Trump vows to punish Putin, Russia after latest deadly assault on Ukraine
President Trump on Sunday declared he is ready to move ahead with a new round of sanctions against Russia after it pummeled Ukraine with its largest air strike since the war began.
Bessent declared U.S. readiness to bring Russia’s economy to “complete collapse”
Published:
7 Sep / 2025
19:09
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that the United States is prepared to work with European countries to impose additional sanctions aimed at driving the Russian economy into collapse.
He said this in an interview with NBC News.
Bessent noted that the United States is ready to increase pressure on
Russia, but it needs European partners to support these efforts.
- “We are now in a race between how long the Ukrainian army can hold out and how long the Russian economy can survive…
- And if the U.S. and the European Union can intervene, introduce more sanctions, and add further tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil, the Russian economy will face complete collapse, and this will force President Putin to come to the negotiating table,” Bessent said.
- Last month, the Trump administration imposed 50% tariffs on India, citing the country’s continued purchase of Russian oil amid the war in Ukraine.
Bessent’s comments came just hours after Russia carried out its
largest air attack of the war, launching a record number of drones and
missiles, which killed at least four people and damaged the government
building in Kyiv.
- His remarks also came a few weeks after President Donald Trump traveled to Alaska to meet with Putin for the first time in his second term.
- Since then, negotiations on a ceasefire or ending the war have stalled, while Russia continues its airstrikes against Ukraine.
On the eve of the attack, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that
participants of the “Coalition of the Resolute” summit in Paris, during a
conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump, discussed ways to end
Russian aggression and security guarantees for Ukraine.
Ukraine recorded hits involving 54 drones and nine missiles. More than 700 of the Russian drones were intercepted by Ukraine’s air forces, as were at least some of the missiles in the bombardment, which struck more than 30 locations around the country and wounded more than 40 people.
The attack, the largest by air since Russia invaded Ukraine in
February 2022, was a mockery of recent pushes for peace by Trump,..— and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
agreed.
- “Once again, the Kremlin is mocking diplomacy, trampling international law and killing indiscriminately,” von der Leyen wrote on X.
- “Europe stands, and will continue to stand, fully behind Ukraine.”
Svyrydenko added, “It’s a violation of when the European leaders and President Trump push and persuade Putin to sit and to have any negotiations.
“[Russians] are showing that they are not able — they don’t want to have any negotiation, they are not aimed to end this war.
With the Kremlin’s seeming unwillingness to end its war, the US and Europe need to apply more pressure on Moscow, particularly by halting the purchases of Russian oil and applying secondary sanctions on nations that do, the Ukrainian prime minister said.Zelensky said he had already spoken by phone with French President Emmanuel Macron.
- ““Together with France, we are preparing new measures to strengthen our defense,” the Ukrainian leader said.
British PM Keir Starmer meanwhile said in a statement,
- “These cowardly strikes show that Putin believes he can act with impunity.
- “He is not serious about peace. Now, more than ever, we must stand firm in our support for Ukraine and its sovereignty.”
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