military servicemen in criminal cases. This is a record high for a half-year period since at least 2011. More than half of the convicted received actual prison terms.

The russian orthodox church has equated addiction to social media with sin. “Going online, on social media, is as dangerous as entering a nuclear reactor. One needs to wear special ‘protective clothing’ and be on guard... (It’s) gluttony, only intellectual, only informational. This is spiritual gluttony, it is a sin,” says archpriest Vasily Gelevan.

In January-September 2025, Bank “Saint Petersburg” reduced its net profit by 16.9 % compared to the same period last year, to 33.7 billion rubles. The bank’s net profit in September 2025 amounted to 2 billion rubles, which is 3.4 times lower than in September 2024.

Governors of Novosibirsk and Orenburg regions, as well as of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, have submitted draft laws to regional parliaments to increase the transport tax.

In Yakutia, some bus routes between settlements in the republic will cease to operate from October 21. The reason for the restrictions is a lack of funds in the budget to finance public transport. There have also been problems with providing food to people in northern regions of Yakutia. Food brought in by the authorities to the Arctic regions, in particular fresh eggs and vegetables, is distributed primarily to military servicemen’s families, and the rest is sold to local residents in shops.

After the New Year, Kaliningrad region will face a shortage of honey and an increase in its price. Since the beginning of 2025, the retail price of the product has almost doubled: from 500-800 rubles a liter to 1,300 rubles. The harvest in 2025 was only 2.5 tons, while in 2024 it reached 12.5 tons.

South Uralians who keep their money in banks will have to pay more than 3.5 billion rubles to the state. This applies to those who have deposits with an interest rate of more than 1 % per annum and whose income from them in 2024 exceeded 210,000 rubles. There are 53,500 such people in Chelyabinsk region.

Authorities of Samara region have reduced regional payments for signing contracts with the ministry of defense fivefold: from 2.1 million to 400,000 rubles. The region has become at least the fourth where, since the beginning of October, regional payments for signing contracts have been reduced to a minimum threshold of 400,000 rubles. Earlier, similar changes were introduced by the authorities of Tatarstan, Chuvashia, and Mari El.

Moody’s credit rating agency has maintained belarus’ lowest credit rating – C – with a stable outlook. They regard the forced denomination of Eurobonds as a default. The agency expects that the holders of these securities may lose more than 65 % of their investments, as the country’s ability to service its debt is limited by sanctions due to minsk’s support for russia in the war against Ukraine. According to Moody’s forecast, the sanctions will remain in place for a long time, which will weaken belarus’ economy and finances and increase its dependence on russia. The stable outlook indicates that belarus’ credit profile is unlikely to improve significantly in the short to medium term.

Minister of Defence of Lithuania Dovilė Šakalienė has expressed skepticism about the possibility of minsk’s official participation in peace talks on the russian-Ukrainian war. “belarus is very actively cooperating with russia in the aggression against Ukraine... Let’s remember the Ukrainian children who were abducted from Ukraine. Did belarus return them to Ukraine? No! They were handed over to russia. belarus is a conscious and active member of the gang,” she said.

At the end of September, industrial production in belarus declined by 0.8 % – a year ago, there was a 6.4 % increase.

In 2026, authorities of the rb intend to index taxes. Growth is expected to be at least 7 %. This includes property taxes on real estate, land, and transport. In addition to indexing taxes, officials intend to raise some fees. Among the options – imposing a ruble tax on valuable real estate and additional income of the population.

lukashenko has ordered “not to build anything that can be done without today and tomorrow,” in particular museums and cultural facilities. According to him, there are “other areas that should be prioritized for funding”. For example, the construction of complexes for keeping cattle.

Raid groups have been created in belarus to control coffee drinking at filling stations. The decision was made after lukashenko expressed his outrage at drivers drinking coffee at filling stations. In his opinion, this causes queues at filling stations.