The United Kingdom, alongside the European Union, on Tuesday took direct action against Russia with sweeping sanctions after President Donald Trump’s talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to advance ceasefire negotiations.
Western leaders have warned that Putin is merely buying time by claiming to be open to negotiations, but in actuality refusing to stop not his invasion of Ukraine, but targeted strikes on civilians.
The U.K. unveiled 100 new sanctions targeting “Russian military, energy, financial sectors and those conducting Putin’s information war against Ukraine.”
TRUMP SAYS RUSSIA, UKRAINE TO START CEASEFIRE NEGOTIATIONS AFTER PUTIN CALL
“People in Ukraine and across the world have paid the price for Putin’s aggression and now he must pay the price for avoiding peace,” the foreign office said in a statement.
The sanctions, which also increasingly target Russia’s “shadow fleet” that illegally transports Russian oil and the “fleet’s enablers,” came just prior to a similar announcement by the EU.
Chief diplomat for the EU, Kaja Kallas, announced that the bloc had approved its 17th sanctions package against Russia and targeted nearly 200 “shadow fleet” ships.
“More sanctions on Russia are in the works,” she said in a post on X. “The longer Russia wages war, the tougher our response.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who called on nations to hit Russia harder with sanctions on Tuesday following the Trump-Putin call, accused the Kremlin chief of “trying to buy time in order to continue its war and occupation.”
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In the lead up to the call, leaders from the U.K., France, Germany and Italy said Putin must agree to the “unconditional ceasefire” proposed by the U.S. and already agreed to by Ukraine — an agreement Trump was supposed to push Putin on, but which was not mentioned by either world leader following their two-hour conversation.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was pressed by members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday on whether the president will back a sanctions proposal led by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-SC., and Richard Blumenthal D-Conn., and backed by 50 others in the upper chamber. A bipartisan companion package has been introduced in the House as well.
“If, in fact, [it] is clear that the Russians are not interested in the peace deal, and they just want to keep fighting a war — it may very well come to that point,” Rubio said, pointing to Trump’s previous sanction threats that have yet to materialize. “He believes that right now, if you start threatening sanctions, the Russians will stop talking. And there’s value in us being able to talk to them and drive them to get to the table.”
Trump, who following the call said he believes Putin does want a ceasefire, has yet to give a timeframe on how long he is willing to wait to see if Russia ever seriously engages with Ukraine in peace negotiations.
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