The President of the United States, Donald Trump, criticized yesterday, Wednesday, the fact that his talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to end the war in Ukraine have yielded no results. “Every time I talk to Vladimir, our conversations are constructive, but then they don’t lead anywhere,” the Republican president told reporters during his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House.
Trump also added that Chinese President Xi Jinping could exert “significant influence” on Putin to help end the war in Ukraine, a statement he made one week before his scheduled meeting with Xi in South Korea. “I believe he has the ability to substantially influence Putin,” Trump emphasized, repeating his statement to reporters in the Oval Office during his meeting with Mark Rutte. “I think he can have influence,” he insisted, adding “we will definitely talk about Russia and Ukraine” with Mr. Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea.
BREAKING NEWS:
Trump confirms his meeting with Putin has been cancelled. pic.twitter.com/EhUeXLUSFo
— World War 3 (@warlocation) October 22, 2025
He added that he wants a bilateral trade agreement with the Chinese president and that he will raise concerns about Beijing’s purchase of Russian oil. “I think we’ll close a deal,” he predicted, also saying he wants China to resume buying soybeans from the US, against the backdrop of his threats of prohibitive tariffs on Chinese products.
Mr. Trump also assured that he considers a nuclear weapons agreement likely, explaining that the Russian president proposes de-escalation in the field of nuclear armaments and that China could be added to such a framework, although Beijing has repeatedly ruled out any such possibility.
US imposes sanctions on Russian energy giants Rosneft and Lukoil
Meanwhile, the US Treasury Department announced yesterday, Wednesday, sanctions on Russian energy giants Rosneft and Lukoil, accusing Moscow of “lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine.” “Given President Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, the Treasury Department is imposing sanctions on the two largest (Russian) oil companies, which finance the Kremlin’s war machine,” Scott Bessent emphasized in the announcement released by his services.
The US Treasury Secretary added that Washington is prepared to “take further action if necessary” and added that “we urge our allies to join us and adopt these sanctions.”
.@POTUS: “These are tremendous sanctions. These are very big against their two big oil companies — and we hope that they won’t be on for long. We hope that the war will be settled.” https://t.co/6vbswraYmV pic.twitter.com/FONI7ECFAw
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 22, 2025
Shortly after, Donald Trump himself stated that he “hopes” the sanctions against two major Russian oil companies will be short-lived and will contribute to ending the war in Ukraine.
Speaking of “tremendous” sanctions, the US president said “we hope they won’t last too long. We hope the war will end,” as he welcomed NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to the Oval Office of the White House.
