Published On 23/10/2025
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Last update: 02:55 (Mecca time)
Western countries continued to impose sanctions on Russia over its war with Ukraine, while US President Donald Trump announced the cancellation of his planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The US Treasury Department announced the imposition of sanctions on the Russian oil sector, including several companies, while Trump said during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House that he hopes that the sanctions imposed on two Russian oil companies will push President Putin to become more rational.
In parallel with these sanctions, Rutte revealed that Europe is buying American weapons and delivering them to Ukraine, describing this as an important matter for the war efforts and an attempt to support Ukraine in this battle.
But the NATO Secretary-General also said that they want to end this fighting, and that his talks with Trump focused on that and what can be done to ensure that Putin accepts a halt to the war.
Putin’s war machine
For his part, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced – on Wednesday evening – that his country had imposed sanctions on “the two largest Russian oil companies that finance Putin’s war machine.”
Starmer added that he is happy that the United States has joined the campaign to impose major sanctions on Russian oil companies.
In turn, the Danish presidency of the European Union said – on Wednesday – that the EU countries agreed to the 19th package of sanctions on Russia due to its war on Ukraine, which includes imposing a ban on imports of Russian liquefied natural gas.
“We are pleased to announce that we have just been notified by the remaining member state that it has now dropped its reservations regarding the 19 sanctions package,” she added.
Slovakia was the last country to have reservations about this package after the European Union countries agreed to the final text last week. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Vičo requested guarantees from the European Commission regarding rising energy prices and aligning climate goals with the needs of automakers and heavy industries.
Counting on China
Regarding the meeting that was expected between Putin and Trump, the latter confirmed the cancellation of the meeting, saying: “I did not feel that the time was appropriate, and I did not feel that we would reach the result that we wanted, so I decided to cancel it, but we will hold it in the future.”
At the same time, Trump said that his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping – whom he will meet next week in South Korea – could have “significant influence” on Russian President Vladimir Putin to reach a settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.
He added, “I believe he can have a great influence, and we will certainly discuss the issue of Russia and Ukraine” at the meeting scheduled on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea.