May 25, 2023 Ukraine and the World - Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The Parliament of Slovenia has adopted a declaration recognizing the Holodomor of 1932–1933 as genocide of the Ukrainian people.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) intends to provide an additional EUR 1.5 billion to Ukraine next year to support the infrastructure and economy.

International donors will provide Ukraine with EUR 17 million for housing loans for internally displaced persons.

“The vast majority of member states have said they support a further €3.5 billion increase in funding for the European Peace Fund”, said EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. At the same time, he said that since the beginning of the year, within the framework of the initiative to provide Ukraine with one million artillery shells, the European Union has already transferred 220,000 artillery shells, as well as 1,300 missiles.

As part of the European Union's initiative to provide Ukraine with a million artillery shells within 12 months, the Netherlands will allocate 260 million euros for joint purchases.

The Federal Government of Germany has announced that it has transferred to Ukraine a TRML-4D radar, two Biber bridge-laying vehicles, three mobile demining systems, 46 Vector reconnaissance drones, eight anti-drone weapons and one electronic reconnaissance system.

Commander-in-Chief of the German Air Force, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz believes that Germany can join the “coalition of fighter jets” for Ukraine, despite the fact that the Bundeswehr does not have F-16 fighters.

Acting Minister of Defence of Denmark Troels Lund Poulsen has said Ukrainian pilots could begin training on F-16 fighter jets in July.

Pentagon Spokesperson Patrick Ryder has said training of Ukrainian servicemen on Abrams tanks will begin next week, and Ukrainian pilots will be trained on F-16 fighter jets at military bases in Europe.

On May 24, 2023, the government of Switzerland agreed to resell 25 advanced Leopard 2 battle tanks to Germany to transfer more military aid to Ukraine.

Spokesperson for the US Department of State Matthew Miller has said that russia continues to impede the work of the Black Sea grain initiative.

Iceland will purchase 10 trucks for the Ukrainian military to transport petroleum products.

Japan has transferred to Ukraine about 100 military vehicles and 30 thousand ready-made food rations for the needs of the Armed Forces.

“The Senate of the Republic of Poland, like all our people, firmly stands guard over Ukraine. We are doing everything to ensure that Ukraine's victory in this clash with barbarians takes place as soon as possible through the restoration of full territorial integrity. Our priority in European politics is the speedy integration and further steps towards Ukraine's accession to the EU”, said Marshal of the Senate of the Republic of Poland Tomasz Grodzki.

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak has said that the West is ready to support Ukraine for years, and the rf’s counting on fatigue will not work.

“putin must realize that he cannot win this illegal war he has unleashed, no matter how many russian soldiers he sends to their deaths for the sake of his ego and imperial ambitions. He will not succeed, and the international community will only become stronger in confronting this aggression”, said UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace.

The EU has announced 11 new joint defence projects under the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), which is part of the EU's security and defence policy.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has adopted a resolution condemning russia's aggression against Ukraine, attacks on medical facilities included.

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The Finnish Statistics Office has reported about a record number of russians who emigrated to Finland in 2022. The figure is the highest in 30 years – 6,003 persons, and it is the highest figure since soviet times.

Due to international sanctions, the russian timber holding segezha group had to sell its European packaging company segezha packaging (seven plants in Europe and Turkey) for € 1, with debt obligations of € 100 million.

russian pilots of ssj-100 aircrafts claim failures and incompleteness of information in the navigation system after the French company Thales stopped software updates for the rf in 2022, and russia began using databases of the st. petersburg “avia-briefing”.

A quarrel continues between russian ministries over the state energy efficiency program. The government should approve the state program in June, therefore, probably, in the near future the ministry of economy of the rf will “agree” on a government resolution approving the goals of the program until 2035, after which, according to analysts, it will be finalized for years and will die during this process due to the fact that the budget will not have funds for its implementation.

gazprom, which according to official information alone, lost 41.4% of its profit in 2022, decided not to pay dividends for the past year. Analysts believe shareholders have lost their high dividends forever. In fact, in the second half of 2022, the company was unprofitable. gazprom's exports in 2022 decreased by 45.5%, to 100.9 billion cubic meters, production – by 20%, to 412.6 billion cubic meters.

The impairment loss of gazprom's non-financial assets last year amounted to 419.6 billion rubles against 56 billion rubles in 2021: we are talking about the impairment of unfinished construction and investments in associated enterprises. gazprom decided to classify its further financial statements.

The ministry of internal affairs and the fsb will confiscate passports from servicemen, conscripts and mobilized russians when trying to cross the state border – the corresponding decision was made by the state duma.

The government of the rf has decided not to exempt entrepreneurs from mobilization.

A resident of moscow region reported to the police a plant nursery for selling a Ukrainian variety of the apple tree “Glory to the Winners”, created in 1928 in Ukraine.

Due to the sanctions imposed on belarus and russia, the property of 15 companies and one individual was frozen in Lithuania. The total value of the frozen property is 80 million euros.

At the board of the lukashenko administration’s meeting on effectiveness of the organization of ideological and educational work in higher educational institutions, head of the administration, igor sergienko, said that belarusian universities do not have an ideological vertical, and university leaders and students do not perceive the belarusian republican youth union as a “leading public organization”. He also reproached students for lack of patriotism, referring to sociological surveys, which showed that only 15.6% of young people surveyed mentioned “love for the motherland” as their values.

belarusian priorbank has reported that from June 1, the service of withdrawing cash from virtual cards in dollars and euros will not be provided on devices and at cash desks of both priorbank and other banks. Austrian Raiffeisen Bank, which owns priorbank, from July 31 will completely cease correspondent relations with leading belarusian banks.