The Kremlin on Monday dismissed Western sanctions as having "no effect" after President Donald Trump warned he was prepared to impose additional measures on Russia following recent strikes on Ukrainian targets.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian journalist Alexander Yunashev in an interview shared on Telegram that sanctions are part of an agenda driven by Kyiv and European countries aimed at drawing Washington into their orbit. The comments came after weekend strikes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said hit residential buildings in Kyiv and government headquarters.
U.S. officials and Western leaders responded to the strikes with warnings of consequences. U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg said in response to the latest attacks that "Russia appears to be escalating," and added that "the attack was not a signal that Russia wants to diplomatically end this war." Zelensky said the killings were "a deliberate crime and a prolongation of the war," and reiterated that sanctions would follow any refusal by Moscow to negotiate.
Trump dialed into a multilateral "Coalition of the Willing" call in Paris on Thursday, which brought together representatives from more than 30 countries to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine. A White House official and participants said Trump urged the European Union to stop purchasing Russian oil, arguing it was funding the war, and said European leaders should put economic pressure on China for financial support to Russia.
French President Emmanuel Macron, a co-chair of the Paris meeting, said 26 leaders committed to contributing soldiers to serve as a "reassurance force" in Ukraine should the conflict reach an end. Trump has told U.S. media he would not deploy American troops on the ground in Ukraine if a cease-fire were reached, offering instead to provide assistance from the air. Asked about assurances that no U.S. personnel would be placed on the ground, Trump told Fox News in August, "You have my assurance, and I'm President," while praising U.S. aerial capabilities.
Zelensky publicly thanked Trump after the Paris discussions, praising what he described as the U.S. president's efforts to help end the war and America's readiness to support Ukraine.
The renewed threats of sanctions and the Kremlin's dismissal of their impact come against the backdrop of a largely unproductive meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in August. That summit ended earlier than expected with no deal reached; critics said Putin emerged having secured diplomatic advantages following the brief encounter.
Peskov framed sanctions as a policy pushed by Kyiv and European governments and defended Moscow's stance as resistant to external economic pressure. He reiterated that sanctions imposed by Western countries did not alter Russia's policies or objectives, echoing longstanding Kremlin messaging that Western punitive measures have failed to change Moscow's course.
The sequence of events — the Paris security discussions, the weekend strikes in Kyiv, and public threats of additional U.S. penalties — underscores continued international concern over the conflict in Ukraine and the diplomatic complexity of responding to renewed military escalation while seeking a path toward negotiations.