The US is preparing new sanctions to pressure Russia over the ongoing war in Ukraine

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has prepared additional sanctions it could use to target key sectors of the Russian economy if President Vladimir Putin continues to delay ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine, according to a U.S. official and another person familiar with the matter.

U.S. officials have also told their European counterparts they support the EU using frozen Russian assets to buy U.S. weapons for Kiev, and Washington has held nascent domestic talks about leveraging Russian assets located in the U.S. to support Ukraine’s war effort, two U.S. officials said.

While it’s unclear whether Washington will actually make any of these moves in the near future, it shows there is a well-developed toolbox within the administration to further up the ante after Trump imposed sanctions on Russia on Wednesday for the first time since he returned to office in January.

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Trump has positioned himself as a global peacemaker but has admitted that trying to end Russia’s more than three-year war in neighboring Ukraine has proved more difficult than he expected.

European allies — battered by Trump’s swings between accommodation and anger at Putin — hope he will keep up the pressure on Moscow and are also considering major actions of their own.

A senior US official told Reuters he would like to see European allies make Russia’s next big move, which could be additional sanctions or tariffs. A separate source with knowledge of internal administration dynamics said Trump is likely to hold off for a few weeks and gauge Russia’s reaction to Wednesday’s sanctions announcement.

These sanctions targeted oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft. The moves boosted oil prices by more than $2 and prompted major Chinese and Indian buyers of Russian crude to seek alternatives.

Banking sector, oil infrastructure

Some of the additional sanctions the U.S. has prepared target Russia’s banking sector and the infrastructure used to get oil to market, a U.S. official and another person familiar with the matter said.

Last week, Ukrainian officials asked the US for new sanctions activities, a source with knowledge of those talks said. Among the specific ideas proposed were measures to cut all Russian banks off the dollar-based system with their U.S. counterparts, two sources said. It is unclear, however, how seriously Ukraine’s specific requests are being considered.

The US Senate is also making moves, with some lawmakers renewing the push to pass a long-delayed bipartisan sanctions bill.

The person familiar with internal administration dynamics said Trump is open to approving the package. The source warned, however, that such approval 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, said Friday he believes his country, the United States and Ukraine are close to a diplomatic solution to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Halyna Yusypiuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, said the recent sanctions decision was appreciated but did not comment otherwise.

“Dismantling Russia’s war machine is the most humane way to end this war,” Yusypiuk wrote in an email.

A whip week

Trump’s decision to hit Russia with sanctions capped a tumultuous week over the administration’s Ukraine policy.

Trump spoke with Putin last week and then announced the pair planned to meet in Budapest, seizing Ukraine.

A day later Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington, where US officials pressed Zelensky to give up territory in the Donbass region as part of a two-way land swap to end the war. Zelensky pushed back and Trump left the meeting with the position that the conflict must be frozen at its front line.

Then last weekend Russia sent a diplomatic note to Washington reiterating earlier peace terms. A few days later, Trump told reporters that the planned meeting with Putin had been called off because “it just didn’t feel right.”

Speaking to CNN on Friday after arriving in Washington for talks with US officials, Dmitriev said the meeting between Trump and Putin had not been called off, as the US president described it, and that the two leaders would likely meet later.

Two US officials have argued privately that, in retrospect, Trump’s failed plan to meet with Putin was likely the fruit of irrational exuberance. After sealing a truce in Gaza, these officials said, Trump overestimated the extent to which he could use the momentum from one diplomatic success to broker another.

Trump finally decided to impose sanctions on Russia during a meeting Wednesday with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessett and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a senior White House official said.

US pressure on Europe

Behind the scenes, Ukraine received an apparent boost from the US after the US approval process to provide targeting data for long-range Ukrainian strikes to Russia was transferred to the US European Command in Germany – seen by US and European officials as more aggressive towards Russia – from the Pentagon in Washington, according to a US and European official.

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But Trump said he was not yet ready to provide Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles, which Kiev has requested.

The US is also putting pressure on Europe to further tighten the economic screws on Moscow. In announcing the US sanctions, Bessent pushed the EU to follow suit. In general, US officials have criticized EU and NATO countries for not taking more decisive steps to stand up to Russia.

But it will be more difficult for the EU to unleash full sanctions on Lukoil than for the US, a senior EU official argued, given how deeply entangled Lukoil is with Europe’s economy. The oil company has refineries in Bulgaria and Romania and has a strong network of retail stations across the continent.

“I think we have to find a way to disengage … before we can fully impose sanctions,” the EU official said.
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