February 26, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Norway intends to allocate 3.5 billion Norwegian kroner (about $314 million) to purchase military equipment for Ukraine directly from Ukrainian manufacturers.

Canada will provide 50 million Canadian dollars (about 35 million US dollars) to repair Ukraine's energy infrastructure damaged by russia’s missile and drone strikes.

The Ukrainian Defense Industry company has signed an agreement with Canada's Roshel to establish a joint production of armored vehicles.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Ireland Simon Harris has announced the Government's intention to transfer air defense radar systems to Ukraine.

President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda has promised to soon transfer RBS-70 short-range air defense systems to Ukraine.

The third Radarom! solidarity campaign for the purchase of UAVs for Ukraine has ended in Lithuania, having raised more than EUR 5 million.

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis believes that the EU, if it wished, can quickly give Ukraine money for three times as many weapons as the United States has given in three years – meaning the confiscation of frozen russian assets.

“...Ukraine still has the opportunity to emerge victorious from this conflict. russia can be defeated. The real question is whether we have the perseverance and courage to consider: What would happen if russia were to collapse?” – said Chief of the General Staff of the Defense Forces of Estonia Major General Vahur Karus.

“The path to a just and lasting peace can only be opened through an equation that includes all relevant parties... Ukraine must be included in this process, and this war must be ended through mutual negotiations,” said President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye Hakan Fidan has said that his country has no objection to Ukraine's accession to NATO, but called for a realistic approach to this issue.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Lithuania to Türkiye Ričardas Degutis and Latvia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Türkiye Bakhtijors Hasans are convinced that in view of potential peace talks, it is important to support Ukraine even more, which, like other European countries, should be at the negotiating table.

“NATO will continue to support and stand with Ukraine, and help it in the face of new challenges so that this war can end in a just and lasting peace,” said NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte

“We have agreed that Ukraine’s path to NATO is… irreversible. We agreed on this. So, in the end, Ukraine must also be part of NATO,” said EU High Representative Kaja Kallas.

The joint Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA4) released by the Government of Ukraine, the World Bank Group, the European Commission, and the United Nations currently estimates that as of December 31, 2024, the total cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine is $524 billion (EUR 506 billion) over the next decade, which is approximately 2.8 times the estimated nominal GDP of Ukraine for 2024.

Ukraine may join the European space program Copernicus.

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russia will not be accepted into the G7. This was stated by Finance Minister of the FRG Joerg Kukis. “The G7’s condemnation of russia’s war of aggression is very clear, especially on the third anniversary of russia’s brutal attack,” Kukis stressed.

As part of the 16th package of sanctions, Brussels has banned foreign airlines from operating within russia. Restrictions will also apply to the supply of aircrafts and aviation technology. Otherwise, commercial entities will be banned from flying to the EU.

The UK pintends to ban the rf’s’s high-ranking politicians, owners of large enterprises and top managers from entering the United Kingdom. This will affect all those who “provide significant support to the russian state, owe their significant status or wealth to it, and have access to the highest levels of the government.”

It's high time for Europe to replace russian liquefied natural gas with LNG from Qatar by 2027, said Executive Director of the International Energy Agency Fatih Birol at the International Energy Week conference in London.

Lithuanian grid operator Litgrid has started dismantling the supports of the 330 kV transmission line between Kruonis PSP and Sovetsk in Kaliningrad region. This is the first section to be dismantled after the synchronization of the Baltic power systems with continental Europe. Lithuanian Energy Minister Žygimantas Vaičiūnas has pointed out that the equipment is in good condition and will be transferred to Ukraine. He emphasized the importance of protecting Lithuanian infrastructure due to hybrid threats and violations of interstate infrastructure.

The United States has announced new sanctions against more than 30 individuals and vessels registered in different jurisdictions for trading and transporting iranian oil products. In particular, brokers from the UAE and Hong Kong, tanker operators and managers from India and China, head of the national iranian oil company and “iranian oil terminals” company are under sanctions now.

Another major European company has left the russian market – the French holding Vinci S.A., which is engaged in the construction of roads and railways.

The government of the rf has followed the central bank in recognizing the unrealistic nature of the inflation forecast. Inflation has reached 10 % in annual terms, and the ministry of economic development has admitted that the inflation forecast for 2025 of 4.5 % is out of date.

By the end of 2025, fewer than 300 banks may remain on the russian market. This year, their number will be reduced by a dozen, just as it was in 2024.

The top management of russian vtb will recommend not paying dividends for 2024 due to the unprecedented number of negative factors that manifest simultaneously and affect the ability to increase capital.

rosneft's Ryazan refinery, one of the top 5 largest in russia and a supplier of fuel to moscow region, has again stopped refining oil after a UAV’s attack.

russians have begun to actively use junk cars. The passenger car fleet in russia continues to get aged: at the beginning of 2025, their average age reached 15.5 years, while now cars older than 10 years account for 70.5% of the total. The reluctance of citizens to change their cars is evident, due to both a refusal to switch to russian and Chinese brands and a lack of money to buy them. Experts do not see any prerequisites for rejuvenating the fleet. They predict a decline in the car market in 2025.

This year, due to the shortage of aircrafts, passenger traffic of russian airlines may fall by 15 % compared to last year, and in 2026 – by another 18 %.

The fifth russian “superjet” since the beginning of the year has broken down in midair.

russia needs 23.3 thousand doctors and has a shortage of 63.5 thousand nurses, according to minister of healthcare mikhail murashko.

Coal mining companies in russia expect to fill the shortage of personnel with women, who were allowed to drive excavators and crush coal in February. The 15-20 % shortage of workers in the industry could be eliminated by the end of the year, a representative of the russian union of industrialists and entrepreneurs said. According to him, it is currently impossible to fill all the vacancies even though the salaries in coal companies are by 30-60 % higher than the average in the region. He attributed this to the massive departure of miners to the war against Ukraine and the difficulties in hiring migrant workers due to “their low level of qualifications” and local residents’ dissatisfaction.

Courts in the rf have been “ordered” to imprison people under anti-war articles for 10 years more often.

In 2024, about 4.5 thousand people were prosecuted in russia for demonstrating Nazi symbols and propaganda of Nazism. In 2024, 27 acts of vandalism on “ideological grounds” were also detected, and criminal cases were opened against 17 people.

The state duma has passed a law allowing siloviki to use tractors and agricultural equipment in the fight against terrorism.

russian schoolchildren have a poor understanding of whom the army is fighting in Ukraine and why. Therefore, it is necessary to intensify work in this direction and strengthen propaganda with stories about the “crimes of the Kyiv regime,” said deputy speaker of the state duma anna kuznetsova.

Participants in the war against Ukraine should be involved not only in the government, but also in forming a new cultural elite in russia, said speaker of the dederation souncil valentina matvienko. She complained that artists had not “joined the patriotic wave” after the invasion of Ukraine and that their “artistic response” “turned out to be restrained, to put it mildly.”

In the rf, since the beginning of the full-scale war, more than 100 former regional and municipal civil servants, members of parliament and law enforcement officers have gone to the front from pre-trial detention centers and penal colonies to avoid criminal prosecution. Of the 102 defendants who went to the front, 22 are mayors and heads of municipalities, 10 are members of municipal and regional parliaments, and seven are vice governors and regional ministers. There are also 25 law enforcement officers and two judges. However, there is not a single high-ranking federal official among those who went to the front. The majority of those who went to war to avoid punishment are accused of corruption – 79 people. Another 16 people have articles on violent crimes. Of those who went to war, 23 have already returned – and according to the law, they are now exempt from criminal prosecution and punishment. Another 17 defendants in the criminal cases are dead or missing.

Ukrainian citizen Serhiy Karmazin, who was convicted in the rf in the case of arson of railway equipment in moscow region, was offered russian citizenship in prison. He refused.

The occupation parliament of Crimea has “nationalized” another 720 properties on the Peninsula. Among the nationalized objects are the Crimean Brewery, the facilities of the Nemo Dolphinarium in Feodosia, Sudak and Alushta, Saki Mineral Waters, the Zelenyi Mys Sanatorium and Resort Complex, the property of Lviv businessman Oleh Genshaft and former MP Lyudmyla Denisova. After russia’s occupation of Crimea in 2014, russian authorities in the region repeatedly carried out the so-called “nationalization” of property belonging to Ukrainian state and private owners. The first major stage took place in 2014, when the invaders “nationalized” Ukrainian enterprises, banks, sanatoria and real estate that had previously belonged to the Ukrainian state.

deputy of the Yekaterinburg city duma aleksandr kolesnikov demands that the chief of the city police protect him from “mentally ill people” who complain about the work of housing management companies.

In 2024, 237 thousand people in russia suffered from attacks by stray dogs.

Restrictions in the EU’s 16th package of sanctions against russia affected two banks in belarus – belgazprombank and bank belweb. They were sanctioned for using the financial messaging system, the russian equivalent of SWIFT, which is used to circumvent sanctions. As the European Commission explained, these banks use the system for transfer of financial messages with the “clear intention” of circumventing the restrictive measures.

The new sanctions also affected the ability of belarusians to use Western crypto exchanges. Thus, the EU decision bans citizens and residents of belarus from opening (having) crypto wallets or storing crypto assets on crypto exchanges. belarusian citizens or individuals residing in the rb are also prohibited from holding managerial positions and owning or controlling companies or bodies engaged in the provision of such services.

Starting from February 24, the Food and Veterinary Service of Latvia has toughened control at checkpoints on the belarusian and russian borders. The enhanced measures will be in effect until June 30. The control includes official identification, physical inspection, and surveillance measures with sampling for laboratory tests. The measures are due to the fact that the Latvian side has concerns about the safety of belarusian and russian food and feed imported into Latvia. The measures apply to consignments of goods in which the share of products of russian or belarusian origin is at least 10%, and even to individual commodity items if they are transported as part of groupage cargo.

The total number of forcibly displaced Ukrainian children in belarus has already exceeded 3,500, said Deputy Head of the Joint Transitional Cabinet Pavel Latushko.

Over the three years of russia’s full-scale military aggression against Ukraine and belarus' complicity in it, the official dollar exchange rate against the belarusian ruble has increased by 22 % (from 2.6419 to 3.2239), and against the russian ruble – by 9.6 % (from 80.4194 to 88.1676). Thus, the belarusian ruble depreciated against the dollar 2.3 times more than the russian ruble.

In January, the nominal average wage in the rb declined. It decreased by 266.5 rubles compared to December and amounted to 2427.4 rubles before income tax.

In Gomel region, police and military servicemen are holding meetings with schoolchildren, persuading them to enter educational institutions of russian security, defence and law enforcement agencies. “For those who are close to the concepts of discipline, duty and have a dream to associate themselves with the profession of the brave and courageous, military universities of the rf open their doors. Full support, control over results and leisure time, as well as high scholarships – all these bonuses can be obtained from the first days of study,” the propagandists beckon. The calls to enter russian universities come against the background of a shortage of applicants in belarusian specialized educational institutions.

chairperson of the council of the rb natalia kochanova brought to lukashenko a poem about “the country that has risen from its knees”, and reported that she allegedly received it at a polling station.