US President Donald Trump is becoming increasingly frustrated with Vladimir Putin and is privately portraying the Russian leader as a bigger obstacle to ending the war in Ukraine than President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The reported shift comes as Washington weighs new economic tools against Moscow’s war finances and as Russia intensifies long-range attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, pushing Kyiv into a renewed emergency during one of the coldest spells of the winter.
In Washington, a bipartisan bill designed to target countries doing business with Russia is moving closer to a vote. Senator Lindsey Graham said on 7 January that Trump had “greenlit” legislation that would impose sanctions on countries buying Russian energy exports and could be put to a vote as early as next week. Earlier descriptions of the proposal reported tariffs of up to 500 per cent on imports from countries that purchase Russian oil, gas or uranium.
The central political question is how far the administration would be prepared to apply these measures in practice. Graham has cited China, India and Brazil as possible targets, while congressional leaders previously delayed the bill, with Trump favouring a more selective use of tariffs.
Separately, the United States seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker, the Marinera, in the Atlantic near Iceland after a pursuit lasting more than two weeks, in an operation linked to Washington’s campaign to block exports of sanctioned Venezuelan oil. US officials said the vessel had been renamed and re-registered under the Russian flag; US European Command said it was seized for violating US sanctions, and the US Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, said the blockade of illicit Venezuelan oil remained in effect worldwide.
The operation was unusual in that US officials said a Russian submarine was in the general vicinity, though there was no direct confrontation. Moscow’s transport ministry said it lost contact with the tanker after US forces boarded it. Two Russian crew members were later released at Russia’s request, according to a statement from the Russian foreign ministry carried by Reuters.
On the battlefield, the immediate backdrop to the diplomatic and economic pressure is a sharp escalation in attacks on infrastructure. Russia said it fired an “Oreshnik” intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile at Ukraine on 9 January, claiming it was retaliation for an alleged Ukrainian attempt to attack one of Putin’s residences in late December, an allegation Kyiv has denied. Ukrainian officials reported that an infrastructure target in the Lviv region was hit, with local leaders saying investigators were determining the weapon used. Reuters has described the Oreshnik as a nuclear-capable intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile that Russia has used only twice in the conflict.
Since then, the humanitarian consequences have dominated the Ukrainian capital. On 11 January more than 1,000 apartment buildings in Kyiv remained without heating after a major Russian strike, even as authorities restored water supplies and partially restored electricity and heat. Zelenskyy said Russia had launched 1,100 drones, more than 890 guided aerial bombs and over 50 missiles over the past week. Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said 44 attacks on energy facilities and critical infrastructure were recorded in one week and that significant improvements in Kyiv could take time, with progress potentially by Thursday.
Ukrainian officials are working to stabilise a damaged power grid while residents cope with freezing conditions. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, confirmed that the UN Security Council would hold an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the latest large-scale attacks, and a UN spokesman said the strikes had caused civilian casualties and deprived millions of essential services including electricity, heating and water.
Kyiv has also carried out strikes inside Russia. Ukrainian drones reportedly hit an oil depot in Russia’s Volgograd region and caused damage in the southern city of Voronezh during an overnight attack, while Moscow says it continues to strike Ukrainian energy facilities.
Taken together, the picture is of a US administration sharpening its set of options while Russia sustains pressure through winter attacks.
