Trump Hardens Stance: Sanctions Hit, Putin Summit Off

The Trump administration has significantly hardened its stance against the Kremlin, simultaneously cancelling a planned summit with Vladimir Putin and imposing new sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies.
The sanctions target Rosneft and Lukoil, and are the first against Russia since Trump returned to the White House. The goal, according to the Treasury Department, is to cut off revenues for the “Kremlin’s war machine” amid Putin’s “refusal to end this senseless war.”
President Trump confirmed the diplomatic freeze from the Oval Office. “We cancelled the meeting with President Putin,” he said. “It didn’t feel right to me. It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get.”
The move was hailed by European allies. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed she had spoken with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and praised the “clear signal” of transatlantic unity.
The EU is preparing its own 19th sanctions package, which will reportedly target Russian LNG, the “shadow fleet” of tankers, and banks facilitating sanctions evasion. The new US sanctions on Lukoil go further than the EU’s current measures.