US Sanctions Russia's 2 Biggest Oil Companies

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced new sanctions Wednesday against Russia's two biggest oil companies and blasted Moscow's refusal to end its "senseless war" as US-led efforts to end the war floundered and the Ukrainian president sought more foreign military help. The sanctions against Rosneft and Lukoil, as well as dozens of subsidiaries, followed months of bipartisan pressure on President Trump to hit Russia with harder penalties on its oil industry, the AP reports.

• "Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire," Bessent said in a statement. "Given President Putin's refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia's two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin's war machine."

• Bessent said the Treasury Department was prepared to take further action if necessary to support Trump's effort to end the war. "We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions."
• Bessent made the comments as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was in Washington for talks with Trump. The military alliance has been coordinating deliveries of weapons to Ukraine, many of them purchased from the US by Canada and European countries.
• Trump described the sanctions as "tremendous" and explained why the Budapest summit with Putin was called off. "We canceled the meeting with President Putin," Trump said Wednesday, per the Guardian. "It didn't feel right to me. It didn't feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get. So I canceled it. But we'll do it in the future." Asked about a remark from Bessent that Putin had not been honest in his dealings with Trump, the president said: In terms of honesty, the only thing that I can say is, every time I speak with Vladimir, I have good conversations and then they don't go anywhere, they just don't go anywhere."
• The announcement came after Russian drones and missiles blasted sites across Ukraine, killing at least six people, including a woman and her two young daughters. Russia fired 405 strike and decoy drones and 28 missiles, mainly targeting Kyiv, Ukraine's air force said.
• More international economic sanctions on Russia are likely to be discussed Thursday at an EU summit in Brussels. On Friday, a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing—a group of 35 countries that support Ukraine—is to take place in London.