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

“We have already spoken with both sides, so we hope to make progress on this issue very soon. We have put forward a number of new ideas that, in my opinion, could be helpful to this process, and I hope we will be able to develop them,” said US President’s Special Envoy Jared Kushner regarding the work of the American delegation during visits to moscow and Kyiv as part of efforts to bring closer the end of russia’s war against Ukraine. He also assured that US President Donald Trump is “very determined to see an end to this war and the deaths, to see families reunited”. According to him, ending the war in Ukraine by winter is not guaranteed, but the US side is working to create the conditions necessary to achieve this goal.

Pope Leo XIV expressed hope for the approaching peace in Ukraine amid US President’s negotiators’ visits to moscow and Kyiv.

The 36th “Ramstein” meeting will take place online on September 8, chaired by United Kingdom Secretary of State for Defence Wes Streeting and Minister of Defence of the FRG Boris Pistorius.

The European Union will continue to support Ukrainian agricultural exporters amid logistical disruptions caused by russian shelling of Ukraine’s seaports, considering the Danube corridor as an alternative to maritime transportation. The EU also supports a moratorium on attacks in the Black Sea.

The Swedish ASC 890 long-range radar detection aircraft is already carrying out missions in Ukraine’s airspace.

Residents and visitors to the Latvian city of Jelgava have donated and prepared for sending to Ukraine a humanitarian convoy of 10 vehicles for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

European Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius has reminded putin that the “root cause of the war” against Ukraine is that he started it. “After discussing with US envoys how to achieve peace in putin’s war against Ukraine, putin once again declared that the most important thing is to eliminate the root causes of the war. The root causes of the war are putin himself, his decision to occupy Crimea in 2014, and the full-scale invasion in 2022,” Kubilius stated.

He added that “putin has brought the war back to russia: he escalates the situation, and then the Ukrainians respond with mirror measures. That’s how putin destroyed most of russia’s oil refineries, lost international flights, and now the fsb and gru will be waiting for a Ukrainian drone to fly into their offices.”

“russia’s imperialist ambitions are not limited to Ukraine. It seeks, at the very least, to restore the spheres of influence it had during the soviet era. The threat from russia will be long-lasting and unpredictable,” said Minister of Defence of Finland Antti Häkkänen.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Margus Tsahkna is convinced that the so-called elections to the state duma of the rf will in fact be a performance controlled by the kremlin. “An important reminder on the eve of the so-called elections to russia’s state duma: the kremlin decides who can run, controls the process, and the outcome is determined even before the ballots are counted,” said Tsahkna.

Latvia and Lithuania are considering halting the transshipment of russian grain through their ports. “The export of russian grain using Lithuanian infrastructure contradicts our values,” said Prime Minister of Lithuania Mindaugas Sinkevičius.

The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra in Maryland has canceled its planned collaboration with russian violinist vadim repin. Previously, the Mannheim Philharmonic Orchestra in Germany, the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Palm Beach Symphony Orchestra in Florida, among others, had refused to collaborate with repin. His performance in Budapest had also been canceled.

Having become the largest buyer of russian oil following the outbreak of full-scale war against Ukraine and the imposition of Western sanctions, China continues to reap multibillion-dollar benefits from discounted russian oil supplies. The total economic benefit China has derived from its oil cooperation with moscow has reached $27 billion.

russia’s federal budget expenditures on the war against Ukraine in the first half of 2026 reached a new record high of 10.687 trillion rubles. Compared to the same period last year, spending on the military and weapons production increased by another 30%, or by 2.46 trillion rubles. Compared to January–June 2024, russia’s military spending increased by 65% (+4.211 trillion rubles); compared to 2023, it rose by 145%; and compared to the first year of the war, it surged by 285%. Compared to pre-war 2021, military spending has increased more than fivefold. On average, the kremlin’s “war machine” “devoured” 1.78 trillion rubles per month, or 59 billion rubles per day – 2.5 billion rubles per hour.

russia’s authorities have involved the central bank’s money emission to replenish the federal budget, which spends one out of every three rubles on the war and ended the period from January through July with a deficit of 6.5 trillion rubles.

Tax revenues to the rf’s budget from oil and gas production and sales in August totaled 424 billion rubles – by 55% less than in July and by 16% less than a year earlier.

Shareholders of the russian aluminum giant “rusal” decided not to pay dividends for the first half of 2026.

russian airlines will not be able to independently replace foreign engines on SSJ-100 aircraft with domestic ones and will face the loss of aircraft. This was stated by aeroflot ceo sergey aleksandrovsky. The united engine corporation had previously predicted that nearly the entire SSJ-100 fleet would be phased out by 2030 due to the engines reaching the end of their service life.

russian grocery retailers have more than halved the pace of opening new shops.

Sales of new buses in russia fell by 23.4% year-on-year in August.

In yakutia, the annual wage indexation for public sector employees – in particular, teachers, medical workers, and researchers – has been postponed due to “unforeseen expenses” related to the “special military operation” against Ukraine.

russian schools are facing an increasingly acute shortage of young teachers. Currently, about 45% of teachers are over 50 years of age, while only 15% are under 30.

As of the end of August, there were 889 political prisoners in detention facilities, including 124 women, in belarus. Over the course of the month, 16 more people were recognized as political prisoners.