Sanctions regime EU must tighten grip without US assistance

European leaders - who have promised to impose "massive" new sanctions on Russia after Vladimir Putin's rejection of a ceasefire in Ukraine - face the prospect of having to introduce their planned expansion of economic restrictions on the Russian war economy without the US.

- Jennifer Rankin

European hopes that Donald Trump might increase the pressure on the Kremlin were dashed after the US president's two-hour inconclusive phone call with Putin on Monday. Trump did not follow through on previous threats to introduce "large-scale" sanctions on Russia if there was no ceasefire, but instead extolled the prospect of restarting trade with Moscow.

"Russia wants to do large-scale TRADE with the United States when this catastrophic 'bloodbath' is over, and I agree," Trump wrote on social media. Ukraine "can be a great beneficiary on Trade in the process of rebuilding its Country".

For Europe, the question is: what next? This week the EU approved its 17th round of sanctions against Russia, which had already been in the pipeline weeks before the latest ultimatums to Putin came and went. These were a more incremental set of measures than earlier rounds, as the EU finds it harder to agree new targets, with each sanction requiring unanimity and many big measures having already been agreed.

On Tuesday the EU added dozens of Russian business people and companies to its sanctions list, bringing the number of individuals and entities under asset freezes and travel bans to more than 2,400.