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

Norway is providing Ukraine with $9 billion in funding for 2026 as part of the Nansen Program.

“We have seen a lot of joint work on this ‘shadow fleet’. The issue has not been resolved yet. There are many ships that continue to operate,” said President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, calling for faster action against russia’s “shadow fleet”.

European Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius has announced his readiness to embark on a “missile tour” of European factories to discuss the possibility of increasing production and quickly transferring missiles to Ukraine. He also outlined Europe’s firm position on continuing military support for Ukraine amid the ongoing war. “We are definitely negotiating with the Ukrainian side about what they have achieved in the development of their technologies. This is very attractive for Europeans and will be beneficial for Ukraine’s development”, he added.

In 2025, the European Investment Bank allocated EUR 1.5 billion in new funding to Ukraine for projects in various fields.

“This groundless statement by the svr (russia’s foreign intelligence service) was picked up by various russian propaganda outlets on social media and some foreign news agencies,” said Director of Communications at the Ministry of Defense of France Olivia Peniche, regarding russian statements about the creation of a “dirty nuclear bomb” in Ukraine with the participation of France and the United Kingdom.

“Arm Ukraine to the teeth, ensure its financial stability and send a clear signal of long-term support – this will show putin that it is pointless, that he cannot win this war”, said former Deputy Director for Defense and Security Cooperation at NATO Gerlinde Nigus, describing a scenario for ending russia’s war against Ukraine.

Four Ukrainian defense manufacturers have signed a package of documents on cooperation with companies from Denmark, Finland, and Latvia. The value of the agreements is estimated at around EUR 800 million.

The Ukrainian Startup Fund has joined the global Microsoft for Startups Investor Network, which will enable IT projects to receive up to $150,000 in loans for Microsoft Azure services.

The Netherlands has refused to host the European Paragliding Championships due to the participation of russian and belarusian athletes.

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“I asked my interlocutors to use their influence to put an end to russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine. Beijing can influence this. We know that signals from China are taken very seriously in moscow – both words and actions”, said Chancellor of the FRG Friedrich Merz during a visit to Beijing, calling on the Chinese leadership to use its influence to put an end to russia’s war against Ukraine.

Minister of Culture of Lithuania Vaida Aleknavičienė has supported the proposal to ban artists who perform in russia or belarus from giving concerts in the country.

Mutual trade between russia and India fell to $63.6 billion in 2025. Compared to 2024, there was a 10% decline. The main factor in the decline in total value was oil: supplies fell by 17%. Other outsiders include legumes, whose volume fell by 72%, diamonds – minus 39%, and oil – minus 17%.

russia’s real GDP growth in 2026 may be 0.7-1%, rather than the 1.3% forecast by the country’s government.

The government of the rf is urgently preparing to tighten budget rules to save the national wealth fund from depletion. Against the background of collapsing oil and gas revenues and record discounts on Urals crude, the ministry of finance of the rf is considering lowering the cut-off price to $45–50 per barrel. This decision, which may be adopted within the next two weeks, threatens to weaken the ruble and calls into question the implementation of the budget of the year 2026.

According to the results of 2025, the oil and gas industries of the rf will see a 28% decline in production, coal – 22%, motor vehicle production – 15%, petrochemicals – 14%, and printing – 12%.

The total budget deficit of russian regions in 2025 increased 3.6 times compared to the previous year and reached 1.478 trillion rubles. The deficit is due to the fact that the growth rate of regional expenditures more than doubled the growth rate of revenues: regional revenues in 2025 amounted to 22.6 trillion rubles, while expenditures amounted to 24.1 trillion rubles.

In 2025, wallpaper production in russia decreased by 15.6% compared to 2024. Since 2022, wallpaper manufacturers have faced a shortage of raw materials and components, delays in their supply, a decline in the purchasing power of russians, and sanctions.

The net loss of the russian group “magnitogorsk metallurgical plant” for 2025 amounted to 14.9 billion rubles. According to the company, pig iron smelting decreased by 4.1% compared to the previous year, steel production – by 9.2%, and sales of metal products – by 7.2%.

“rostelecom”’s net profit for 2025 decreased by 22% compared to the previous year.

At the end of 2025, the kaluga turbine plant – one of russia’s leading defense industry enterprises – incurred a net loss of 1.9 billion rubles. The loss per share amounted to 2,300 rubles.

In 2025, freight traffic on the “russian railways” network (jsc rzd) decreased by 1.8%. At the same time, the company’s debt for the past year increased by 20%.

From February to December 2025, the number of active sellers on the russian online trading market decreased by almost 6.9%, while the number of new entrepreneurs decreased by 17.8% to 149,700.

Traffic at shopping centers in russia decreased by 3% in 2025.

In 2025, Chinese manufacturers raised prices for fiber optics 2.5–4 times for customers from the rf.  

The number of russians who went through bankruptcy proceedings exceeded 570,000 at the end of 2025, with the number of bankruptcies having increased by more than 23.5% over the year.

In 2025, 3,446 rapes and attempted rapes were recorded in russia, which is by 11% more than in 2024. belgorod region was the leader in the number of rapes in the rf: in 2025, 199 such crimes were committed there – more than in any other region of the country. At this, the figure jumped almost threefold compared to 2024.

In 2025, 43,241 corruption-related crimes were registered in russia, which is by 12.3% more than in 2024.

In 2025, 5,920 terrorist crimes were registered in russia. This represents a 59.4% increase compared to the previous year.

The duration and number of business trips by russian IT specialists is decreasing. In 2025, the total number of foreign business trips decreased by 40%, and their average duration – by 13%.

The administration of the far eastern federal university (vladivostok) has introduced a quota (32 students) for signing contracts to send students to fight in the war against Ukraine.

The EBRD has worsened its forecast for belarus’ economy in 2026. According to experts, a 2.3% growth should not be expected; a more realistic figure is 1.3%.

The government of the rf has announced plans to reinstate permanent customs controls on the border with belarus and Kazakhstan. According to deputy prime minister of the rf aleksei overchuk, the measure is aimed at “protecting russia’s market from unfair imports” from partner countries of the Eurasian Economic Union.

$4 billion worth of products have accumulated in warehouses of the enterprises of the ministry of industry of the rb, at this in January alone, the increase in goods was worth $800 million.

At the end of 2025, cybercrimes accounted for about 30% of all crimes in the rb.  In the first two months of 2026, this percentage has already risen to 37%.