The European Union on Thursday launched a fresh round of sanctions against Russia for its war in Ukraine, joining the U.S. by targeting Moscow’s energy infrastructure.

The package of measures, which member states approved on Wednesday evening, includes a ban on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports.

It comes shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump, in a major policy shift, announced new sanctions against Rosneft and Lukoil, two of Russia’s largest oil companies.

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he felt it was the appropriate time to impose the measures, describing the sanctions as “tremendous” before adding that he hoped they wouldn’t be in place for long.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, welcomed the Trump administration’s sanctions on Russian oil companies, describing the policy as a “signal of strength.”

Speaking to CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Thursday, Kallas said: “It is really depriving Russia of the means to fund this war and this is necessary to end this war.”

In a social media post, Kallas added that the EU’s latest sanctions package would target Russian banks, crypto exchanges and entities in India and China, among others.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, meanwhile, said the bloc’s 19th package of sanctions, which were formally adopted on Thursday, would keep “the pressure high on the aggressor” of the Russia-Ukraine war.

“For the first time we are hitting Russia’s gas sector — the heart of its war economy. We will not relent until the people of Ukraine have a just and lasting peace,” von der Leyen said on Thursday.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said the EU’s latest sanctions were a “decisive step” toward stopping Russia’s biggest revenue source of oil and gas, adding that U.S. sanctions on top will have a “severe impact” on the Russian economy.

The EU’s sanctions agreement, which took weeks to conclude, comes just hours before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joins his European counterparts for a one-day summit in Brussels, Belgium.

International benchmark Brent crude futures with December expiry traded 3.3% higher at $64.66 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures with December expiry stood at $60.46, also up around 3.3%.

Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates, described Trump’s move to sanction Rosneft and Lukoil as “significant,” saying it is the first time Trump has sanctioned the Russian oil industry.

“The market reaction was understandably bullish. It must be noted, nonetheless, that whenever Russian producers were targeted in the past by the EU or by the G7, there have always been willing offtakers of Russian oil,” Varga told CNBC by email.

“Sanctions on oil suppliers are most effective when coupled with pressure on consumers. For this reason, India’s decision to significantly reduce its purchases of Russian oil is almost as significant as the US-imposed measures on Russian oil companies,” he added.

U.S. decision to sanction Russia’s two largest oil companies threatens to disrupt the energy lifeline linking Moscow to its biggest customers in Asia, but without causing an immediate supply shock, industry experts told CNBC.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday levied sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, citing Moscow’s “lack of serious commitment” to ending the war in Ukraine. The sanctions aim to “degrade” Kremlin’s ability to finance its war, the department said, signaling more measures could follow.

The government has set Nov. 21 as the deadline for winding down operations, which means companies have nearly a month to wrap up or cancel existing deals with Rosneft and Lukoil. That seems to be designed to avoid causing immediate chaos in the oil markets while applying pressure on Russia, said Bob McNally, President of Rapidan Energy Group.

Rosneft and Lukoil together account for roughly half of Russia’s more than 4 million barrels a day of crude exports, volumes that have found steady homes in Asian markets since the West imposed a $60 price cap in late 2022, data provided by Vanda Insights showed. 

China imported about 2 million barrels per day of Russian oil in September, while India took around 1.6 million barrels per day.

“This is potentially a very significant escalation,” said Muyu Xu, senior crude oil analyst at commodities data analytics firm Kpler. “Trump’s sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil [will] have significant implications for Russian seaborne crude exports, potentially prompting major buyers to scale back purchases — if not halt them entirely — in the near term,” she added.

In India, the sanctions are expected to hit several refiners directly tied to Russian supply. India’s state-run refiners — Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum as well as private giants such as Reliance Industries, HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd., and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), are among those most exposed, Kpler data showed.

Rosneft also owns nearly 50% of Nayara Energy Ltd., operator of the Vadinar refinery in Gujarat, and it may struggle with selling refined products, rather than obtaining crude.

Indian state-run refiners are currently scrutinizing their Russian oil trade paperwork to confirm that none of their supplies originate directly from Rosneft or Lukoil, Reuters reported on Thursday, following the announcement of the sanctions, citing a source with direct knowledge of the situation.

“India will likely need to walk away from its seaborne term agreements, while China’s pipeline flows may continue,” said Vortexa’s oil market analyst Emma Li.

Refiners in China will also have to exercise caution, energy experts said. All the state-owned enterprises will be careful about cargoes linked to Rosneft and Lukoil, Xu said.

China National Petroleum Corporation has agreements with Rosneft for pipeline supply, but no long-term contracts for seaborne crude, according to Vortexa.

“I don’t expect a complete shutdown of Russian crude flows, but a short-term and immediate hiatus seems inevitable,” said Xu.

Sanctions mean buyers will need to find new ways to move and pay for those shipments, which brings about extra costs and complications, and that’s exactly what the U.S. wants: to cut Moscow’s profits without completely stopping its exports, said McNally.

Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum, ONGC, Reliance Industries and China National Petroleum Corporation did not immediately respond to a CNBC’s requests for comment.

China and India will have little choice but to turn mostly to U.S. and OPEC supplies, noted energy experts. “There is spare capacity within OPEC right now, especially Saudi Arabia. But the increased demand for the global non-sanctioned supply will raise prices,” John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital.

Oil prices jumped around 5% before paring gains slightly after Trump’s announcement. Global benchmark Brent was trading 3.71% higher at $64.91 per barrel at 2.00 a.m. ET, Thursday, while U.S. crude had climbed 3.93% to $60.8.

Founder of Vanda Insights, Vandana Hari, also said that the alternative for China and India was more Middle Eastern crude.

The new measures differ sharply from the G7’s earlier price-cap mechanism, which allowed Russian crude to flow as long as it was sold below $60 a barrel. “This appears to imply that you cannot buy Russian crude oil regardless of the price,” Kilduff said. “It’s a blanket ban.”

“This is as high-profile as it gets and Washington cannot risk looking like a paper tiger,” said Hari. “But a far bigger question is whether the sanctions will sustain … One Trump-Putin phone call could turn the situation by 180 degrees again.”