President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo)

The United States announced new sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies – Rosneft and Lukoil in an effort to pressure Moscow to agree to an immediate ceasefire in its war with Ukraine as Russia conducted major training exercises involving nuclear arms.

During a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte to discuss peace negotiations at the Oval Office on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said, “I just felt it was time. We waited a long time.” The US president had signalled for weeks that he could impose penalties on Russia for its failure to end the war with Ukraine but couldn’t take the punitive measures until Wednesday.

The new sanctions on

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