As the attacks on Ukraine continue to intensify - on Saturday night Russia launched 810 drones and fired 13 missiles, damaging the seat of government and killing at least five people - Europeans and Americans are stepping up their cooperation to put pressure on Russia.
The European Union’s special envoy for sanctions, David O’Sullivan, was in Washington on Monday with a team of European experts to discuss new measures against Russia. The Europeans are preparing the 19th sanctions package. Consultations with the Member States are underway and the package could be presented at the end of the week.
“We are talking about what the EU and the United States can do together. And we are ready to step up the pressure on Russia”, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday, explaining that the United States was ready to step up the economic pressure if the Europeans did the same. He believes that if the Europeans were to increase sanctions and secondary customs duties on countries that buy Russian oil, “the Russian economy would totally collapse, which would lead President Putin to negotiate [...] We are currently in a race against time between the Ukrainian army’s ability to hold out and that of the Russian economy”, he added. On 5 September, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had a telephone conversation with the US Vice-President, JD Vance, on the subject of sanctions.
According to US President Donald Trump, European leaders were due to visit the United States “on Monday or Tuesday” to discuss the situation, without specifying which leaders he was referring to. Saying he was “unhappy with the situation as a whole”, Mr Trump said he was ready to move on to the second phase of sanctions, without giving any details.
On Monday, the European Commission made it clear that Ms von der Leyen would not be travelling to the United States, as she was concentrating on her State of the Union address on Wednesday.
The US President is also due to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin “shortly”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)