Why Trump was right to increase sanctions on Russia

William Cash | 26th October 2025 | Diplomacy, International, Politics, Washington
ChatGPT Image Oct 26, 2025, 09_09_39 AM

President Trump’s new oil sanctions on Russia mark a sharp turn in US policy toward the war in Ukraine.

President Trump has made another Ukraine U-turn by ordering new oil sanctions against Russia after Putin walked away from a second meeting with the American president in Hungary, designed to end the Ukrainian war on the back of Trump’s success in brokering peace in Gaza. The sanctions are designed to inflict economic pain. The two oil companies affected – Rosneft and Lukoil – provide almost half of Russia’s oil production. Between them, they produce and export more than three million barrels of Russian crude oil daily. After achieving a historic peace in Gaza, it was inevitable that international attention would return to the war in Ukraine. In April, former prime minister Boris Johnson censured the US president, saying that he feared the Ukrainians could expect little or nothing from a US-brokered peace deal. Yet just six months later, in September, Donald Trump performed a remarkable U-turn on Ukraine, saying that the country could win the war and even take more territory. Now, in la...

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