The UK and Europe have announced major sanctions against Russia as it became clear that Monday’s call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin had failed to deliver any meaningful concessions from Moscow.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Tuesday accused Russia of “trying to buy time in order to continue its war and occupation” as Putin declined to support the US-proposed 30-day unconditional ceasefire already agreed to by Ukraine.
The UK said its sanctions would target dozens of entities “supporting Russia’s military machine, energy exports and information war, as well as financial institutions helping to fund Putin’s invasion of Ukraine”.
“Putin has so far not put in place the full, unconditional ceasefire that President Trump has called for, and which President Zelenskyy endorsed over two months ago,” the Foreign Office said.
Shortly afterwards the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the EU had approved sanctions targeting Russia’s shadow fleet of about 200 vessels and that more sanctions were in the pipeline. “The longer Russia wages war, the tougher our response,” she said.
Western countries imposed an embargo on Russia’s oil industry after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine and banned services for ships transporting Russian crude. In response, Moscow began relying on a so-called shadow fleet - tankers with murky ownership and often without proper insurance - to continue exports
Zelenskyy on Tuesday welcomed the EU sanctions. “It is important to severely restrict the Russian tanker fleet, which serves to finance killings, as well as all schemes that Russia uses to build up its military industry,” he wrote on his social media channels.
Zelenskyy also said Ukraine had no doubt the war “must end at the negotiating table” but added that there must be clear and realistic proposals on the table and called for more pressure on Russia.
“We are working with partners to put pressure on the Russians to behave differently. Sanctions matter, and I am grateful to everyone who makes them more tangible for the perpetrators of the war,” he said.
Trump had indicated on Monday following his call with Putin that the US was not ready to join European sanctions efforts.
Responding to the new sanctions, Russia’s foreign ministry accused Europe of trying to prevent the resumption of direct dialogue, adding: “Russia never responds to ultimatums.”
The announcement of the new sanctions underlined the failure of Trump’s attempted mediation in the war, as it became clear in Kyiv and other European capitals that Trump had in effect accepted Putin’s defiance of calls for an immediate ceasefire.
Instead, Trump placed the onus on Kyiv and Moscow to negotiate between themselves, perhaps under the auspices of papal mediation. Trump was at pains on Monday to emphasise the “excellent” call he had with Putin, suggesting that talks between the two sides would begin “immediately”, but it quickly became clear that he had backed away from any demand that Russia declare an immediate ceasefire.
Describing future talks, Trump said: “The conditions will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of.”
Trump’s comments appeared to reflect a waning enthusiasm for engagement with attempts to end the war in Ukraine, after comments from the White House that he was “weary and frustrated”, and he again threatened that he was “just going to back away” after the call with Putin. Trump appeared to again defer to Moscow by backing Putin’s call for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.
According to a report on the Axios website, European leaders – including the leaders of Germany, France, Italy, Finland and the European Commission – who joined a subsequent call with Zelenskyy were “surprised” by Trump’s depiction of his conversation with Putin. It reported that according to its sources “Trump seemed relatively content with what he heard from Putin, and presented it as a new development, even though the Russian leader did not seem to have changed his position at all.”
Russia has continued to insist both before and after the call that agreements on its long-held and maximalist demands are a precondition for a possible temporary ceasefire.
That was underlined by the remarks of the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, that there was “no timeline” for preparing a memorandum for future talks. “It’s clear that everyone wants to do this as quickly as possible, but of course the devil is in the details,” he told reporters after the call.
On Tuesday, Russia appeared to put up yet another hurdle, saying that having suggested working on a memorandum to end the war it was up to Ukraine to cooperate with the peace accord Moscow was proposing.
At a press briefing on Monday night, Zelenskyy confirmed reports from last week’s inconclusive talks in Istanbul between the two sides that Russia was demanding that Ukraine withdraw its forces from five regions, including territory not occupied by Russia.
“It’s our land, we won’t withdraw our troops from our territory … it means that they don’t want peace … if they demand what they know we won’t agree to,” Zelenskyy said.
The inconclusive outcome of the call underlined growing concern among senior officials in Kyiv that the US has been consistently out-gamed by Putin with his clear vision of his objectives, not least since Trump took office.
Trump’s failure to put pressure on Putin has confirmed the fears of officials in Kyiv that Trump is more interested in future business deals with Russia than using US influence to secure a quick ceasefire.
With the US at best semi-detached, Ukraine is focusing its efforts on persuading Europe to match its rhetoric against Moscow with more sanctions and military aid.
