KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Kyiv’s European allies slapped new sanctions Tuesday on Moscow, a day after a phone call between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to produce a breakthrough on ending the 3-year-old war in Ukraine.
“We have made clear again and again that we simply expect one thing from Russia now: namely, a ceasefire, unconditional and immediate,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said in addressing the sanctions. “We welcome the fact that Ukraine is still prepared to do this. We note with disappointment that Russia has not yet taken this decisive step, and we will have to react to this.”
Diplomatic efforts have seen little progress in halting the fighting, including Monday’s phone call between Trump and Putin, and Friday’s direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul. In the phone call, Putin promised Trump that Russia is “ready to work with” Ukraine on a “memorandum” outlining the framework for “a possible future peace treaty.”
“It appears that Putin has devised a way to offer Trump an interim, tangible outcome from Washington’s peace efforts without making any real concessions,” said Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, in a post on X.
Russian media struck a triumphal tone in reporting Putin’s conversation with Trump.
Ukrainian leader seeks pressure on Moscow
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel that “it is obvious that Russia is trying to buy time to continue the war and occupation. We are working with partners to put pressure on the Russians to behave differently.”
The new European Union sanctions targeted almost 200 ships from Russia’s “shadow fleet” illicitly transporting oil to skirt Western restrictions It also imposed asset freezes and travel bans on several officials as well as on a number of Russian companies.
Ukrainian officials have said about 500 aging ships of uncertain ownership and safety practices are dodging sanctions and keeping oil revenues flowing to Moscow.
The U.K. also targeted the shadow fleet with 100 new sanctions and also aimed at disrupting the supply chains of Russian weapons, officials said.
“Putin’s latest strikes once again show his true colors as a warmonger,” British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said.
But Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Tuesday: “Russia never responds to ultimatums.”
No new sanctions on Russia from Trump
Trump has threatened to step up sanctions and tariffs on Russia but hasn’t acted so far.
Ukraine has offered a comprehensive 30-day ceasefire, which Moscow has effectively rejected by imposing far-reaching conditions, and Zelenskyy proposed a face-to-face meeting with Putin last week but the Russian leader spurned that offer.
Trump, who had pledged during his campaign to end the war in one day, said his personal intervention was needed to push peace efforts forward. He held separate phone calls with both Putin and Zelenskyy, and said the two countries would “immediately” begin ceasefire negotiations, but there were no details on when or where such talks might take place.
“The status quo has not changed,” Mykhailo Podoliak, a senior adviser to Zelenskyy, wrote on the social platform X on Tuesday.
Russia launched 108 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said. One drone dropped explosives on a passenger bus in the Dniprovskyi district of the Kherson region, injuring two people, the local administration said.
