Ukraine delegation visits Washington as Senate mulls Russia sanctions
June 4 (UPI) -- Ukrainian officials were set to update U.S. senators on Wednesday on the war and discuss arms purchases and efforts to pressure Russia to negotiate a peace deal, including a tough new bipartisan sanctions bill due to come to the floor of the upper chamber next week.
The delegation, which included Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, Deputy Defense Minister Serhii Boyev and Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak, arrived Tuesday, a day after a second round of Ukraine-Russia peace talks in Turkey broke up without a breakthrough.
Yermak said in a social media post that the delegation was bringing a "comprehensive agenda" of issues that were important to Ukraine to actively promote to members of both parties and President Donald Trump's team.
"We plan to talk about defense support and the situation on the battlefield, strengthening sanctions against Russia, including Senator [Lindsey] Graham's bill. We will also discuss the Agreement on the Establishment of the Reconstruction Investment Fund, which we signed earlier," wrote Yermak.
He said the delegation would also raise the issue of getting back Ukrainian children deported by Russia and support for the process.
The bill that Sen. Graham, R-S.C., plans to introduce in the Senate aims to ratchet up economic pressure on Russia, targeting its trade partners by slapping 500% tariffs on imports from countries that continue to purchase Russian products, including gas, oil and uranium.
China and India are the two biggest markets for Russian energy exports.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Politico that he and Graham would host a closed-door meeting with the Ukrainians on Capitol Hill to which all Senators had been invited.
He said support for the sanctions bill was gaining very strong momentum with 82 members of the Senate split down the middle of the aisle agreeing to co-sponsor it.
Blumenthal said the secondary sanctions could be a "game changer."
"It's a pivotal moment in Ukraine -- and crunch time for the Senate on this bill."
He also pushed back on what he said was a growing but false belief that Ukraine was losing the war, saying recent offensive assaults deep into Russian territory, such as Sunday's so-called "Operation Spiderweb," in which Ukrainian drones destroyed 41 strategic Russian bomber aircraft, proved otherwise.
Blumenthal argued that such feats could help shift the dial among the administration's foreign policy team, helping persuade them to bolster military and other assistance for Ukraine and to support the sanctions bill.
That in turn would help overcome the reservations of some lawmakers, he said.
"Events will move the White House -- and maybe some of the president's friends here [Capitol Hill]. Congress can move ahead. [Trump] doesn't have to support it."
Current U.S. flows of arms and equipment to Ukraine are all under drawdowns on assistance packages approved under former President Joe Biden, with no fresh approvals since as the Trump administration shifts to a more mercantile approach under which Ukraine will buy the weapons rather than receiving them as aid.
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