EU joins U.S. in heaping extra sanctions on Russia to push Vladimir Putin into Ukraine peace talks

The European Union (EU) on Thursday (October 23, 2025) heaped extra financial sanctions on Russia, including to U.S. President Donald Trump’s new punitive measures the day before today in opposition to the Russian oil trade.

It is a broadened effort to choke off the income that funds Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and to drive President Vladimir Putin to barter an finish to the conflict.

The steps are a triumph for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has lengthy campaigned for the worldwide group to punish Russia extra comprehensively for attacking his nation.

Ukraine and E.U. leaders accuse Putin of stalling and reject land concessions for peace

“We waited for this. God bless, it should work. And this is essential,” the Ukrainian chief mentioned in Brussels, the place EU international locations attending a summit introduced the most recent spherical of Russia sanctions.

Despite U.S.-led peace efforts in latest months, the conflict exhibits no signal of ending after greater than three years of preventing, and European leaders are more and more involved concerning the menace from Russia.

Ukrainian forces have largely held Russia’s larger Army at bay in a sluggish and ruinous conflict of attrition alongside a roughly 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) entrance line that snakes alongside japanese and southern Ukraine. Almost every day Russian long-range strikes have taken purpose at Ukraine’s energy grid forward of the bitter winter, whereas Ukrainian forces have focused Russian oil refineries and manufacturing crops.

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Energy income is the linchpin of Russia’s economic system, permitting Mr. Putin to pour cash into the armed forces with out worsening inflation for on a regular basis folks and avoiding a forex collapse.

The EU measures goal Russian oil and gasoline, the Russian shadow fleet of lots of of getting older tankers which might be dodging sanctions, and Russia’s monetary sector. Also, a brand new system for limiting the motion of Russian diplomats throughout the 27-nation EU will likely be launched.

Mr. Zelenskyy urged extra nations to punish Russia. “This is an effective sign to different international locations on the planet to hitch the sanctions,” he advised reporters in Brussels. Senior officers in Europe and the United States have debated for months over how finest to crank up strain on the Kremlin.

Russia says it takes two extra Ukrainian villages, struck vitality targets in a single day

The new EU measures took nearly a month to resolve. The 27-nation bloc has already slapped 18 packages of sanctions in opposition to Russia over the conflict, however getting remaining settlement on whom and what to focus on can take weeks. Moscow has additionally proved adept at sidestepping sanctions.

The U.S. sanctions in opposition to Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil got here after Mr. Trump mentioned his plan for a swift assembly with Mr. Putin was on maintain as a result of he didn’t need it to be a “waste of time,” within the newest twist in Trump’s hot-and-cold efforts to finish the conflict as Mr. Putin refuses to budge from his calls for.

In what seemed to be a public reminder of Russian atomic arsenals, Mr. Putin on Wednesday (October 23, 2025) directed drills of the nation’s strategic nuclear forces.