This February marks the fourth year of Russia’s war against Ukraine – a war aimed at ending Ukraine’s sovereignty and erasing its national identity; the war that continues because Russia still has the resources needed to fuel it, including finances and critical technology, too often facilitated by businesses. Deprived of either, it would be forced to stop. Western companies, along with their home governments, can and must help bring that moment closer.

Last year was the deadliest for civilians in Ukraine since the start of the aggression, with 2,514 civilians killed and 12,142 injured. Four years of relentless airstrikes have gradually devastated Ukraine’s critical infrastructure – with many Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, now on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe without electricity, water supply and heating amid freezing temperatures.

This is a new reality in Ukraine, imposed by Russia – and every company that continues to do business with or operate in Russia contributes to this reality one way or another.

Over 1,774 international companies that continue business as usual in Russia keep funding the aggression through their taxes. In 2024, foreign companies paid Russia USD20 billion in taxes, bringing the total since 2022 to more than USD60 billion. This amount is equivalent to almost half of Russia’s planned military budget for 2025. The United States and Germany, despite being two of Ukraine’s largest bilateral donors, have been the leading corporate contributors to Russia’s war economy, where defence spending from all federal tax revenues has surged from 18% in 2021 to 44% in 2025. In 2024, American companies paid USD1.2 billion in profit tax to the Russian government, followed by German companies with USD594 million in corporate taxes.

Four years after the invasion, Western governments are still doing business with Russia, including buying oil (albeit in significantly reduced quantities) and gas - major enablers of its aggression. In 2025 alone, the European Union paid Russia about EUR7.2 billion for liquefied natural gas (LNG), with shipments increasing compared to the previous year, despite its pledge to ban imports of Russian LNG by 2027. EU purchases of Russian fertilizer have increased by almost 20 percent, from EUR28.15 billion in the first quarter of 2021 to EUR33.7 billion in the second quarter of 2025.

Meanwhile, Russia continues to obtain the technology needed to sustain attacks on Ukraine. In July 2024, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR) launched an open database of foreign equipment used by Russia to make weapons for terror against Ukraine. As of 14 January 2026, it contained information about 1,454 machine tools produced by 397 foreign companies, which are used by 181 plants in Russia.

The top five countries with the highest number of companies listed in the database are Germany, Taiwan, the United States, Italy and China. Germany leads by far, with 104 companies (26% of the total) – with German equipment being used in the production of missiles, bombs, military satellites, aircraft and helicopters, warships, artillery, and ammunition.

Over the past 18 months, the Business and Human Rights Centre has been approaching companies listed in the database, asking them to comment on the inclusion of their products. We reached out to 384 companies; 13 could not be contacted due to the lack of publicly available information. Only 37 companies (10% of those approached) responded. Most stated they had suspended or ceased all transactions with Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, in compliance with sanctions.

Some companies noted that the equipment was sold to Russia before the full-scale invasion. However, Russia’s aggression began in 2014, meaning these companies should have implemented heightened human rights due diligence throughout their supply chains to ensure their products did not contribute to abuses.

Only a few companies, including Sodick and Hottinger Brüel & Kjaer, managed to provide examples of measures introduced to enhance due diligence in their supply chains. And just two companies, ABB and Kulicke & Soffa, said they take our concerns very seriously and that they had initiated internal reviews.

Meanwhile, some responses from companies were extremely disappointing. A Czech company said it had no idea where most of its exports end up and requested not to be contacted again with similar inquiries. One German company perceived our request for greater transparency regarding their customers as blackmail, while another threatened to take legal action.

We did not expect to receive such responses from EU companies, let alone threats of lawsuits. It is particularly shocking, given that the equipment produced by these companies is being used by Russia to make weapons that kill thousands of civilians and destroy critical infrastructure in Ukraine.

In December 2025, the Business and Human Rights Centre sent a letter – the second of its kind – to the German Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA) providing them with an updated list of German companies allegedly having their equipment used to make weapons for attacks on Ukraine. We urged the agency to take decisive steps to deprive Russia of the ability to produce weapons for terror. Such steps could include strengthening inspection procedures for exports to intermediary countries, engaging with the German companies included in the GUR’s database, obliging manufacturers to install GPS trackers and remote-control systems, as well as extending restrictions and regulations to the used equipment market. At the time of writing, both letters remained unanswered.

The lack of action by leading Western states is both surprising and dangerously reckless. Instead of taking decisive steps to sever business ties with Russia and prevent their companies from enabling its aggression, Western European countries appear to be preparing for war with Russia. In 2024, defense budgets across the 27 EU Member States surged to a record EUR343 billion, a 19 percent rise from 2023, accounting for 1.9 percent of GDP. A further increase of at least EUR100 billion is projected by 2027. Military leaders in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden and the Baltic states have warned that Europe must be prepared for scenarios previously considered impossible. As part of this preparation, the German Parliament voted to introduce voluntary military service to bolster national defenses – a move that sparked mass protests among young people. Several other EU countries, including Poland and France, are considering similar military-service reforms in response to heightened security concerns.

Western governments and businesses are failing to grasp a simple truth: if they take decisive action to block Russia’s access to critical resources today, it could spare them from paying a far higher price in the years to come.

The war is already spilling over into Europe, and the window to act is rapidly closing.