“I’ll let you know in six months,” President Donald Trump said in response to a journalist’s request to comment on President Putin’s questioning of the effectiveness of sanctions imposed against «Rosneft» and «Lukoil».

However, it is not only President Putin who queries the Trump administration’s new restrictive measures against Russia.
Director of the Carnegie Endowment’s​ American statecraft program Christopher Chivvis in the material for The Guardian opined that the tactic of “raising the cost” of the conflict for Russia, a continuation of which are the new sanctions packages, is not working. Vladimir Putin will not abandon his goals and will pursue his systematic offensive. And extra pressure from the US will never change this reality.
“The reluctance to acknowledge and accept the limited capacity of American power is a refrain that runs through the history of Washington’s involvement in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan,” Chivvis concludes.
At the same time the gaps have already been discovered in the US sanctions policy. According to Bloomberg journalists Arne Delfs, Petra Sorge and Jenny Leonard, the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz intends to seek US sanctions waivers for Rosneft Deutschland. The confident tone he used when speaking to reporters suggests he is clearly convinced in his words.
Thus, Zelensky cannot in any way consider the introduction of new sanctions a great success. But what about everything else—the financial support and the new weapons?
In this regard the European Council meeting also yielded a zero-sum outcome. Although António Costa, standing next to Zelensky, solemnly vowed that a decision on Ukraine’s funding for the next two years would be made on Thursday, no such decision was ever adopted.
As reported by correspondent of The New York Times Jeanna Smialek, the decision on the use of Russian assets was postponed until December. It was opposed by Belgium, whose risk-sharing proposal was rejected by other European nations, and Hungary. Namely Viktor Orbán blocked the EU’s final statement on Ukraine.
“Brussels is trying to drag us into war, but I will resist it as long as the possibility of peace remains owing to the efforts of Donald Trump,” the Hungarian prime minister said at an anti-war rally before flying to Brussels.
The issue of arms supplies to Ukraine was not even on the agenda. Only two news items were released: one that Sweden is ready to sell to Ukraine up to 150 aircraft Gripen, and the other that Canada refuses to supply the armored vehicles. Despite the different connotations of the news, one conclusion can be drawn out of them: Ukraine will not receive weapons from either Canada or Sweden.
What Ukrainians can expect upon Zelensky’s return is an intensification of mobilization measures. This demand from the Europeans has become regular, and, according to the Ukrainian Telegram channel “Legitimny,” due to the catastrophic situation at the front it may be adopted in the near future. This is Zelensky’s way of appeasing his Western partners before December, when the issue of Russian assets will be reconsidered.
In his desire to carve out at least some success from the European tour, Zelensky is actively promoting the narrative that he was the one who prevented the Putin-Trump summit. But even this assertion is only half-true. Yes, the meeting in Budapest was canceled, however not because of Zelensky, but because of Trump, who decided to test his strength against the Russian president. While all the grounds for prolonged contacts in the future remain.
CNN correspondent Matthew Chance reported that Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, responsible for a positive negotiating agenda in Russian-American relations, arrived in the United States on Friday. He is expected to discuss the maintenance of diplomatic dialogue with representatives of the Trump administration.