By Yurii Stasiuk
July 18, 2025
Ukraine’s allies now want “crushing” U.S. measures to cripple Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
They got there in the end.
The EU will lower the price cap on Russian oil and impose additional sanctions on Moscow after Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico dropped his opposition to the latest package.
“The EU just approved one of its strongest sanctions package against Russia to date,” the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas wrote Friday morning on X.
The approved measures restrict Russian banks’ access to transactions, target 105 “shadow fleet” ships used to evade sanctions and ban any transactions related to the Nord Stream pipelines.
Most significantly, diplomats also approved a dynamic price cap on Russian oil set 15 percent below the average market price of Russian crude, effectively lowering the cap from $60 per barrel, to about $47.6.
“This decision is essential and timely, especially now, as a response to the fact that Russia has intensified the brutality of the strikes on our cities and villages,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The latest package of Russia sanctions, the 18th for the EU since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, was proposed a month ago but stalled by Slovakia, which demanded Brussels drop its separate plan to phase out Russian gas to lift the veto.
After weeks of negotiations and mounting public pressure on Bratislava, Fico signaled Thursday evening that he would drop his veto in exchange for obtaining written guarantees from the Commission this week to mitigate potential energy price spikes and shortages — but the gas phase-out plan appears to proceed.
“The EU paved the way. Now it’s time for perfect storm — the U.S. Senate to vote on that Russia sanctions bill imposing crushing burdens on Russian economy and those fueling Russia’s war of aggression,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys wrote on X.
U.S. President Donald Trump recently indicated that he is ready to sign a Russia sanctions bill imposing tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil and uranium — but he then provided the Kremlin with a 50-day ultimatum to end its war on Ukraine.
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