The United States is weighing up sweeping new sanctions against Vladimir Putin as the Russian leader continued his “despicable” missile and drone assaults on Ukrainian civilians overnight.
Russia’s latest wave of death and devastation saw mass drone strikes targeting the Kyiv region and multiple other areas across the country.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared that “all options are on the table” after Putin defied Trump following their summit last month on US soil in Alaska.
The Kremlin dictator “has done the opposite of following through on what he indicated he wanted to do”, Bessent stated on Fox News, accusing Putin of deceiving Trump.
“As a matter of fact, he has in a despicable – despicable – manner increased the bombing campaign so I think with President Trump all options are on the table.
“And I think we’ll be examining those very closely this week.”
In the most appalling attack, two-year-old Angelina was amongst four youngsters murdered in a slaughter in Kyiv which resulted in 23 fatalities.
The unrelenting bombardment of Ukraine since the Alaska meeting suggests that Putin has zero intention of complying with Trump’s demand to meet Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and secure a peace agreement – yet until now the US president has not retaliated by implementing harsh sanctions.
Bessent’s remarks may suggest this could alter, as Russia overnight deployed 150 additional military drones to Ukraine.
Ukrainian sources were today highlighting a scheduled Trump announcement today, though the subject has not been revealed. A man has tragically lost his life and several others have been injured in a devastating Russian drone strike on Bila Tserkva, Kyiv region, which sparked major fires.
In the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, two residents, including a 62-year-old man, were killed in brutal Russian airstrikes.
The past day has seen a staggering 578 Russian attacks on 18 settlements.
In the border city of Sumy, people, including a child, were wounded when Russia targeted a shopping complex.
Russia also launched another attack on the Ukrainian port Izmail in the Odesa region.
In defiance of Trump’s peace efforts, Putin’s commander in chief Valery Gerasimov displayed a map showing Odesa and Mykolaiv regions as part of Russia, despite the Kremlin currently having no control over either.
This map seems to reveal Moscow’s ambition to continue its invasion of Ukraine despite international pressure to end the conflict.
In the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, which serves as the command post for Putin’s invasion, three adults and a child were injured after Kremlin forces shot down Ukrainian drones which hit two tower blocks.
Explosions echoed across the city as air defences repelled at least 13 Ukrainian drones, according to reports.
Fires broke out at the high-rise residential blocks where hundreds of residents were evacuated.
Meanwhile, Putin continued to make his presence felt on the world stage at an anti-NATO security conference in China.
He signed an agreement to supply cheap gas through the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline to China via Mongolia, highlighting Putin’s reliance on economic powerhouse Xi Jinping.
In Russia, the prosecutor-general’s office has labelled Britain’s Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies as “undesirable”.
However, Putin’s economy is in a state of turmoil.
Nearly one-third of Russian companies reported losses in the first half of 2025 – the highest level since the pandemic began.
