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

The government of Japan is allocating 6.2 billion yen (approximately US$41 million) for Ukraine’s immediate reconstruction needs, including strengthening the resilience of critical infrastructure and supporting socially important sectors.

“From the very beginning (of the rf’s war), Japan has been a steadfast partner of Ukraine, providing assistance totaling more than $20 billion across various sectors. Japan will continue to work with Ukraine and our international partners to achieve a just and lasting peace as soon as possible,” said Japan’s Ambassador to Ukraine Masashi Nakagome.

Sweden has decided to allocate additional 200 million Swedish kronor (over $22 million) to implement the Swedish-Ukrainian WM4U program “Strengthening Household Waste Management in Ukraine”.

To date, Poland has provided 48 military aid packages to Ukraine worth over EUR 3.5 billion.

Ukraine has received four generators with a total capacity of 1.62 MW from the Belgian Agency for International Cooperation Enabel.

The Ministry of Defense of Denmark has officially confirmed the start of negotiations with the Ukrainian company Skyfall on the opening of production facilities on Danish territory.

“...I believe that in the areas of the rule of law and the fight against corruption, which are the most sensitive, Ukraine has already implemented long-term institutional complexities. There are several areas that need further work, but they are not particularly difficult; all that is needed is political will”, said the EU’s Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Mathernova.

The Sejm of Poland has adopted a resolution expressing solidarity with Ukraine on the fourth anniversary of the start of russia’s full-scale aggression.

The first shipment of 2,618.15 tons of food has arrived in Kenya as part of the “Food from Ukraine” humanitarian initiative.

The Canadian Paralympic Committee condemned the admission of russia and belarus to the 2026 Paralympics in Milan and announced that Canadian athletes and officials would not participate in the opening ceremony.

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The European Court of Justice has supported the EU Council regulation prohibiting russian companies from evicting money in European courts due to sanctions.

The European Union is demanding that the Kyrgyz authorities tighten control over the export of European goods to russia, as it has become a channel for the supply of equipment banned under sanctions against moscow.

The Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communications (ARCOM) of France has announced its decision to block access to 35 russian media websites via streaming platforms in accordance with EU sanctions.

The share of the rf regions’ spending on social services in 2025 in the overall expenditure structure amounted to 56.8%, with 13.7 trillion rubles allocated to this area, which is by 12.9% more than a year earlier. In nine regions, social spending exceeded 70% of total spending.

In 2025, the Central Bank of russia identified more than 7,000 financial pyramids and other illegal participants in the financial market, of which more than 5,700 operated on the Internet.

Real wages in russia rose by 4.5% in 2025, while inflation for the year as a whole stood at 5.6%. russian propaganda experts continue to insist on the “positive dynamics of real income growth”.

According to rosstat, inflation in russia for the whole of 2025 was 5.59%. Certain categories of food products saw the highest price increases: frozen fish (+16.98%), alcohol (+11.12%), bread and bakery products (+11.12%). Prices for petrol (+10.78%), medicines (+9.88%), and tobacco products (+7.08%) also rose significantly. Prices for services rose by 9.3% in 2025.

The beginning of the year for the russian automotive industry was the worst in the last 20 years. This is the opinion of director of sales and marketing at avtovaz dmitry kostromin. He is also convinced that if the market calculation methodology were slightly adjusted to take into account only new cars that are actually sold and registered, the market in russia would be even worse.

In March, new passenger cars in russia will rise in price by 2-3% compared to February. And from April 1, there may be an additional increase of 5-20% depending on the model due to stricter rules for calculating the scrap fee.

russians’ demand for microloans in January 2026 was by 34% higher than in January 2025. Overall, in the first two months of 2026, the total volume of applications was by about 19% higher than in the same period of 2025.

Due to an acute shortage of personnel, the ministry of internal affairs of the rf has proposed expanding the circle of employees who can be involved in police duties. The document provides for the possibility of admitting to police work employees of internal affairs agencies who do not formally belong to the category of police officers.

Due to increased business costs, haircuts and basic beauty treatments in russia rose in price by 10-14% in 2025. In January 2026, the average cost of a women’s model haircut had already increased by 12% year-on-year, of men’s haircuts – by 14%, and of manicures – by 10%. The profitability of some beauty businesses has fallen to 5-7% in 2025 due to new costs, which is critically low, and some entrepreneurs have already decided to leave the market.

25% of employed russians spend more than six hours a week preparing non-automated reports, while 38% of employees spend the same amount of time approving documents, applications, and requests.

The minimum price of a bouquet of flowers in large russian retail chains has increased by 7% in 2026.

The moscow city court upheld the tver court’s decision to recognize the punk band “Pussy Riot” as an extremist organization and ban its activities in russia. The band members are accused of spreading “fake news about the actions of the russian army”.

In Lithuania, a Vilnius court has fined pro-russian activist erika svenčienė EUR 3,750 for denying crimes committed by the soviet union.

In Kazakhstan, 25-year-old local resident Yevgeny Lyuft has been sentenced to six years in prison for participating in an armed conflict on the territory of a foreign state, namely in the rf’s war against Ukraine on the side of the russian army.

The Council of the European Union has decided to extend the current sanctions against belarus for another year.

belarus’ GDP for January 2026 fell by 1.2% year-on-year. Industrial production fell by 3.4% during the month, manufacturing – by 7.5%, and mining – by 2.3%. In minsk, the decline in production was almost 13%. “It won’t get any easier. January showed that. You completely failed. Completely. The government, the national bank, the governors completely failed,” lukashenko said about the country’s performance in January 2026.

The ministry of internal affairs of the rb has reported that in 2025, about 300 people were convicted of “violence, threats, insults, or resistance to law enforcement officers and internal troops”.