President Donald Trump said European leaders will travel to the United States on Monday or Tuesday to discuss ways to end the war in Ukraine, and that he expects to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin "soon." Trump also indicated his administration was prepared to move to a second phase of sanctions on Moscow.
The announcement came as Russia carried out what Ukrainian officials described as the largest aerial assault of the war so far, firing at least 810 drones and 13 missiles at targets across Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities reported four people killed and said Russia struck Ukraine’s main government building in Kyiv for the first time.
Trump, speaking in an interview, said he was "not happy with the whole situation" and that "certain European leaders are coming over to our country on Monday or Tuesday individually." It was not immediately clear which leaders he had in mind. The intensified attacks follow increased diplomatic engagement between Trump and Putin, including a summit in Alaska last month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the prospect of tougher measures aimed at depriving Russia of revenue and urged European nations to stop buying Russian energy. Speaking to ABC News, Zelensky said it was "not fair" that partners continued to purchase Russian oil and gas and called for an end to energy imports and other deals with Russia. He also backed Trump’s suggestion of imposing secondary tariffs on countries that trade with Moscow, saying, "I think this is the right idea."
The proposed secondary tariffs are intended to dissuade third-party countries from buying Russian oil and gas by penalizing trade with those buyers. U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on NBC’s Meet the Press, said greater alignment from European partners on such measures would be needed to strain Russia’s economy. Bessent said that if the European Union increased sanctions and adopted secondary tariffs on buyers of Russian oil, "the Russian economy will be in total collapse, and that will bring President Putin to the table." He added that the situation was a race between how long the Ukrainian military can hold and how long the Russian economy can endure.
Since the full-scale invasion in March 2022, Russia has sold about $985 billion of oil and gas, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. China and India have been the largest purchasers. The European Union has sharply reduced, but not ended, purchases of Russian energy; Brussels outlined plans in June to cease all such purchases by 2027.
Some countries have faced U.S. pressure for continuing to buy Russian supplies. The cluster of recent measures and diplomatic moves includes a U.S. decision last month to impose tariffs of 50% on certain goods from India, a move linked by U.S. officials to concerns about New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil. India’s government has said it will seek the best deals to secure energy for its population. Russia, meanwhile, said at a meeting in Beijing last week that it would increase gas supplies to China. OPEC+ producers, including Russia, have also agreed to raise production, a step that tends to put downward pressure on global oil prices.
The developments underscore an intensifying international effort to increase economic pressure on Moscow while Kyiv and its partners contend with renewed and extensive Russian strikes. Details on the planned visits by European leaders and the scope and timing of any new U.S. sanctions remained unclear as officials prepared for talks in Washington.