Storm Shadow Controversy Swirls as US Targets Russian Oil

The Trump administration is battling a “FAKE NEWS!” controversy over missiles in Ukraine while simultaneously launching its most significant economic attack on Russia to date, sanctioning oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil.
President Trump took to social media to vehemently deny a story that the US had approved Ukraine’s use of British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles deep inside Russia. “The U.S. has nothing to do with those missiles, wherever they may come from, or what Ukraine does with them,” he posted.
As the missile story swirled, the Treasury Department announced it was sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the move was a response to Putin’s “refusal to end this senseless war.”
The sanctions are the first of the new Trump administration and mark a significant hardening of policy, following the cancellation of a planned Trump-Putin summit. Trump said he scrapped the meeting because “it didn’t feel right to me.”
The US move, which targets both state-owned Rosneft and privately-owned Lukoil, goes further than the EU’s current measures. However, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praised the US action and confirmed the EU’s 19th sanctions package is “imminent.”