Putin deplores US sanctions as 'unfriendly' while EU joins in heaping restrictions on Russia

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Thursday heaped more economic sanctions on Russia, adding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s new punitive measures the previous day against the Russian oil industry. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Washington's move an “unfriendly act” that could backfire by spiking global oil prices.

The American and European sanctions are intended as part of a broadened effort to choke off the revenue and supplies that fuel Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, compelling Putin to negotiate an end to the war.

Speaking to reporters in Moscow, Putin acknowledged that the “serious” U.S. sanctions will have “certain consequences” for Russia, but maintained that they will not significantly impact its economy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has long campaigned for the international community to punish Russia more comprehensively for attacking his country, hailed the new restrictions.

“We waited for this. God bless, it will work. And this is very important,” Zelenskyy said in Brussels, where EU countries attending a summit announced the latest round of Russia sanctions.

Despite U.S.-led peace efforts in recent months, the war shows no sign of ending after nearly four years, and European leaders are increasingly concerned about the threat from Russia.

Ukrainian forces have struggled to stem slow but steady advances by Russia’s bigger army along a roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line that snakes along eastern and southern Ukraine. Almost daily Russian long-range strikes have taken aim at Ukraine’s power grid before the bitter winter, while Ukrainian forces have targeted Russian oil refineries and manufacturing plants.

Energy revenue is the linchpin of Russia’s economy, allowing Putin to pour money into the armed forces without worsening inflation and avoiding a currency collapse.

International crude prices jumped more than $2 per barrel Thursday on news of the new U.S. sanctions against Russia's oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil.

Putin said he warned Trump that an attempt to curb Russian oil exports will destabilize global oil markets and backfire against the United States. “A sharp reduction in the amounts of our oil and oil products sent to global markets will lead to price increases,” he said, adding that consumers at U.S. gas stations will feel the impact.

The sanctions don’t take effect for almost a month, until Nov. 21, potentially giving Putin a chance for a change of heart.

Chris Weafer, CEO of the Macro-Advisory Ltd. consultancy, said “that’s a window where they hope Russia will more seriously engage, and if it does, then those sanctions could be suspended.”

“You can be sure that every oil buyer in Asia today is trying to find anything that floats that they can buy Russian oil before that sanction kicks in,” Weafer told The Associated Press from London. “And therefore, Russia will sell a lot of oil in the next 30 days, which probably will help the budget for a few months.”

He also noted that, unlike the European sanctions, the U.S. measures carry the threat of secondary penalties against anyone violating them. China and India are major importers of Russian oil.

The effectiveness of economic sanctions in forcing Putin’s hand is questionable, analysts say. Russia’s economy has proved resilient so far, although it is showing signs of strain.

The new EU measures also target Russian oil and gas. They ban imports of Russian liquefied natural gas into the bloc, and add port bans on more than 100 new ships in the Russian shadow fleet of hundreds of aging tankers that are dodging sanctions. The latest sanctions bring the total number of such ships to be banned to 557.

The measures also target transactions with a cryptocurrency increasingly used by Russia to circumvent sanctions; prohibit operations in the bloc using Russian payment cards and systems; restrict the provision of artificial intelligence services and high-performance computing services to Russian entities; and widen an export ban to include electronic components, chemicals and metals used in military manufacturing.

A new system for limiting the movement of Russian diplomats within the 27-nation EU will also be introduced.

The U.S. sanctions came after Trump said that his plan for a swift meeting with Putin in Budapest was on hold because he didn’t want it to be a “waste of time.” It was the latest twist in Trump’s hot-and-cold efforts to end the war as Putin refuses to budge from his demands.

Putin deplored the U.S. sanctions as an “unfriendly act” that would damage relations with Washington and said that Moscow wouldn't yield to pressure.

“Such action by the U.S. administration certainly damage Russia—U.S. relations,” he said. “It’s an attempt to exert pressure on Russia, but no self-respecting country and self-respecting people make any decisions under pressure."

The Russian leader warned that any attempt by Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia with longer-range weapons supplied by the West will mark an escalation and trigger a “very serious not to say stunning” response from Russia. “Let them think about it,” he said.

Commenting on Trump's decision to put the planned summit on hold, Putin emphasized that it was the U.S. that proposed holding it and added that it should be well prepared.

“It would be a mistake for me and the U.S. president to take it lightly and come out after the meeting without an expected result,” he said. “A dialogue is always better than confrontation.”

In a separate development, a Russian drone killed two Ukrainian journalists in the Donetsk region Thursday, according to regional administration head Vadym Filashkin. The journalists, Olena Hubanova and Ievhen Karmazin, worked for Ukraine’s Freedom TV channel in Ukraine.

Harriet Morris in Tallinn, Estonia, and Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the Russian Geographical Society congress at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, the Russian 240mm "Tyulpan" mortar fires towards Ukrainian positions on an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, the Russian 240mm "Tyulpan" mortar fires towards Ukrainian positions on an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and European Council President Antonio Costa speak with the media as they arrive for an EU Summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Harry Nakos)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and European Council President Antonio Costa arrive for an EU Summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Francois Walschaerts)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and European Council President Antonio Costa arrive for an EU Summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Harry Nakos)

NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand (AP) — A construction crane collapsed onto an elevated road near Bangkok, killing two people on Thursday, a day after another crane fell on a moving passenger train in northeastern Thailand and killed 32 people.

The work on an extension of the Rama 2 Road expressway — a major artery leading from Bangkok — has become notorious for construction accidents, some of them fatal.

The crane collapsed at part of the road project in Samut Sakhon province, trapping two vehicles in the wreckage, according to the government’s Public Relations Department.

Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said on Thai TV Channel 7 that two people had died. It was unclear if anyone else had been trapped in the wreckage.

There was uncertainty about the number of victims because the site is still considered too dangerous for search teams to enter, said Suchart Tongteng, a rescue worker with the Ruamkatanyu Foundation.

“At this moment, we still can’t say whether another collapse could happen,” he said, citing dangling steel plates. “That’s why there are no rescue personnel inside the scene, only teams conducting on-site safety assessments.”

At the site of Wednesday's train derailment, the search for survivors ended, Nakhon Ratchasima Gov. Anuphong Suksomnit said. Three passengers listed as missing were presumed to have gotten off the train earlier, but that was still being investigated.

Officials believed 171 people had been aboard the train’s three carriages, which were being removed from the scene Thursday.

The crane that fell, crushing part of the train, was a launching gantry crane, a mobile piece of equipment often used in building elevated roadways.

Police were still collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses and have not pressed charges, provincial Police Chief Narongsak Promta told reporters.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry reported a South Korean man in his late 30s, was among the dead.

The high-speed rail project where the accident occurred is associated with the plan to connect China with Southeast Asia under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.

In August 2024, a railway tunnel on the planned route, also in Nakhon Ratchasima, collapsed, killing three workers.

Anan Phonimdaeng, acting governor of the State Railway of Thailand, said the project’s contractor is Italian-Thai Development, with a Chinese company responsible for design and construction supervision.

A statement posted on the website of the company, also known as Italthai, expressed condolences to the victims and said the company would pay compensation to the families of the dead and hospitalization expenses for the injured.

Transport Minister Phiphat said Italthai was also the lead contractor on the highway project where Thursday's accident took place, though several other companies are also involved.

The rail accident had already sparked outrage because Italthai was also the co-lead contractor for the State Audit Building in Bangkok that collapsed during construction last March during a major earthquake centered in Myanmar. The building's collapse was the worst quake damage in Thailand and about 100 people were killed.

Twenty-three individuals and companies have been indicted, including Italthai's president and the local director for the company China Railway No. 10, the project’s joint venture partner. The charges in the case include professional negligence and document forgery, and Thailand's Department of Special Investigation has recommended more indictments.

The involvement of Chinese companies in both projects has also drawn attention, as has Italthai and Chinese companies’ involvement in the construction of several expressway extensions in and around Bangkok where several accidents, some fatal, have occurred.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Wednesday the government was aware of the rail accident and had expressed condolences.

Associated Press writers Wasamon Audjarint in Bangkok and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

Relatives of victims and others wait at a hospital, a day after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Relatives wait at a hospital to receive bodies of victims, a day after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Forensic workers inspect the site of a train accident, a day after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A cuddly toy lies on the ground at the site of a train accident, a day after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A construction crane that collapsed on the Rama 2 Road elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)

A construction crane that collapsed on the Rama 2 Road elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)

A construction crane that collapsed on the Rama 2 Road elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)