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

“Let us be very clear: these are war crimes. They are part of a systematic strategy to break the morale of the Ukrainian people. And yet, despite this brutality, Ukrainians continue to stand with extraordinary courage. Their resilience in the face of terror commands our deepest respect and solidarity,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium Maxime Prévot regarding russia’s massive attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks.

“We now believe that a peace table will be formed. Personally, I believe it. For obvious reasons, we cannot go into details. Whether it will happen in Türkiye or elsewhere, I believe that this peace not only must take place, but will take place,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye Hakan Fidan on the prospects for ending the rf’s war against Ukraine.

“These large-scale strikes... are a new escalation of the conflict and demonstrate... russia’s lack of desire to achieve peace,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France “strongly condemned” russian strikes on Ukraine on the night of November 13-14. French diplomats expressed their “full solidarity” with Ukraine and the staff of the Azerbaijani Embassy, which was also hit by russian shelling. France reaffirmed its unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and stressed that, together with its partners, it would continue to strengthen its assistance to Kyiv and pressure on russia to end the war.

“Ukraine currently produces about half of its drones and missiles at home. putin has not achieved what he wanted; we thought he had the second largest army in the world, but he has been fighting in the Donbas for 10 years. I would not call that a victory,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Radosław Sikorski. He also believes that Ukraine will become a member of the European Union at the beginning of the next decade.

Estonia’s Defense Forces have launched a large-scale operation to improve the state’s ability to respond quickly to possible air threats from russia.

“The US administration has clearly and unambiguously stated for the first time that it wants a complete change in the ownership structure of NIS and withdrawal of russian assets from Serbia’s state oil company (Naftna Industrija Srbije, NIS), as a condition for lifting sanctions”, said Minister of Energy of Serbia Dubravka Đedović Handanović.

Italia’s Chamber of Commerce has stopped accepting rubles for Italian goods.

From November 3 to 9, sea oil exports from the rf decreased to a three-month low of about 320,000 tons per day. The last time such a figure was recorded was in mid-July, immediately after the introduction of the 18th package of EU sanctions. The decline has affected virtually all major basins, having reduced the total weekly number of ship departures to 23 (the average is 26-28). At the same time, the cost of transporting raw materials continues to rise: over the week, it increased by 3.7 % on almost all major routes, as shipowners increased the required risk premium. The most noticeable increase in rates was on routes to Türkiye, where the selection of the fleet to comply with restrictions is traditionally more stringent.

Discounts on russian oil rose sharply amid US sanctions against russia’s two largest oil companies – “Rosneft” and “Lukoil”. The discount on Urals relative to the benchmark Brent brand in the ports of Primorsk and Novorossiysk stood at $19.4 per barrel as of November 10.

russia’s container market in January–October 2025 shrank by 5.6 % year-on-year to 6.2 million TEU. The decline is mainly due to a decrease in transit traffic between China and Europe and a decline in imports through Far East ports as a result of Western sanctions against the rf.

“United Metallurgical Company” (OMK), one of russia’s largest manufacturers of metal products for energy, transport, and industry, is cutting back on investment programs due to declining demand for its products and the “complicated” situation in the russian metallurgical industry. In particular, OMK will “halt” the construction of a seamless pipe production facility at its plant in Almetyevsk “until the situation in the industry stabilizes”.

Food prices in the rf rose by 1.05 % in October (by 9.25 % year-on-year). In particular, fruit and vegetable prices jumped by 4.18 % in October. Tomatoes rose in price by 22.5 %, cucumbers – by 12.3 %, lemons – by 10.3 %, oranges – by 5 %, and bananas – by 4 %. Eggs rose in price by 6.9 % in September, and chicken – by 2.3 %. Non-food products became by 0.67 % more expensive last month.

Over the week, the price of a cup of coffee in the rf rose by 20 rubles. Since August, it has risen by 40 rubles.

In russia’s regions bordering on other countries, local residents’ SIM cards began to be blocked en masse after the authorities introduced a “cooling-off period”, which provides for the blocking of SIM cards when a citizen returns from abroad.