WASHINGTON: US senators on Sunday touted a bipartisan bill that would arm President Donald Trump with “sledgehammer” sanctions to use against Russia, ahead of a visit by the US special envoy to Ukraine.
Trump has indicated he would be open to the sanctions bill as relations with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin grow increasingly frosty.
US special envoy Keith Kellogg is due to begin his latest visit to Ukraine while Trump said he would make a “major statement... on Russia” on Monday.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he had majority backing in the Senate for his bill, which was gaining momentum as Washington-led peace efforts in Ukraine have struggled to make headway.
The bill would allow Trump “to go after Putin’s economy, and all those countries who prop up the Putin war machine,” Graham told broadcaster CBS news.
Trump, who has repeatedly said he is “disappointed” with Putin as Moscow unleashed deadly barrages of missiles against Kyiv, has hinted he might finally be ready to toughen sanctions.
Trump held off for the past six months while he tried to persuade Putin to end the war.
But the Republican president’s patience appears to be wearing thin, telling reporters during a cabinet meeting at the White House Tuesday that Putin was talking “a lot of bullshit” on Ukraine.
Last week, Trump also agreed to send Zelensky more weapons, including through a deal with NATO which would involve the alliance purchasing US weapons to send to Ukraine.
On Thursday, Trump appeared to back the bill without detailing whether he would use it to slap sanctions on Moscow.
“They’re going to pass a very major and very biting sanctions bill, but it’s up to the president as to whether or not he wants to exercise it,” Trump told broadcaster NBC.
Asked during a cabinet meeting about his interest in the bill, Trump said: “I’m looking at it very strongly.”
“This congressional package that we’re looking at would give President Trump the ability to impose 500 percent tariffs on any country that helps Russia,” said Graham, adding that those could include economies that purchase Russian goods like China, India or Brazil.
“This is truly a sledgehammer available to President Trump to end this war,” said Graham.
“Without a doubt, this is exactly the kind of leverage that can bring peace closer and make sure diplomacy is not empty,” the Ukrainian leader said about the proposed bill in an X post.
Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal were to meet NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday night.
Blumenthal told CBS news they would also discuss the legally thorny issue of unlocking frozen Russian assets in Europe and the United States for access by Ukraine.
“The $5 billion that the United States has also could be accessed, and I think it’s time to do it,” said Blumenthal.
US senators aim to arm Trump with ‘sledgehammer’ sanctions against Russia
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US senators aim to arm Trump with ‘sledgehammer’ sanctions against Russia
- Bill to allow Trump “to go after Putin’s economy” and those propping up Putin’s war machine,” says Sen. Lindsey Graham
- Trump has indicated he would be open to the sanctions bill as relations with Putin grow increasingly frosty
Zelensky says meeting with Trump to happen ‘in the near future’
- Zelensky’s announcement came after he said Thursday he had a “good conversation” with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner
KYIV: A meeting with US President Donald Trump will happen “in the near future,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday, signaling progress in talks to end the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine.
“We are not losing a single day. We have agreed on a meeting at the highest level – with President Trump in the near future,” Zelensky wrote on X.
“A lot can be decided before the New Year,” he added.
Zelensky’s announcement came after he said Thursday he had a “good conversation” with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Trump has unleashed an extensive diplomatic push to end the war, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.
Zelensky said Tuesday he would be willing to withdraw troops from the country’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war, if Moscow also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.
Though Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that there had been “slow but steady progress” in the peace talks, Russia has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized.
In fact, Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas — an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70 percent of Donetsk — the two areas that make up the Donbas.
On the ground, Russian drone attacks on the city of Mykolaiv and its suburbs overnight into Friday left part of the city without power.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said it struck a major Russian oil refinery Thursday using British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.
Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region. “Multiple explosions were recorded. The target was hit,” it wrote on Telegram.
Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said a firefighter was wounded when extinguishing the fire.
Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”
