In 2022, Olena Yurchenko, a 22-year-old Ukrainian refugee in Latvia, discovered on a Russian online forum that Russia relies heavily on Western CNC machine tools for military production. CNC machines are vital for making tank hulls and missile casings, but Russia can hardly produce these machines itself. After a year-long investigation, the EU and US added CNC machines to their sanctions list. These sanctions have slowed Russia down but not stopped its military manufacturing. Russia now buys 80% of CNC machines from China, which are lower quality, and smuggles some through Belarus and Central Asia. Civil society groups like ESCU in Ukraine and US anti-corruption group DeKleptocracy have played a crucial role in identifying key supply chain weaknesses, such as Russia’s dependency on imported mechanical lubricants, diesel engines, and chromium metal. Their work has helped shape over three dozen sanction rounds targeting Russia’s war economy since the invasion began. Simon Kjeldsen, Denmark’s sanctions coordinator, said these sanctions packages close loopholes discovered by Ukrainian analysts. Laura Cooper, former US deputy assistant secretary of defense, praises civil society’s "energy and investigative wherewithal" for exposing niche violations that governments struggle to track. The EU’s sanctions envoy Ilona Khmeleva warned that sanctions effects take time but are "like little cuts" that can eventually stop Russia. These civilian networks have transformed economic warfare, pushing for tougher export controls that have delayed projects like Russia’s Arctic LNG terminal. Officials see this cooperation, linking governments and global activists, as a lasting new tool beyond the Ukraine war. Denmark and Kyiv School of Economics are creating a "sanctions hub of excellence" to continue this work. As Laura Cooper said, this is "the start of something more long running."