Senate takes first steps on Russian sanctions after meeting with Zelenskyy
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- The Senate voted 86-12 Tuesday on a procedural step to advance a sweeping bipartisan Russian sanctions bill, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy watching the vote from the Senate gallery and waving in support at senators below.
- Zelenskyy told senators at a closed-door morning meeting that Ukraine is 'winning the war now' and making gains in multiple areas, but still needs more US help, according to Sens. Todd Young (R-Ind.), Jim Justice (R-W.Va.), and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) who attended.
- The bill allows the president to impose tariffs on the world's top five purchasers of Russian oil and natural gas — with China and India at the top — and includes exemptions for countries importing under 15% of their natural gas from Russia and reducing those imports.
- The legislation also directly sanctions Putin, senior Russian political and military leaders, Russian financial institutions and energy projects, targets older reflagged oil tankers used to evade existing US sanctions, and extends certain Iran sanctions after Trump asked the Senate to add Iran.
- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the bill's chief negotiator, died the day after the July 10 White House deal was announced — likely from an aortic tear — just after returning from a trip to Ukraine; Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said Graham called the deal a 'big effing deal' in their final conversation.
- Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) plans to offer an amendment to narrow the bill's tariff provisions, calling it 'extremely dangerous to give Trump massive new tariff powers' after 'the disastrous impacts of his corrupt, chaotic, and inflationary tariff spree.'
Why it matters: If enacted, the bill would impose tariffs on the top buyers of Russian energy — China and India lead the list — while directly sanctioning Putin and Russian financial institutions, a major economic pressure campaign aimed at driving Moscow to negotiations. The 86-12 vote signals bipartisan momentum for the late Graham's signature effort, though Democrats like Wyden want amendments to claw back the new tariff authority granted to Trump before final passage.
