August 7, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The Council of the European Union has approved the allocation of EUR 4.2 billion of macro-financial assistance to Ukraine in the form of grants and loans under the Ukraine Facility program.

Chair of the European Parliament's Defense Committee Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann calls on the governments of Germany and other EU countries to take further measures to improve the effectiveness of the F-16 fighter jets recently delivered to Ukraine.

The government of the FRG is considering an amendment to legislation that would allow Ukrainian medical students to continue their studies and become doctors in Germany.

In July, exports of Ukrainian goods increased by 9% to $2.97 billion.

UNESCO will assist Ukraine in conducting archaeological excavations at the site of the Kakhovka reservoir.

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The UK Defence Ministry has warned that russian spies may be using drones to monitor British military bases where Ukrainian servicemen are undergoing training.

“And I strongly advise against traveling to the country (russia) where no one is safe unless absolutely necessary”, Minister of Justice of the FRG Marco Buschmann has categorically warned citizens against traveling to the rf after a major prisoner exchange.

International sanctions and massive cancellations of contracts for the use of russian satellites have led to “roskosmos”’ huge losses – 180 billion rubles, – said andrei yelchaninov, deputy head of the state corporation. Having lost almost all foreign customers, the corporation suffered direct losses of 17 billion rubles in 2022 and another 13.9 billion rubles in 2023.

The average wholesale price of electricity in the south of the rf increased one and a half times in July, reaching a record price of 2.6 thousand rubles per 1 MWh.

On August 6, sberbank raised interest rates on housing loans for russians: the minimum rate on the secondary market is now 20%, and on the primary market – 20.3%. The vtb bank has raised mortgage rates – the minimum rate will be 20.5%.

The “russian car dealers” association has warned that due to the increase in the utilization fee in the rf, prices for new cars will rise by 100% by 2030. This means that in 2030 only 5-7% of russians will be able to buy a car, said the executive director of the association, igor chikin. In the 2.5 years of russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, passenger cars in the rf have already doubled in price.

The ministry of justice of the rf has declared “undesirable” in russia the Swiss educational center EF Education First (since 1995 it has been providing English language learning services to russians) and the Polish foundation Fundacja OSTMOST, which is engaged in the development and support of democracy, human rights and freedoms in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The rf’s prosecutor general's office has also labeled “undesirable” the German Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V.

russian authorities have notified all major telecommunications operators to slow down the speed of video on YouTube to 128 kilobits per second. The average daily reach of YouTube in the rf is 55.4 million people, and they are predicted to be deprived of information from the resource.

According to a survey conducted by the Polish Public Opinion Research Center, 73% of Poland’s residents support the idea of closing all checkpoints on the border with the rb. Young people are the most supportive of the border closure (79%). Among the older generation, this figure is 68%. 73% of Poles surveyed oppose granting asylum to migrants coming from the rb.

A resident of drybin district, mogilev region, the rb, was detained and accused of extremism for keeping two rounds of ammunition from a small-caliber rifle at home.