On October 24, 2025, the diplomatic corridors of London buzzed with urgency as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with more than two dozen European leaders. The agenda was clear: intensify the pressure on Russia, bolster Ukraine’s defenses, and confront the economic realities of a war that shows no sign of abating. Hosted by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the summit aimed to unify Western resolve just as a new round of U.S. sanctions sent ripples through the global oil market and raised new questions for international investors.
At the heart of the discussions was Zelenskyy’s plea for the United States to expand its sanctions beyond the Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil to encompass the entire sector. According to the Associated Press, Zelenskyy declared at a London press conference, “We have to apply pressure not only to Rosneft and Lukoil, but to all Russian oil companies.” He also called for advanced weaponry, specifically Tomahawk missiles, to help Ukraine strike deep inside Russian territory—a request that has been floated by U.S. President Donald Trump, though not yet fulfilled.
These appeals came on the heels of President Trump’s October 22 announcement of fresh sanctions targeting Rosneft, Lukoil, and their subsidiaries. The move was intended to choke off Moscow’s vital oil and gas export revenues, a mainstay of President Vladimir Putin’s war chest. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) specified that all property and interests in property of designated or blocked persons within the United States or in U.S. possession are now frozen. OFAC added, “Any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50% or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.”
The sanctions’ reach has sparked concern far beyond Russia’s borders—most notably in India, where state-owned ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) and a consortium of Indian oil companies hold a combined 49.9% stake in CJSC Vankorneft, a Rosneft subsidiary now on the sanctions list. According to The Hindu BusinessLine, OVL has sought urgent legal advice from both domestic and international law firms to ensure compliance and avoid inadvertently running afoul of the sweeping U.S. restrictions. “OVL wants to be 100% sure it is not violating any sanctions,” sources told the publication, underscoring the anxiety gripping Indian boardrooms.
While Indian firms do not control a majority stake—Rosneft retains 50.1%—and are not the operators of the fields, their exposure is significant. The Vankor field, spanning 416.5 square kilometers in Russia’s West Siberian Basin, has been a lucrative investment for Indian companies since 2016. OVL paid $1.284 billion for a 15% stake in May 2016, followed by an additional 11% for $930 million later that year. The consortium of Oil India Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation, and Bharat PetroResources Ltd acquired their 23.9% stake for $2.02 billion. Altogether, these investments have yielded millions of tonnes of oil equivalent, but recent years have brought frustration instead of returns: due to existing sanctions, Indian companies have been unable to repatriate dividends for three years, resulting in $1.4 billion accumulating in Russian bank accounts.
The OFAC rules are clear but unforgiving. Unless specifically licensed or exempted, U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in transactions involving sanctioned entities, and violations can bring stiff civil or criminal penalties. For Indian companies, the stakes are high—not just in terms of lost revenue, but also the risk of being shut out of global capital markets or facing restrictions on the use of U.S. dollars in foreign transactions.
Back in London, the mood was resolute but somber. The summit participants—joined in person and via video link by leaders such as Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof—wrestled with the question of how best to support Ukraine as the war grinds into its fourth year. The focus extended beyond immediate military aid to longer-term security guarantees. As Starmer put it, the idea is to build a “reassurance force,” likely to consist of air and naval support rather than the deployment of Western troops on Ukrainian soil. U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey explained, “It would be a force to help secure the skies, secure the seas, a force to help train Ukrainian forces to defend their nation.”
Yet, the realities on the ground remain grim. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed last week that its forces had captured 10 Ukrainian villages, inching forward in the Donetsk region and seeking to establish footholds for further advances into the Dnipropetrovsk region. Overnight, Russian air defenses reportedly downed 111 Ukrainian drones, with debris damaging homes and infrastructure. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said three drones targeting the city were intercepted, causing temporary flight suspensions at two airports.
The violence has not been confined to the front lines. Ukrainian authorities reported that Russian artillery struck a residential block in Kherson, killing two people and injuring 22. In the northeast, Russian planes dropped at least five powerful glide bombs on Kharkiv, injuring six and damaging homes. For the first time, Russia also fired glide bombs on Ukraine’s southern Odesa region—a development Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, called “a new, serious threat.” Glide bombs, cheaper than missiles but packing a heavier payload, represent a worrying escalation as winter approaches and Ukraine’s power grid comes under daily assault.
Amid these developments, diplomatic maneuvering continues. Kirill Dmitriev, a top Russian official and Putin’s envoy for investment and economic cooperation, arrived in the United States for meetings with U.S. officials. According to Axios, Dmitriev’s visit was planned in advance at the invitation of the U.S. side and will include talks with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff. Dmitriev has played a key role in past negotiations between the Trump administration and the Kremlin, including discussions on the Ukraine war and the fate of American detainees in Russia.
For now, however, the prospect of a negotiated peace remains distant. Putin has repeatedly rebuffed calls for talks, insisting that Russia’s motives for the invasion are legitimate and making demands for Ukrainian territory that Western leaders have flatly rejected. “He’s rejected the opportunity for talks once again, instead making ludicrous demands for Ukrainian land, which he could not and has not taken by force,” Starmer said at the London news conference, dismissing the Russian position as a “complete non-starter.” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte echoed the sentiment, noting that while Putin’s goals remain unchanged, he “is running out of money, troops and ideas.”
As the war continues to claim lives and upend the international order, the stakes for Ukraine, its Western allies, and global investors grow ever higher. The latest sanctions may squeeze Russia’s oil revenues, but they also threaten to ensnare partners far beyond Moscow—leaving companies, diplomats, and entire nations searching for answers in a landscape where certainty is in short supply.