The US has announced new sanctions targeting Russia’s two largest oil companies – Rosneft and Lukoil – in an effort to pressure Moscow to negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine.”I just felt it was time. We waited a long time,” Trump said in the Oval Office, after a meeting with Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte to discuss peace negotiations. The announcement came one day after US President Donald Trump said a meeting planned with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest would be shelved indefinitely.Earlier Wednesday, Russia unleashed an intense bombardment on Ukraine that killed at least seven people, including children. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the new sanctions were needed due to “Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war”. He said these oil companies fund the Kremlin’s “war machine”. “Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” Bessent said in a statement, adding that his office will “take further action if necessary to support President Trump’s effort to end yet another war”. Speaking alongside Rutte in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump said he hoped that the sanctions would help force a breakthrough.He called the sanctions package “tremendous”, and added that he hoped they could be swiftly withdrawn if Russia agrees to stop the war. He also criticised Putin for not being serious about making peace. “Every time I speak to Vladimir, I have good conversations And then they don’t go anywhere. They just don’t go anywhere,” he said.Rutte also praised the move, saying it was “putting more pressure” on Putin.”You have to put pressure, and that is just what he did today,” Rutte aid.The move comes one week after the UK slapped a similar sanctions package on Rosneft and Lukoil.”There is no place for Russian oil on global markets and we will take whatever actions are necessar …
