How Washington Just Turned Up the Heat on Putin

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Caitlin McCabe (0:18)

The White House ramps up pressure on the Kremlin, as it imposes new sanctions on Russian oil giants, and lifts restrictions on Ukraine's use of some long-range missiles. Plus, Tesla's stock drops, as Elon Musk derails the earnings call for a chat about his pay package.

Elon Musk (0:37)

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Caitlin McCabe (0:49)

And President Trump tears down the entire East Wing of the White House. It's Thursday, October 23rd. I'm Caitlin McCabe for The Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM Edition of What's News. The top headlines and business stories moving your world today. Oil prices have surged after President Trump announced substantial sanctions on two Russian oil giants in what are the first direct US measures on Russia during Trump's second term. At the same time, we're exclusively reporting that the Trump administration has lifted a key restriction on Ukraine's use of some long-range missiles provided by Western allies, enabling attacks inside Russia. The moves come as the US aims to pressure Russia into a ceasefire in Ukraine, following stalled negotiations and a cancelled summit between Presidents Trump and Putin. Journal editor Laurence Norman has been poring over the sanctions announcement. Laurence, give us the details.

Laurence Norman (1:53)

So the Trump administration, for the first time since it took office in January, announced sanctions against Russia. They've targeted the two biggest Russian oil firms, Rosneft and Lukoil, with a pretty broad transactions ban, aiming to hit the energy sector, which produces a massive chunk of Russia's budget, which it uses to pay for the war. So this is really a milestone moment on the Trump administration's approach to the war.

Caitlin McCabe (2:26)

You said it's a milestone moment. Can you give us a bit more context of how big a deal this is? European allies have been wanting these extra sanctions for some time, right?

Laurence Norman (2:36)

Yeah, they wanted the US to go back into pressuring Russia in order to get an end to the war. Now, how hard will the US sanctions hit the Russian economy is unclear. A lot of that is going to be down to how determined Washington is to enforce these sanctions. It has sweeping enforcement powers, and it's the only country in the West really that is able to force foreign countries like China, like India, to comply with the sanctions it imposes. So it's going to be a massive enforcement question here.

Caitlin McCabe (3:12)

And how does this work in conjunction with the EU?

Laurence Norman (3:15)

Yeah, I think this is a really critical point. The EU approved this morning a big package, the 19th package of sanctions on Russia. It has some pretty weighty measures, including a phase out of European buying of Russian LNG product, which has been going up and up since the war began. So that's again, we're talking about a multi-billion dollar hit to the Russian economy. And there are various other measures. The crucial point is that the Europeans and the US are now working together again on sanctions, as they did during the Biden administration. That united front on sanctions can make the measures that are taken either by the US or by the UK or by the EU much more effective. So it's really important that they are aligned right now on sanctions. Obviously, the big question with the Trump administration is how long will that remain so?

Caitlin McCabe (4:07)

Laurence, at the same time, we're reporting that the US is allowing for Ukraine to use some long-range missiles for attacks inside Russia. We should note that Trump has said, quote, the US has nothing to do with those missiles wherever they may come from or what Ukraine does with them. Combined with the sanctions, what does this tell us about the US approach to end the war in Ukraine?

Laurence Norman (4:30)

The important point here is we seem to have, again, a joined up vision of how the war should end in terms of, you know, Ukraine should not be pressured into unilaterally giving territory to Russia in order to end the war. Now the US and the Europeans are both saying, let's end this war on the current contact line. And that could be, if it remains, that could be an important pressure point on Russia and its ability to continue the war.