Flattery and pressure — coupled with President Trump’s growing dissatisfaction with President Vladimir V. Putin — have helped build momentum for new economic punishments.

Europe’s top human rights court delivered damning judgments against Russia in four cases brought by Kyiv and the Netherlands accusing Moscow of atrocities in Ukraine dating back more than a decade.

On July 9, 2025, in the case of Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held Russia