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For the first time since returning to the White House, US President Donald Trump has imposed sanctions on Russia, citing a lack of progress in talks to end Moscow’s conflict with Ukraine. The 19th Russian sanctions package was approved by European Union leaders the same day.

Due to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “refusal to end this senseless war” in Ukraine and Moscow’s “lack of serious commitment” to the peace process, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted that the sanctions would affect Russia’s two biggest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft.

Bessent said in a statement on Wednesday that today’s actions “increase pressure on Russia’s energy sector and degrade the Kremlin’s ability to generate revenue for its war machine and support its weakened economy.”

He urged his allies to join us in implementing these sanctions and do so in person.

The Department of the Treasury’s actions block the designated companies’ US assets while preventing Americans from conducting business with them, as well as the sanctions against dozens of Rosneft and Lukoil subsidiaries. Chinese and Indian oil buyers, who were not included in the US sanctions, were not.

Trump said on Wednesday that he would be concerned about Xi Jinping’s meeting with Trump at the 2025 APEC summit in South Korea the following week.

In addition, the US Treasury Department stated that it was ready to take additional steps if Russia continues to host Ukraine for more than three years.

Russia hasn’t yet responded to US measures in the media.

Russia “no place in global markets.”

Rosneft, a Russian company controlled by the Kremlin, is second in terms of revenue behind only Gazprom, but it has been severely impacted by sanctions and declining oil prices in recent years. Its net income for the first half of 2025 decreased by 68 percent year over year as of September.

Russia’s third-largest business, Lukoil, and its largest non-state company, reported a 26.5 percent decline in profits for 2024, citing increased taxation as a result of Moscow’s funding of the country’s war effort in Ukraine.

The United Kingdom put its own sanctions on both businesses in place last week, saying that Russia had no place in global markets and that it would cooperate with Moscow to stop it from funding its conflict in Ukraine.

A quick ceasefire and a stop to the killing are now necessary. The Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies, which finance the Kremlin’s war machine, because President Putin refuses to end this pointless conflict. Treasury is ready to take additional steps if necessary… https://t.co/tbJTyf8x2V

The sanctions come as Trump’s patience with President Putin appears to be waning, with ceasefire talks still dragging along.

Trump claimed to have been unable to attend his scheduled meeting with Putin in Hungary after announcing that he had put off attending on Wednesday.

Trump remarked, “We called off our meeting with President Putin because it just didn’t feel right.” It didn’t seem like we were going to arrive where we needed to be. Therefore, he said, “but we’ll do it in the future.”

The US leader expressed growing frustration with the stalled truce negotiations, but he said he hoped the sanctions wouldn’t need to be in place for a while.

“Every time I speak with Vladimir, we have fruitful exchanges, and then they don’t leave.” They simply don’t leave, he said.

EU raises the temperature.

Washington’s sanctions were made public the day after the EU announced that it had approved its 19th package of sanctions against Moscow for its war against Ukraine, including a ban on Russian imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the EU.

The Danish rotating presidency of the EU announced in a statement that “we are very pleased to announce that the remaining member state has just been notified that it can now lift its reservation on the 19th sanctions package.”

After the EU reached a final text last week, Slovakia had been reluctanced. Robert Fico, the prime minister, was requesting confirmation from the European Commission regarding rising energy costs and acclimatization-related goals.

A Slovak diplomat told the Reuters news agency that new requirements were added to the final communiqué on the new package of sanctions ahead of the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Short-term LNG contracts with Russia will expire after six months, and long-term contracts will expire on January 1, 2027, according to the new package.

Russian diplomats are also subject to new travel restrictions as a result of the sanctions, which add 117 more vessels from Moscow’s shadow fleet of spies who evade sanctions, totaling 558 plus banks in Kazakhstan and Belarus.

The package was praised by Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who also praised the arrangement.

“Package no. He stated on Telegram that “20 is already in the works.”

Gustavo Petro, the president of Colombia, and Donald Trump have engaged in a new verbal exchange. Petro threatened legal action against Trump in US courts after the Colombian leader called his counterpart a “thug” who is “making a lot of drugs.”

On Wednesday, Trump told reporters at the White House that he was suspending all military aid to Colombia because of its alleged involvement in the international narcotics trade and that Petro Petro was instructed to “watch it.” This increased tension between Washington and Bogota.

Trump remarked, “He’s a thug, he’s a bad guy, and he’s seriously hurting his country.”

Colombia, they are doing very poorly. Cocaine is produced there. He better watch them, or we’ll launch very serious legal action against him and his country, according to the US president.

Trump continued, “His country has become a deathtrap.”

Petro took to social media to declare that he would file legal action for Trump’s defamatory remarks in response to the threat from the US president.

I will defend myself judicially with American lawyers in the American justice system, Petro wrote on X.

He continued, “I will always oppose genocides and murders committed by those in the Caribbean,” adding that American society will be able to assist Colombians when it is necessary.

Petro continued, “We will work with the states that want our assistance to combat the drug traffickers.”

Trump threatened to raise tariffs on Colombian exports over the weekend by branding Petro a “drug trafficking leader.”

Petro reacted by accusing the US president of acting incoherently in Latin America and breaking international trade agreements. Additionally, Trump has also recalled Nicolas Maduro, Colombia’s president, as a drug trafficker, and said Colombian troops would not support a potential US military intervention in neighboring Venezuela.

What Colombian would support an invasion of a family home only to have them murdered, as happened in Gaza? said Petro.

At risk of harming the US and Colombia alliance

Trump’s most recent remarks were “unacceptable,” according to Colombia’s ambassador to the US, Daniel Garcia Pena, who was recalled from Bogota to speak to the AFP news agency.

According to Pena, “under no circumstances can one defend those kinds of accusations and threats that have no basis whatsoever,” warning that the 200-year relationship between Colombia and the US was in danger.

Following the US administration’s announcement in September to decertify Colombia’s efforts to combat drug trafficking, Trump and Petro are engaged in a growing verbal exchange.

Trump’s threats to Venezuela’s President Maduro and a growing US military presence in the Caribbean, including attacks on ships the US claims are involved in drug smuggling, are also brought on by this, without any supporting evidence.

For the first time in the region, US forces struck a vessel in international waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people, according to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier on Wednesday.

Without providing any supporting proof, Hegseth claimed the victims were “narco-terrorists.”

34 people have been killed so far in the US military’s eighth recent attack on alleged drug traffickers on the high seas, including seven boats and one semi-submersible, according to US figures.

Although some of the vessels were destroyed off Venezuela’s coast, at least one of the vessels came from Trinidad and Tobago, and another from Colombia, their families told AFP.

According to international law experts, the Trump administration’s systematic killings of people in international waters are unlawful. They still have the right to a fair trial, even if it is revealed that those killed were drug traffickers.

Although Colombia is the top producer of cocaine worldwide, successive governments in Bogota have long worked with the US to reduce the country’s cocaine production, which is largely regulated by well-funded cartels, armed paramilitary groups, and rebels.

Petro claimed that during his time in office, 17, 000 cocaine factories in Colombia had been destroyed in a later post on social media on Wednesday.

Le dit that in my country, there are 17.000 cocaina destructidas. https://t.co/0KQclu7mC6

In a last push to win over voters before the November 4 election, frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, former governor Andrew Cuomo, and Republican Curtis Sliwa squared off on Wednesday in the final debate of the mayoral race in New York City.

However, their attacks on one another and their defenses were mostly along predictable lines, as their precedents, including that of Israel’s and President Donald Trump’s war against Gaza, predominated in their clash at LaGuardia Community College in Queens.

After claiming a surprise victory in the June primary on a platform of affordability, Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, maintains a sizable lead in the polls, partially offset by higher taxes that favor the wealthy.

Cuomo has repeatedly criticised Mamdani’s promises, most of which would require the approval of state lawmakers, and has repeatedly criticized the 34-year-old Democratic Socialist for having no prior experience in government. Since Eric Adams, the current mayor, left, only Mamdani, Cuomo, and Sliva remain in the race, which has narrowed.

What were the key lessons learned from the discussion?

Future versus experience

Cuomo and Mamdani drew attention to the themes that had shaped the race’s final stretch as the night rolled around.

Cuomo referred to himself as the “can get it done, not just talk about it.”

He has never managed or run anything. He compared Mamdani to saying that he has never had a real job.

Mamdani described himself as the “sole candidate running with a vision for the city’s future.”

He is a “desperate man” who has been criticizing Cuomo because he is aware that his one true love, power, is now slipping away.

Sliwa later addressed both of his rivals in a critical tone, saying, “Zohran, your resume could fit on a cocktail napkin, and Andrew, your failures could fill a New York City public school library.”

Trump’s opposition

The New York City mayoral race has had a significant impact on the US president. Immigration agents descended on Manhattan’s Chinatown on Tuesday, escalating federal enforcement efforts in the nation’s largest city, and the debate broke out hours later.

If Mamdani is elected, Trump has pledged to use the National Guard and reduce federal funding for the city. Trump and Cuomo have a lot of the same donors, but they both have a reputation for making threats that hurt the city from a win.

Trump has said that he will take over New York if Mamdani wins because he doesn’t value him. Trump [thinks he’s a kid, and he’s going to knock Mamma on his tuchus,” Cuomo said.

Trump’s dream is for him to win over Mamdani because he will use him politically throughout our nation and take over New York City, he said. Make no mistake, both the mayor and the president will be in charge.

Cuomo was Mamdani’s version of Donald Trump.

Donald Trump said, “He wants Andrew Cuomo to be mayor, not because it will be good for New Yorkers, but because it will be good for him,” and that “any day of the week you can hear him tell you that.”

Palestine’s support once more is significant.

Mamdani was once more questioned about his unwavering support for Palestinian rights, which Cuomo repeatedly and blatantly denounced as anti-Semitic.

Mamdani claimed that he would be the mayor of New York City who celebrates and values Jewish people more than just protecting them. He claimed that Cuomo was “scoreing political points” by making false anti-Semitism claims.

Cuomo claimed that he was “ignoring the hatred against Jews.”

Sliwa falsely accused Mamdani of supporting “global jihad.”

I responded, “It is not something I have said, and it continues to be attributed to me,” and “quite frankly, I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I am the first Muslim candidate to be on the verge of winning this election.”

Mamdani announces the selection of a police commissioner

In addition, the leading candidate made a statement during the debate, saying he would ask Jessica Tisch, the current police commissioner, to keep her post if elected.

Some of Mamdani’s supporters may find that to be unfavorable because they believe the police chief, who is currently Mayor Adams, is out of step with the promised police reforms.

Tisch, whose wealthy family is worth billions, has advocated for more “quality of life” enforcement, which according to critics disproportionately harms minority communities. She has also pushed for stricter enforcement of some criminal laws.

Cuomo was questioned about sexual assault.

Cuomo’s opponents repeatedly questioned him about allegations of sexual misconduct from his staff, which led him to resign as governor of New York in early 2021.

Later, state attorney general investigation revealed that Cuomo had “sexually harassed a number of New York State employees, both current and former.”

Cuomo claims that the cases have been settled “legally,” but litigation persists in some cases.

Mamdani made the revelation that Charlotte Bennett, who Cuomo is currently suing for defamation, was one of the accusers during the discussion.

What do you tell the 13 women who you sexually harmed? Cuomo asked him.