U.S. President Donald Trump believes that the Russian authorities are deliberately “slow-rolling comprehensive ceasefire talks,” according to Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, who cited a source familiar with the talks.
The source told her that Trump is “frustrated” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to Heinrich, the White House is considering “aggressive sanctions enforcement” targeting Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” — tankers used to export oil in defiance of Western restrictions.
“I’m told sanctions enforcement is currently low — informally measured at about a ‘level 3 out of 10,’” she wrote. “[I]nterdictions of Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ carrying illicit oil through the Baltic Sea would be an easy target for pressure.”
At a briefing on April 1, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump is “frustrated” with both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “He wants this war to end. There are men that are dying on both sides, and it’s been going on for far too long. Our team continues to be engaged with the Russians, as we are with the Ukrainians,” she said.