“The Europeans don’t get to prolong this war and backdoor unreasonable expectations, while also expecting America<\/a> to bear the cost,” a senior White House official told Axios. <\/p>\n “If Europe<\/a> wants to escalate this war, that will be up to them. But they will be hopelessly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.”<\/p>\n Trump<\/a> is also considering whether to step back from diplomatic efforts until one or both sides demonstrates greater flexibility, a White House official told Axios.<\/p>\n “We are going to sit back and watch. Let them fight<\/a> it out for a while and see what happens,” the official said.<\/p>\n While U.S. officials reportedly “sit back and watch,” Moscow has unrelented in its attacks on Ukraine. Just two days prior, Russia launched a large-scale aerial strike on Ukrainian cities on Aug. 28. Twenty-five people<\/a>, including four children, were killed in Kyiv.<\/p>\n The Trump administration has increasingly taken a “both sides”<\/a> approach in its rhetoric regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Most recently, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt drew a comparison between Russia’s attacks on civilians with Ukraine’s strikes on legitimate military targets.<\/p>\n Despite months of U.S.-led diplomatic efforts, Trump has not taken any concrete steps to pressure<\/a> Moscow to stop fighting, while his administration paused<\/a> military aid and intelligence sharing to Ukraine at various points. Trump himself publicly criticized<\/a> President Volodymyr Zelensky but welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to American shores, rolling out the red carpet for him in Anchorage, Alaska<\/a> just earlier this month.<\/p>\n The White House has also asked the U.S. Treasury Department to prepare a list of sanctions that Europe could impose on Russia, Axios reported. The list includes a total ban on Russian oil and gas purchases and EU tariffs on India and China, similar to those already levied by the U.S.<\/p>\n The European Union is already preparing more sanctions<\/a> against Russia, however, and has imposed 18 sanctions packages<\/a> since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.<\/p>\n The Trump administration, on the other hand, has yet to impose sanctions on Russia and even temporarily lifted sanctions<\/a> to facilitate the Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska on Aug. 15. <\/p>\n