President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary Basic Mark Rutte within the Oval Workplace of the White Home on Oct. 22, 2025, in Washington.
Alex Brandon/AP
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Alex Brandon/AP
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration introduced Wednesday new “large sanctions” towards Russia’s oil business which are aimed toward transferring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating desk and bringing an finish to Moscow’s brutal conflict on Ukraine.
The sanctions towards oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil adopted months of calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in addition to bipartisan strain on Trump to hit Russia with tougher sanctions on its oil business, the financial engine that has allowed Russia to proceed to execute the grinding battle even because it finds itself largely internationally remoted.
“Hopefully he’ll turn out to be affordable,” Trump mentioned of Putin not lengthy after the Treasury Division introduced the sanctions towards Russia’s two largest oil corporations and their subsidiaries. “And hopefully Zelenskyy will likely be affordable, too. You realize, it takes two to tango, as they are saying.”
The U.S. administration introduced the sanctions as NATO Secretary Basic Mark Rutte was in Washington for talks with Trump. The navy alliance has been coordinating deliveries of weapons to Ukraine, lots of them bought from the USA by Canada and European international locations.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent mentioned the brand new sanctions had been a direct response to Moscow’s refusal to finish its “mindless conflict” and an try to choke off “the Kremlin’s conflict machine.”
Bessent added that the Treasury Division was ready to take additional motion if essential to help Trump’s effort to finish the conflict. “We encourage our allies to hitch us in and cling to those sanctions.”
The announcement got here after Russian drones and missiles blasted websites throughout Ukraine, killing at the very least six individuals, together with a lady and her two younger daughters.
The assault got here in waves from Tuesday evening into Wednesday and focused at the very least eight Ukrainian cities, in addition to a village within the area of the capital, Kyiv, the place a strike set hearth to a home during which the mom and her 6-month-old and 12-year-old daughters had been staying, regional head Mykola Kalashnyk mentioned.
Not less than 29 individuals, together with 5 kids, had been wounded in Kyiv, which gave the impression to be the principle goal, authorities mentioned.
Russian drones additionally hit a kindergarten in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest metropolis, later Wednesday when kids had been within the constructing, Mayor Ihor Terekhov mentioned. One individual was killed and 6 had been damage, however no kids had been bodily harmed, he mentioned.
Rutte, in his Oval Workplace look, went out of his method to underscore that the weaponry the U.S. is promoting Europe to offer to Ukraine has been important to serving to cease many assaults just like the one which ravaged the kindergarten.
“We have to guarantee that the air protection techniques are in place, and we want the U.S. techniques to do this, and the Europeans are paying for that,” Rutte mentioned. “It’s precisely the kind of actions we wanted, and the President is doing that and attempting every little thing to get this work performed.”
Zelenskyy mentioned most of the kids had been in shock. He mentioned the assault focused 10 separate areas: Kyiv, Odesa, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Cherkasy and Sumy.
Peace efforts stall
Trump’s efforts to finish the conflict that began with Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor greater than three years in the past have failed to realize traction. Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration with Putin’s refusal to budge from his situations for a settlement after Ukraine supplied a ceasefire and direct peace talks.
Trump mentioned Tuesday that his plan for a swift assembly with Putin was on maintain as a result of he did not need it to be a “waste of time.” European leaders accused Putin of stalling.
In the meantime, in what gave the impression to be a public reminder of Russian atomic arsenals, Putin on Wednesday directed drills of the nation’s strategic nuclear forces.
Zelenskyy urged the European Union, the USA and the Group of Seven industrialized nations to pressure Russia to the negotiating desk. Strain will be utilized on Moscow “solely by means of sanctions, long-range (missile) capabilities and coordinated diplomacy amongst all our companions,” he mentioned.
Extra worldwide financial sanctions on Russia are prone to be mentioned Thursday at an EU summit in Brussels. On Friday, a gathering of the Coalition of the Prepared — a bunch of 35 international locations that help Ukraine — is to happen in London.
Zelenskyy credited Trump’s remarks that he was contemplating supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine for Putin’s willingness to fulfill. The American president later mentioned he was cautious of tapping into the U.S. provide of Tomahawks over issues about out there shares.
Russia has not made vital progress on the battlefield, the place a conflict of attrition has taken a excessive toll on Russian infantry and Ukraine is in need of manpower, navy analysts say. Each side have invested in long-range strike capabilities to hit rear areas.
On this picture supplied by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, rescuers evacuate kids after Russian drones hit a metropolis kindergarten throughout an assault in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025.
AP/Ukrainian Emergency Service
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AP/Ukrainian Emergency Service
Ukraine says it hit key Russian chemical plant
The Ukrainian military’s normal workers mentioned its forces struck a chemical plant Tuesday evening in Russia’s Bryansk area utilizing British-made air-launched Storm Shadow missiles. The plant is a vital a part of the Russian navy and industrial advanced, producing gunpowder, explosives, missile gas and ammunition, it mentioned.
Russian officers within the area confirmed an assault however didn’t point out the plant.
Ukraine additionally claimed in a single day strikes on the Saransk mechanical plant in Mordovia, Russia, which produces elements for ammunition and mines, and the Makhachkala oil refinery within the Dagestan republic of Russia.
The Russian Protection Ministry mentioned its air defenses downed 33 Ukrainian drones over a number of areas in a single day, together with the realm round St. Petersburg. Eight airports quickly suspended flights due to the assaults.
In different developments, Zelenskyy arrived Wednesday in Oslo, Norway, and after that flew to Stockholm, the place he and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson signed an settlement exploring the potential for Ukraine shopping for as much as 150 Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets over the subsequent decade or extra. Ukraine has already acquired American-made F-16s and French Mirages.
Trump says Russia is on the agenda for upcoming Xi talks
The U.S. president is anticipated to fulfill subsequent week with Chinese language President Xi Jinping when the 2 leaders journey to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation Summit.
Beijing has not supplied Russia with direct help within the conflict, however has surged gross sales to Russia of machine instruments, microelectronics and different know-how that Moscow in flip is utilizing to provide missiles, tanks, plane and different weaponry to be used in its conflict towards Ukraine, in keeping with a U.S. evaluation.
Trump has mentioned he believes the Russia-Ukraine conflict would finish if all NATO international locations stopped shopping for oil from Russia and positioned tariffs on China of fifty% to 100% for its purchases of Russian petroleum.
“I feel he might have a giant affect on Putin,” Trump mentioned of Xi Jinping.
Beijing has but to verify that Trump and Xi will meet.
