The European Union and Britain announced new sanctions against Russia on Tuesday without waiting for the United States to join them, a day after President Donald Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin without winning a promise for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
London and Brussels said their new measures would zero in on Moscow’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers and financial companies that have helped it avoid the impact of other sanctions imposed over the war.
“Sanctions matter, and I am grateful to everyone who makes them more tangible for the perpetrators of the war,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
But the new measures were unveiled without an immediate announcement of corresponding steps from Washington, despite intense public lobbying from leaders of European countries for the Trump administration to join them.
“We have repeatedly made it clear that we expect one thing from Russia — an immediate ceasefire without preconditions,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on the sidelines of a meeting with his EU counterparts in Brussels.
As Russia had not accepted a ceasefire, “we will have to react,” he said. “We also expect our US allies not to tolerate this.”
Russia and Ukraine held their first direct talks in more than three years on Friday at Trump’s behest, but failed to agree on a truce after Moscow presented conditions that a member of the Ukrainian delegation called “non-starters”.
Ukraine says it is ready for an immediate ceasefire proposed by Trump, while Russia says it wants talks first. The Europeans say this is proof that Putin, who started the war by invading his neighbour in 2022, is not prepared to end it.
“Putin is clearly playing for time, unfortunately, we have to say Putin is not really interested in peace,” Germany’s Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said.
‘Ball in Kyiv’s court’
Reacting to the new sanctions, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that Russia would never bow to what she called ultimatums.
Putin, after his call with Trump, said that Moscow was ready to work with Ukraine on a memorandum about a future peace accord.
