U.S. sanctions Russia's Putin, top officials over Ukraine invasion

The U.S. government on Friday joined European countries in slapping sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as Western nations sought to increase pressure on Moscow to halt its invasion of Ukraine.

The rare but not unprecedented U.S. imposition of sanctions on a head of state came just a day after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, assaulting by land, sea and air in the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two.