President Donald Trump’s administration announced on Wednesday massive new sanctions against Russia’s oil industry, aiming to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table and end Moscow’s brutal war against Ukraine.
The sanctions against oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil came after months of appeals from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as bipartisan pressure on Trump to impose tougher sanctions on Russia’s oil industry, the economic engine that has allowed the country to continue waging the exhausting conflict despite being largely isolated internationally.
“I think he’s going to become reasonable,” Trump said about Putin shortly after the Treasury Department announced the sanctions against Russia’s two largest oil companies and their subsidiaries. “And I hope Zelenskyy will be reasonable too. You know, it takes two to tango, as they say.”
The U.S. administration announced the sanctions while NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was in Washington for talks with Trump. The military alliance has coordinated arms deliveries to Ukraine, many of them purchased from the United States by Canada and European countries.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the new sanctions are a direct response to Moscow’s refusal to end its “senseless war” and an attempt to choke “the Kremlin’s war machine.”
Bessent added that the Treasury Department was prepared to take further action if necessary to support Trump’s effort to end the war. “We encourage our allies to join us and adhere to these sanctions.”
The announcement came after Russian drones and missiles struck targets across Ukraine, killing at least six people, including a woman and her two young daughters.
The attack came in waves from Tuesday night until Wednesday and hit at least eight Ukrainian cities, as well as a village in the Kyiv region, where a strike set fire to a house where the mother and her 6-month-old and 12-year-old daughters were, said regional head Mykola Kalashnyk.
At least 29 people, including five children, were injured in Kyiv, which appears to have been the main target, authorities said.
Russian drones also struck a daycare in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, later on Wednesday when children were in the building, said Mayor Ihor Terekhov. One person was killed and six were injured, but no children suffered physical injuries, he said.
Rutte, in his Oval Office appearance, took care to emphasize that the weapons the U.S. is selling to Europe to supply to Ukraine have been essential in helping to thwart many attacks like the one that devastated the daycare.
“We need to ensure air defense systems are in place, and we need U.S. systems for that, and the Europeans are paying for it,” Rutte said. “These are exactly the kind of actions we needed, and the President is doing it and trying everything to get this job done.”
Zelenskyy said many of the children were in shock. He said the attack hit 10 separate regions: Kyiv, Odesa, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Cherkasy, and Sumy.
Peace efforts stall
Trump’s efforts to end the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor more than three years ago have not gained traction. Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration with Putin’s refusal to yield on his conditions for a deal after Ukraine offered a ceasefire and direct peace talks.
Trump said on Tuesday that his plan for a quick meeting with Putin was on hold because he didn’t want it to be a “waste of time.” European leaders have accused Putin of stalling.
Meanwhile, in what appeared to be a public reminder of Russia’s nuclear arsenals, Putin ordered strategic nuclear forces exercises on Wednesday.
Zelenskyy urged the European Union, the United States, and the Group of Seven industrialized nations to force Russia to the negotiating table. Pressure can be applied on Moscow “only through sanctions, long-range missile capabilities, and coordinated diplomacy among all our partners,” he said.
More international economic sanctions against Russia are set to be discussed on Thursday at an EU chamber of commerce in Brussels. On Friday, a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing—a group of 35 countries supporting Ukraine—will take place in London.
Zelenskyy attributed Trump’s comments that he was considering supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine to Putin’s willingness to meet. The U.S. president later said he was cautious about using U.S. Tomahawk reserves due to concerns over available stockpiles.
Russia has made no significant progress on the battlefield, where a war of attrition has taken a heavy toll on Russian infantry and Ukraine is short on manpower, military analysts say. Both sides have invested in long-range strike capabilities to hit rear areas.
Ukraine says it struck key Russian chemical plant
The Ukrainian Army General Staff said its forces attacked a chemical plant on Tuesday night in Russia’s Bryansk region using British-made Storm Shadow air-launched missiles. The plant is a key part of Russia’s military-industrial complex, producing gunpowder, explosives, missile fuel, and ammunition, it said.
Russian authorities in the region confirmed an attack but did not mention the plant.
Ukraine also claimed nighttime strikes on the Saransk mechanical plant in Russia’s Mordovia, which produces components for ammunition and mines, and on the Makhachkala oil refinery in Russia’s Dagestan republic.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 33 Ukrainian drones in various regions overnight, including around St. Petersburg. Eight airports temporarily suspended flights due to the attacks.
In other developments, Zelenskyy arrived in Oslo, Norway, on Wednesday and then flew to Stockholm, where he and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson signed an agreement exploring the possibility of Ukraine buying up to 150 Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets over the next ten years or more. Ukraine has already received U.S.-made F-16s and French Mirages.
Trump says Russia is on agenda for next talks with Xi
The U.S. president is due to meet next week with Chinese President Xi Jinping, when the two leaders travel to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation chamber.
Beijing has not provided direct support to Russia in the war but has increased sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics, and other technologies that Moscow, in turn, is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft, and other weapons for use in its war against Ukraine, according to a U.S. assessment.
Trump said he believes the Russia-Ukraine war would end if all NATO countries stopped buying Russian oil and imposed 50% to 100% tariffs on China for its purchases of Russian oil.
“I think he could have a big influence on Putin,” Trump said about Xi Jinping.
Source: npr.org by AP