Trump says he is not worried about impact of Russian sanctions on oil prices
Donald Trump has said he was not worried about the potential impact of Russian sanctions on the oil market or prices, vowing to boost domestic oil production to offset any impact.
“I don’t know if it’s going to affect Russia, because (Russian president Vladimir Putin) wants to, obviously, probably keep the war going,” Mr Trump said, speaking aboard Air Force One yesterday.
“But we’re going to put on tariffs and the various things that you put on.”
The US president, who has in the past spoken about having a good relationship with Mr Putin, has grown increasingly frustrated with Moscow’s refusal to agree to a ceasefire. The fresh deadline suggests Mr Trump is prepared to move forward on his threat of sanctions, after previously hesitating on doing so.
Speaking in Scotland on Monday, he threatened sanctions on both Russia and buyers of its exports – also known as secondary sanctions – unless progress is made.
Alexander Butler30 July 2025 08:00
Putin ally tells Lindsey Graham to ‘Work on America’ in response to peace talk demands
Alexander Butler30 July 2025 07:21
Putin’s aide pushes back against Trump’s ultimatum: ‘Russia isn’t Israel’
The Kremlin has pushed back on the latest warning from the US with a top Russian official warning Donald Trump against “playing the ultimatum game with Russia.”
“Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran,” former president Dmitry Medvedev, who is deputy head of the country’s Security Council, wrote on social platform X.
“Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country,” Mr Medvedev said.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour, the Kremlin has warned Kyiv’s Western backers that their involvement could end up broadening the war to Nato countries.
A US-based think tank has said the Kremlin is “uninterested in negotiations to end the war and is instead trying to protract the war in Ukraine in order to make additional gains on the battlefield”.
“Kremlin officials decisively rejected US president Donald Trump’s new deadline for Russia to negotiate an end to its war against Ukraine and reiterated Moscow’s interest in continuing the war,” the Institute for the Study of War said last night.
Russia’s former leader and deputy chairman of the country’s security council Dmitry Medvedev meets with staff members during his visit to the military-industrial corporation NPO Mashinostroyenia in Reutov outside Moscow (Sputnik)
Arpan Rai30 July 2025 07:09
Ukraine captures Russia-occupied island in Black Sea in ‘daring landing’
Ukrainian special forces have captured a Russia-occupied island in the Black Sea near Kherson oblast and inflicted heavy damage to Russian personnel and weapons, officials in Kyiv said last night.
The special forces carried out a combat operation on the Tendra Spit, an island off the coast of the occupied area of Kherson oblast, said Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR).
“On the night of 28 July, reconnaissance troops landed on the Tendra Spit and eliminated the position of the occupying forces along with personnel,” HUR said in a Telegram post.
Situated on the occupied mainland of Kherson oblast, Tendra Spit is a shoal a narrow island in the northern Black Sea.
HUR said the operation was a “daring landing” and confirmed no losses for the Ukrainian special forces. The forces also flew a Ukrainian flag over the island.
Among the damages inflicted, Ukrainian forces destroyed a Russian “Zont” electronic warfare complex and “Rosa” radar station, the HUR said. Russian personnel losses – deaths and injuries – are not immediately clear.
HUR described the operation as a “daring landing” and said Ukraine sustained no losses during the raid. The Ukrainian flag was flown over the island.
Arpan Rai30 July 2025 06:44
What has Trump said about 10-day warning to Putin?
Speaking alongside prime minister Sir Keir Starmer on the steps of his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, US president Donald Trump complained that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had too often talked a good game about wanting to reach a ceasefire in the conflict only to resume bombing civilian targets in short order.
“We thought we had that settled numerous times. And then president Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv, and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever. You have bodies lying all over the street. And I say that’s not the way to do it,” Mr Trump said.
“I’m very disappointed. I’m disappointed in president Putin. Very disappointed in him. So we’re going to have to look, and I’m going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number.”
During a separate media availability alongside Sir Keir at the top of a bilateral meeting, Mr Trump told reporters that the new deadline would be “about 10 or 12 days from today.”
Arpan Rai30 July 2025 06:18
Nasa chief to hold talks with Russian counterpart
The interim head of Nasa says he is looking to find common ground with Russia on space issues when he meets his counterpart later this week.
Russian news agencies reported earlier this week that US transportation secretary Sean Duffy was set to hold talks with the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Bakanov, for the first in-person meeting at the agencies’ heads level since 2018.
“We have wild disagreement with the Russians on Ukraine,” Duffy said, noting that the US has a partnership with Russia on the International Space Station.
“We’re going to continue to build alliances and partnerships and friendships as humanity continues to advance in space exploration.”
International Space Station crew members Nasa astronaut Jonny Kim (middle) and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov (bottom) and Alexey Zubritskiy (top) board the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, in April this year (EPA)
Jane Dalton30 July 2025 06:00
Trump says he is not worried about impact of Russian sanctions on oil prices
Donald Trump has said he was not worried about the potential impact of Russian sanctions on the oil market or prices, vowing to boost domestic oil production to offset any impact.
“I don’t know if it’s going to affect Russia, because (Russian president Vladimir Putin) wants to, obviously, probably keep the war going,” Mr Trump said, speaking aboard Air Force One yesterday.
“But we’re going to put on tariffs and the various things that you put on.”
The US president, who has in the past spoken about having a good relationship with Mr Putin, has grown increasingly frustrated with Moscow’s refusal to agree to a ceasefire. The fresh deadline suggests Mr Trump is prepared to move forward on his threat of sanctions, after previously hesitating on doing so.
Speaking in Scotland on Monday, he threatened sanctions on both Russia and buyers of its exports – also known as secondary sanctions – unless progress is made.
Arpan Rai30 July 2025 05:46
Russia kills 21 civilians in Ukraine
Russian glide bombs and missiles struck a Ukrainian prison and a medical facility overnight, killing at least 21 people, officials said yesterday, as Russia kept up its bombardment of civilian areas despite US president Donald Trump’s threat to soon punish Russia with sanctions and tariffs unless it stops.
A Russian airstrike on a prison in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region killed at least 17 inmates and wounded more than 80 others, officials said.
In the Dnipro region, authorities reported at least four people were killed and eight injured.
Arpan Rai30 July 2025 05:30
Putin ally tells Lindsey Graham to ‘Work on America’ in response to peace talk demands
Arpan Rai30 July 2025 05:00
Bessent warns China on Russian oil purchases that could bring 100 per cent tariffs
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent warned Chinese officials that continued purchases of sanctioned Russian oil would lead to big tariffs due to legislation in Congress.
Wrapping up two days of US-China trade talks in Stockholm, Mr Bessent said he also expressed US displeasure at China’s continued purchases of sanctioned Iranian oil, and its sales of over $15bn worth of dual-use technology goods to Russia that have bolstered Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
Mr Bessent said legislation in the US Congress authorising Mr Trump to levy tariffs up to 500 per cent on countries that purchase sanctioned Russian oil would draw US allies into taking similar steps to cut off Russia’s energy revenues.
Mr Trump on Monday shortened a deadline for Moscow to make progress toward a Ukraine war peace deal or see its oil customers slapped with secondary tariffs of 100 per cent in 10 to 12 days, reflecting his growing frustration with Russia’s actions.
“So I think anyone who buys sanctioned Russian oil should be ready for this,” Mr Bessent told a news conference.
Arpan Rai30 July 2025 04:45