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

The European Council summit has approved conclusions on Ukraine, confirming the European Union’s commitment to meeting Ukraine’s financial and military needs in 2026–2027.

Following the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels on October 23, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and President of the European Council António Costa have assured that the issue of using frozen russian assets to support Ukraine remains relevant, with a final decision to be made in December. “russia should take good note of this: Ukraine will have the financial resources it needs to defend itself against russia’s aggression in the foreseeable future,” Costa said.

“The package of sanctions we have been working on for several weeks coincides with US sanctions, which are hitting major exporters of russian oil in an unprecedented way, and thus the sources of funding for russia’s military efforts,” said President of France Emmanuel Macron on the new US and EU anti-russian sanctions.

Chancellor of the FRG Friedrich Merz has said that the adoption of the EU’s 19th package and US sanctions against the russian energy sector are an important signal to putin that continuing the war against Ukraine makes no sense.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has emphasized that US President Donald Trump “has always said that he will impose sanctions on russia when he deems it appropriate and necessary,” and the day has come.

President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda calls on European Union leaders to include the country’s oil giant “Lukoil” in the 20th package of EU sanctions against russia.

At a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for providing Ukraine with long-range capabilities and announced the early transfer to our country of more than 100 missiles for air defense.

Finland will allocate EUR 100 million to purchase American weapons for Ukraine.

Germany is contributing EUR 60 million to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund.

The Czech initiative Darek pro putina (“Gift for putin”) raised funds for a Ukrainian Flamingo ballistic missile within two days. “We hoped to raise the amount in a week. But it happened in 48 hours, which is a record. It exceeded all our expectations,” said organizer of the initiative Martin Ondráček.

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China’s state-owned oil companies have suspended oil purchases from russia due to US sanctions imposed on “Rosneft” and “Lukoil”.

The EU has imposed a travel ban and frozen the assets of rector of russia’s National Research University Higher School of Economics, after he announced that the institution would finance the education of participants in the war against Ukraine and their children, as well as launch a master’s program “dedicated to circumventing sanctions”.

From October 1 to 20, russia shipped by 16 % less grain for export than a year earlier. In particular, wheat shipments decreased from 4.26 million tons to 3.84 million tons, barley – from 458,000 tons to 252,000 tons, and corn – from 197,000 tons to 41,000 tons. In the first two decades of October, wheat was supplied to 26 countries, compared to 46 a year earlier. Six countries bought russian barley in October, compared to 13 a year earlier.

Chocolate manufacturers in russia have faced a huge increase in prices. Since 2023, cocoa bean prices on the exchange have risen sharply, forcing chocolate and confectionery manufacturers to increase their prices for consumers. Exchange prices have now declined to their lowest levels in 20 months, but chocolate prices in russia continue to rise. Besides, manufacturers are reducing the weight of bars, and the content of cocoa beans in them is becoming minimal.

By the end of 2025, traffic in food shops located in russian shopping centers will decrease by 8 %. A similar decline is expected in other categories: fashion retail will lose 4–7 % of visitors, electronics stores – 7–10 %.

The cost of new cars in russia may increase by at least 20 % at the beginning of next year, and of used cars – by 27 %, against the background of the upcoming indexation of the recycling fee from January 1 and a revision of the rules for its calculation.

In September, the rf saw a 33 % decline in car loans compared to the same month last year.

russian IT companies are preparing to increase the cost of licenses for their software by 40 % in 2026. The reasons cited are an increase in the tax burden, the high key rate of the Central Bank, and the increase in personnel costs.

The labor shortage in russia in the coming years may range 2.8 to 5 million people.

Since the beginning of this year, “rosfinmonitoring” has been declaring more than 300 people “terrorists” and “extremists” every month. Currently, there are 18,771 people on the agency’s register. The expansion of the list has accelerated over the past two years: in 2022, 1,400 new individuals were added to it, in 2023 – 1,800, in 2024 – 3,200, and in January–October 2025 – another 3,031 individuals were added to the registry. At this, there has been a sharp increase in the proportion of minors on the list. While less than 2.5 % of those added to the register before 2023 were under the age of 18, since July 2025, every tenth (11 %) of those on the list is minor. In less than ten months of this year, 249 teenagers were added to the list, 81 of whom were under 16 at the time of being recognized as “extremists” or “terrorists”.

The number of information resources blocked by “roskomnadzor” in 2025 increased by 50 % and exceeded 1.2 million. The number of blocked VPN services increased by 31 % and reached 258.

Starting in November, telecom operators in russia will block SIM cards if more than 20 numbers are registered to one person.

From January to September 2025, nearly 95,400 people were wanted by the federal ministry of internal affairs of the rf for hiding from law enforcement, investigation, or court authorities. This is by 25,000 more than in the same period in 2024. In percentage terms, the increase is 36 %.

A 900-ton slick of fuel oil spilled after the accident involving the tankers “Volgoneft-212” and “Volgoneft-239” on December 15, 2024 in the Black Sea is approaching the shores of Taman and Temryuk. A total of about 2,400 tons of fuel oil leaked. The russians have stated that there is no technology to remove it from the sea, so the main way to eliminate the consequences is to collect the contaminated soil on the shore.

During a lesson at a school in Baleya in Transbaikalia, the ceiling collapsed. This was at least the fifth such incident since the beginning of autumn. At least 18,500 schools across russia are in need of major repairs. 508 schools are in a state of disrepair. In total, there are about 40,000 schools in the rf.

The International Paralympic Committee has published a statement, according to which no russian or belarusian athletes will compete in the upcoming Winter Paralympics, which will be held from March 6 to 15 next year in Milan.

In belarus, the nominal average salary has been decreasing for the second month in a row.

From January to October 2025, state institutions of the rb purchased more than 1,300 copies of the book “Our president” about lukashenko. About 260,000 rubles from the budget were spent on this.