The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, the first time it has imposed direct costs on Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The move caps a week in which US President Donald Trump suggested he would provide new weapons to Ukraine, then backtracked, then said he would hold another summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, then backtracked again.
Here’s how we got here.
● October 16: Trump ponders out loud whether to give Ukraine the Tomahawk, a powerful long-range missile capable of hitting targets deep in Russia. The day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was scheduled to visit the White House to secure new weapons, Putin began a phone conversation with Trump. The US President then announced plans to hold a summit meeting with President Putin in Budapest.
●October 17: President Zelenskiy visits the White House for the third time this year. It wasn’t as bad as the first time, and it wasn’t as rosy as the second time. President Trump made it clear to Zelensky that he would not receive Tomahawk missiles. Sources told CNN the meeting was tense and “uncomfortable,” with Trump insisting that Ukraine concede territory to Russia to end the war. Mr. Zelenskiy answered, “No.” After the meeting, President Trump called on Russia and Ukraine to end the war along current fronts.
● October 18: European leaders are upset after President Trump appears to again lean towards Putin’s position on the war, pledging “unwavering commitment” to Ukraine. Preparations for the Trump-Putin summit in Budapest continued.
●Monday: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in preparation for the Budapest summit. Lavrov said he told Rubio that Russia’s position “has not changed” since the Alaska summit. Russia wants a peace deal that addresses the “root causes” of the war, not a ceasefire.
• Tuesday: CNN reports that President Trump’s hopes for a quick meeting with President Putin have stalled. One source said that during the phone call, Mr. Rubio and Mr. Lavrov had different expectations about how to end the Russia war. Later, the White House said there were “no plans” for Trump and Putin to meet “in the near future.” When asked why, Trump said he didn’t want the meeting to be a “waste of time.”
●Wednesday: Despite the White House shelving the Budapest summit, Moscow said preparations were underway. But the Kremlin’s hopes were dashed when the Trump administration announced sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the sanctions were aimed at “discrediting” Putin’s military spending and said the decision was taken because “President Putin refuses to end this senseless war.”
• Today: President Trump’s decision is a major coup for Ukraine and its European allies, which have spent months pleading with Washington to turn the screws on Russia’s economy. Zelensky praised President Trump’s decision, which came on the same day the European Union adopted its 19th round of sanctions against Russia. But the Kremlin has so far tried to ignore the impact of the new measures.
