WASHINGTON, Oct 25 (Reuters) – The United States has drawn up new sanctions targeting key sectors of Russia’s economy. Officials said the measures are ready to be used if President Vladimir Putin continues to delay ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Two U.S. officials told Reuters that Washington has also signaled support for European Union plans to use frozen Russian assets to fund weapons for Kyiv. American policymakers are holding early discussions on using Russian assets held in the U.S. for the same purpose.
Although no final decision has been made, the preparation of new measures shows the Trump administration’s willingness to escalate pressure. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Russia for the first time since returning to office in January.
Trump weighs next steps after limited progress with Putin
Trump has often cast himself as a global peacemaker. Yet he has acknowledged that ending Russia’s three-year war in Ukraine is proving harder than expected.
His August meeting with Putin in Alaska produced no results. Speaking to reporters in Doha on Saturday, Trump said he would not meet the Russian leader again unless a peace deal appeared likely. “I’m not going to be wasting my time,” he said.
European allies, meanwhile, want Trump to maintain pressure on Moscow. One senior U.S. official said he hoped Europe would take the next major step, possibly by imposing new tariffs or sanctions. Another source said Trump might pause for several weeks to gauge Moscow’s response to last Wednesday’s announcement.
Those sanctions targeted major oil firms Lukoil and Rosneft. The move drove global oil prices up by more than two dollars and pushed Chinese and Indian buyers to seek alternative supplies.
Trump said he plans to discuss China’s purchases of Russian oil with President Xi Jinping during their meeting on Thursday. “China is cutting back very substantially, and India is cutting back completely,” he told reporters.
Banking and oil sectors in US crosshairs
Sources familiar with the matter said the next wave of sanctions could hit Russia’s banking sector and oil-export infrastructure. Ukrainian officials have also shared proposals for tougher U.S. measures, including cutting all Russian banks from dollar-based transactions. It remains unclear whether Washington will adopt those ideas.
Several U.S. senators are again pushing a long-stalled bipartisan sanctions bill. A source said Trump is open to backing the legislation, though approval is unlikely this month.
The Treasury Department declined to comment.
Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, said Friday that he believes Russia, the United States, and Ukraine are close to a diplomatic solution.
Halyna Yusypiuk, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, welcomed the recent sanctions but offered no further remarks. “Dismantling Russia’s war machine is the most humane way to bring this war to an end,” she wrote in an email.
A week of shifts in US policy toward Ukraine
Trump’s decision to sanction Russia capped a week of dramatic changes in U.S. policy toward the Ukraine conflict.
He spoke with Putin early in the week and unexpectedly announced plans for a meeting in Budapest, catching Ukraine by surprise. A day later, Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Washington. According to U.S. officials, the administration urged Zelenskiy to accept a land-swap deal in the Donbas region to end the war, but he refused. Trump then decided that the conflict should be frozen at existing frontlines.
Days later, Russia sent a diplomatic note repeating its peace terms. Trump ultimately canceled the planned Budapest meeting, saying it “didn’t feel right.”
After arriving in Washington for talks, Dmitriev told CNN that the meeting had not been canceled outright and would likely happen later.
Two senior U.S. officials said Trump’s earlier enthusiasm for a Putin meeting was misplaced. After securing a ceasefire in Gaza, they said, Trump had overestimated his ability to replicate that success in Ukraine.
The president eventually decided to impose new sanctions during a Wednesday meeting with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to a White House official.
The report was originally published by Reuters.