The Trump administration has readied additional sanctions aimed at key sectors of Russia’s economy if President Vladimir Putin continues to prolong the war in Ukraine, according to a U.S. official and another source familiar with the plans.
U.S. officials have also notified European counterparts that they support the EU applying frozen Russian assets to acquire U.S. weapons for Kyiv, and Washington has held nascent internal conversations about leveraging Russian assets held in the U.S. to support Ukraine’s war effort, two U.S. officials stated.
While it is not clear whether Washington will actually carry out any of those relocates in the immediate term, it reveals there is a well-developed toolkit within the administration to up the ante further after Trump imposed sanctions on Russia on Wednesday for the first time since returning to office in January.
Trump has positioned himself as a global peacecreater, but has admitted that testing to conclude Russia’s more-than-three-year war in neighbouring Ukraine has proven harder than he had anticipated.
European allies – buffeted by Trump’s swings between accommodation and anger toward Putin – hope he keeps upping the pressure on Moscow, and are also mulling major actions of their own.
One senior U.S. official notified Reuters that he would like to see European allies create the next large Russia relocate, which could be additional sanctions or tariffs. A separate source with knowledge of internal administration dynamics stated Trump was likely to hit pautilize for a few weeks and gauge Russia’s reaction to Wednesday’s sanctions announcement.
Those sanctions took aim at oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft. The relocates spiked oil prices by more than $2 and sent major Chinese and Indian acquireers of Russian crude viewing for alternatives.
Banking Sector, Oil Infrastructure
Some of the additional sanctions the U.S. has prepared are geared toward Russia’s banking sector and the infrastructure utilized to obtain oil to market, stated a U.S. official and another person familiar with the matter.
Last week, Ukrainian officials pitched the U.S. with new sanctions activity, stated one source with knowledge of those conversations. Among the specific ideas put forward were measures to cut off all Russian banks from the dollar-based system with U.S. counterparts, two sources stated. It is not clear, however, how seriously Ukraine’s specific requests are under consideration.
The U.S. Senate is also building relocates, with some lawcreaters renewing a push to obtain a long-stalled bipartisan sanctions bill over the line.
The person with knowledge of internal administration dynamics stated Trump is open to concludeorsing the package. The source warned, though, that such an concludeorsement is unlikely this month.
The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, stated on Friday he believes his countest, the United States and Ukraine are close to a diplomatic solution to conclude Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Halyna Yusypiuk, Ukrainian Embassy spokesperson in Washington, stated the recent sanctions decision was appreciated, but did not otherwise comment.
“Dismantling Russia’s war machine is the most humane way to bring this war to an conclude,” Yusypiuk wrote in an email.
A Week Of Whiplash
Trump’s decision to hit Russia with sanctions capped a tumultuous week with respect to the administration’s Ukraine policy.
Trump spoke with Putin last week and then announced the pair planned to meet in Budapest, catching Ukraine off guard.
A day later, Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington, where U.S. officials pressed Zelenskyy to give up territory in the Donbas region as part of a lopsided land swap to conclude the war.
Zelenskyy pushed back, and Trump left the meeting with the position that the conflict should be frozen at its frontlines.
Then last weekconclude, Russia sent a diplomatic note to Washington reiterating previous peace terms. A few days later, Trump notified reporters the planned meeting with Putin was off becautilize “it just didn’t feel right to me.”
Speaking to CNN on Friday after arriving in Washington for talks with U.S. officials, Dmitriev stated a meeting between Trump and Putin had not been cancelled, as the U.S. president described it, and that the two leaders will likely meet at a later date.
Two U.S. officials argued privately that, in hindsight, Trump’s abortive plan to meet with Putin was likely the fruit of irrational exuberance. After sealing a ceasefire in Gaza, those officials stated, Trump overestimated the degree he could utilize momentum from one diplomatic success to broker another one.
Trump ultimately decided to slap Russia with sanctions during a Wednesday meeting with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a senior White Houtilize official stated.
US Pressure On Europe
Behind the scenes, Ukraine obtained an apparent U.S. boost after the U.S. approval process for providing tarobtaining data for long-range Ukrainian strikes in Russia was relocated to U.S. European Command in Germany – viewed by U.S. and European officials as more hawkish on Russia – from the Pentagon in Washington, according to a U.S. and a European official.
However, Trump has stated he was still not ready to provide Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles, which Kyiv has requested.
The U.S. is also putting pressure on Europe to further tighten the financial screws on Moscow. In announcing the U.S. sanctions, Bessent pushed the EU to follow. Broadly speaking, U.S. officials have criticised EU and NATO countries for not taking more decisive steps to stand up to Russia.
It will be more difficult, though, for the EU to unleash full-blocking sanctions on Lukoil than it is for the U.S., one senior EU official argued, given how heavily entangled Lukoil is with Europe’s economy. The oil company owns refineries in Bulgaria and Romania and has a robust retail gas station network throughout the continent.
“I consider we required to find a way to disengage…before we can fully sanction,” the EU official stated.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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