Washington: America, which has been targeting Russia intensely since president Vladimir Putin launched a war against Ukraine, has now found his two daughters to target as the US believes that both of them are hiding their wealth of Putin.

Among Katerina and Maria, the daughters of Putin, the former works as a tech executive whose work supports the Russian government and its defense industry.

America claims that Maria on the other hand leads government-funded programs that have received billions of dollars from the Kremlin toward genetics research, and are personally overseen by Putin.

"We have reason to believe that Putin, and many of his cronies, and the oligarchs, hide their wealth, hide their assets, with family members that place their assets and their wealth in the U.S. financial system, and also many other parts of the world," a senior U.S. administration official told reporters.

Sanctions announced Wednesday also include the daughter and wife of Russian foreign affairs minister Sergei Lavrov.

Meanwhile Russia continues to refute allegations of killing civilians which Ukraine has been saying. Russia said that images of bodies in Bucha north of Kyiv were staged to justify more sanctions against Moscow.

Russia has been claiming that it has launched war to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine, the claims which has not been accepted either by Ukraine or by western countries.

The extent of Putin's wealth is a sensitive subject in Russia. The Kremlin last year denied that he was the owner of an opulent palace on the Black Sea, as alleged by opposition politician Alexei Navalny in a video that drew a huge audience on social media.

Putin's daughters, who the U.S. believes help him hide his wealth, have never confirmed publicly the Russian leader is their father, and he has refused to answer questions about them.

"Katerina, 29, described herself as the spouse of Kirill Shamalov, son of Nikolai Shamalov, a longtime friend of President Putin," the report said. "Shamalov senior is a shareholder in Bank Rossiya, which U.S. officials have described as the personal bank of the Russian elite."