Ukraine
COMMENT: Ukraine faces budget test this year as growth slows
Ukraine’s slow post-war economic recovery and growing fiscal demands have placed new pressure on the government in Kyiv to secure additional international funding, with analysts at ICU warning of a looming $10bn to $15bn shortfall for 2026.
Zelenskiy losing the trust of his people as he adopts more authoritarian ruling style
Messages circulating on social media in the last few days claim that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is proposing a new law that makes criticising the president illegal. The claims are almost certainly Russian disinformation.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister to ask IMF for new loan, as new team focuses efforts on bring US support back on board
Ukraine’s new prime minister, Yuliia Svyrydenko, said Kyiv will probably ask for a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan to plug a widening budget deficit.
Ukraine’s military death tolls underestimated, Russia recruits sufficient to cover its frontline losses
Ukraine’s official military casualty figures in the war with Russia may be vastly understated. Russia’s death toll is much higher.
COMMENT: Zelenskiy losing the trust of his people as he adopts more authoritarian ruling style
Russian disinformation is playing on legitimate fears that the Ukrainian president is concentrating more and more power in his own hands at a time when his popularity is starting to fade.
Greek tankers continue to transport Russian oil despite new eighteenth sanctions package, come under Ukrainian special ops attacks
Greek-owned oil tankers are likely to continue to carry Russian oil exports, despite the passage of a new eighteenth sanctions package last week that largely targets Russia’s oil exports.
Ukrainian cyberattack cripples Gazprom’s digital infrastructure
Ukrainian hackers have reportedly wiped servers, clouds and backups, crippling the control systems in an unprecedented cyberattack on Russia’s gas champion Gazprom.
Ukraine’s accession bid stalls, Zelenskiy downgrades EU diplomatic representation
Ukraine’s bid to join the EU has hit a wall, after efforts to launch the negotiations last week failed due to infighting amongst member states. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has downgraded his country's diplomatic representation.
EU approves eighteenth sanctions package after Slovakia drops veto
The EU has approved the eighteenth sanctions package after Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico agreed to drop his veto, saying that he had run out of negotiating options on July 18.
Fitch upgrades Trump’s effective tariff rate to 19.4%
President Donald Trump’s evolving trade policy is set to sharply increase the United States’ effective tariff rate (ETR), with Fitch Ratings warning of substantial rises as new duties take effect on August 1.
Zelenskiy offers Trump a mega drones-for-weapons deal, as allies scramble to find spare Patriot systems
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy offered US President Donald Trump a “mega-deal” on July 17: we send you our advanced drones, you send us missiles.
Geopolitics is weighing on FDI, capital chasing certainty over scale – study
The world is living through turbulent times, but investors are still chasing returns which has affected the flows of international foreign direct investment.
Fico claims Slovakia has obtained energy guarantees from EU and will unblock latest sanctions package against Russia
Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico said it would be "counterproductive" to continue blocking the EU’s 18th sanctions package against Russia.
Ukrainian ambassador summoned in Budapest over church arson case
Ukrainian nationalists blamed for arson attack on a Greek Catholic church in Ukraine's western Transcarpathian region — but similar provocations were traced back to Russian operatives.
Belarus drone breach prompts diplomatic protest from Lithuania
a Russian-made Gerbera drone entered Lithuanian airspace from Belarus and crashed about one kilometer inside Lithuania, close to the closed Šumskas border checkpoint.
COMMENT: Zelenskiy’s latest reshuffle reinforces presidential power, not government reform
Ukraine’s new prime minister, Yuliia Svyrydenko, is the first to hold the post in five years – but her appointment is unlikely to signal a major shift in Kyiv’s governance.
Poland the biggest winner from EU’s €2 trillion long-term budget, Ukraine to get €100bn
EU Budget Commissioner Piotr Serafin unveiled the largest ever EU long-term €2 trillion budget that covers 2028-2034 in Brussels on July 16.
Svyrydenko appointed as new Ukrainian Prime Minister
Ukraine’s parliament appointed Yuliia Svyrydenko as the country’s new prime minister on July 17, marking the most significant reshuffle of the government since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Four EU countries bail out of paying for Trump’s weapons for Ukraine
At least four countries are already bailing out of commitments to pay the US for weapons supplies for Ukraine, raising a question mark over the level of support Ukraine can expect now that the Trump administration has withdrawn.
COMMENT: Slovakia’ Prime Minister pushes back on EU gas phase-out, demands a delay to the sanctions as EU cracks widen
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is becoming a major embarrassment for the EU plans to phase out all Russian gas imports by 2028.