The United States has announced a new and powerful wave of sanctions targeting Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, in a significant escalation of its effort to pressure Moscow to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
The move comes just one day after the White House confirmed that a planned peace summit between President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin had been shelved indefinitely.
The new sanctions are a clear sign of the growing frustration in Washington over a diplomatic process that has failed to yield any tangible results.
‘They just don’t go anywhere’
Speaking from the Oval Office on Wednesday after a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, President Trump expressed his deep frustration with the lack of progress in his talks with the Russian leader.
“Every time I speak to Vladimir, I have good conversations and then they don’t go anywhere. They just don’t go anywhere,” Trump told reporters.
He described the new sanctions package as “tremendous” and said he hoped the economic pressure would help to force a breakthrough.
“I just felt it was time. We waited a long time,” Trump said, adding that he hoped the sanctions could be swiftly withdrawn if Russia agrees to stop the war.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was even more blunt, stating the new sanctions were a direct result of “Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war.”
He added that the targeted oil companies are the primary funders of the Kremlin’s “war machine.” “Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” Bessent said in a statement.
A united front of Western pressure
The American sanctions are not being imposed in a vacuum; they are part of a coordinated and escalating campaign of pressure from the West.
The United Kingdom slapped a similar sanctions package on Rosneft and Lukoil just last week. “There is no place for Russian oil on global markets,” UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves said at the time.
The European Union has also approved its 19th sanctions package, which includes a landmark ban on Russian liquefied natural gas imports.
“This is a clear signal from both sides of the Atlantic that we will keep up collective pressure on the aggressor,” EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen posted on X.
A diplomatic path in peril
These new punitive measures come as the key differences between the US and Russian proposals for peace have become increasingly clear.
A main point of contention, according to the White House, is Moscow’s refusal to agree to a ceasefire along the current front lines of the war.
Trump, who has repeatedly endorsed the idea of freezing the conflict as it stands, has grown impatient. “Let it be cut the way it is,” he said on Monday.
I said: cut and stop at the battle line. Go home. Stop fighting, stop killing people.
With a planned summit now off the table and a new, more powerful sanctions regime in place, the diplomatic path to peace has become even more narrow and perilous.
The world now waits to see if this new wave of economic pressure will be enough to finally bring Moscow to the negotiating table in earnest.
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