US imposes additional 25% tariff on India for importing Russian oil – Europe live | Europe

As we await more updates from Moscow or Washington, let’s briefly go back to Warsaw for my first full report on Karol Nawrocki’s inauguration as the new Polish president.

In the last few minutes, he has been formally taking over the role of the military commander in chief.

Addressing soldiers in Warsaw, he said his ambition is to grow the Polish army to “at least 300,000” from around 210,000 now, making it the largest Nato army in Europe.

Meanwhile, US media outlet Axios is reporting that Trump is expected to speak with Zelenskyy later today, discussing the next steps after Witkoff’s meeting with Putin in Moscow.

One to watch.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he visited Ukrainian troops near the frontline in Sumy region, talking to commanders about the situation on the ground.

“There were reports on the liberation of Andriyivka and Kindrativka in the Sumy region, Russian attempts at counterattacks, our next steps to liberate Ukrainian land,” he said.

He added they “talked in detail about the needs, the level of support in general, the training of recruits and instructors.”

Zelenskyy also thanked the soldiers for their service, awarding some of them with state medals.

Oh.

While we haven’t heard from any US officials on the Kremlin meeting just yet, the White House has just announced an additional 25% tariff on India for “directly or indirectly importing Russian … oil.”

The tariff was introduced through a presidential executive order signed, with today’s date, by US president Donald Trump.

The order, posted on the White House’s website, says that:

“I have received additional information from various senior officials on, among other things, the actions of the Government of the Russian Federation with respect to the situation in Ukraine.

After considering this additional information, among other things, I find that the national emergency described in Executive Order 14066 continues and that the actions and policies of the Government of the Russian Federation continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”

Concluding, it said:

“To deal with the national emergency described in Executive Order 14066, I determine that it is necessary and appropriate to impose an additional ad valorem duty on imports of articles of India, which is directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil.”

The Russian rouble and markets held their breath as they awaited the outcome of Putin’s talks with Witkoff, Reuters noted.

“The market is awaiting the outcome of the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Steve Witkoff,” T-Bank’s analysts said.

Many analysts believe that the rouble is overvalued and awaiting a trigger to weaken.

“In the coming days, the currency market will be waiting for news from the visit of the US president’s special representative and clarification of the situation regarding possible US sanctions,” said PSB Bank’s Evgeny Loktykhov.

US envoy Steve Witkoff meets Putin as Trump’s Ukraine deadline approaches

Shaun Walker

in Kyiv

Russian news agencies said the talks between the US special envoy and the Russian president ended after about three hours, and Witkoff’s convoy was seen leaving the Kremlin. There was no immediate statement from either side on how the talks had gone.

The visit is Witkoff’s fifth trip to Moscow in his capacity as Trump’s lead negotiator with the Kremlin, and comes as Trump has begun to talk tough on Russia for the first time since taking over the presidency.

Trump cut short an earlier 50-day deadline to Putin, claiming he saw no desire in the Kremlin to change its behaviour and calling recent strikes that killed civilians in Kyiv “disgusting”. He has now promised to introduce secondary tariffs on countries that import Russian oil if no progress is made by Friday.

After Trump made the threat of further sanctions, the former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev claimed the harsh rhetoric could lead to a direct conflict between Russia and the US. In response, Trump ordered two nuclear submarines to be repositioned.

Putin has given little indication that he is ready to make concessions or willing to adjust Russia’s core war aims. However, reports by Bloomberg and the independent Russian news outlet the Bell have suggested that the Kremlin could propose a halt to long-range strikes by both sides as an offering to Trump.

Both Trump and Kyiv have been calling for a full and unconditional ceasefire, to allow negotiations to begin, but a halt to long-range strikes could offer welcome breathing space to both sides.

In the first briefing from the Russian side, the former Russian ambassador to the US and Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters the talks were “useful and constructive.”

He said Russia “received some signals from Trump” and “sent some signals” in response, but did not elaborate on what they were.

He said Putin and Witkoff also discussed the prospects for the development of the “strategic partnership” between the US and Russia.

After just under three hours, Russian news agency Ria is reporting that the meeting between Vladimir Putin and US envoy Steve Witkoff has now concluded.

Let’s wait to see what, if anything, we hear in briefing from both sides of the conversation.

In other events that happened just before the talks between Witkoff and Putin, a man accused of passing Russian satellite secrets to the United States has been arrested for suspected treason and placed in pre-trial detention, a court in the Russian city of Kaliningrad said on Wednesday.

Reuters said the suspect was only identified by a single letter, with the court saying he was a former employee of a company producing electronic engines for space satellites.

It said he was suspected of collecting and storing information about the firm’s technology on behalf of US intelligence services between July 2021 and December 2023.

The agency noted that the man could face a potential sentence of life imprisonment.

Hours before the meeting, Russia has struck a gas facility in Ukraine’s Odesa region, with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying it was an attempt to undermine Ukrainian preparations for winter, Reuters reported.

“This was a deliberate blow to our preparations for the heating season, absolutely cynical, like every Russian blow to the energy sector,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram.

Ukraine has faced a serious gas shortage since a series of devastating Russian missile strikes this year, which significantly reduced domestic gas production.

The Russian defence ministry confirmed the attacks on gas transportation facilities in Ukraine, the Tass state news agency reported.