After talks with Zelenskyy and Macron, US senators warn: Putin ‘is preparing for more war'

Chicago Tribune

2 days ago

PARIS — Russian President Vladimir Putin is stalling at the peace table while preparing a new military offensive in Ukraine, two senior U.S. senators warned Sunday, arguing that the next two weeks could shape the future of a war that has already smashed cities, displaced millions and redrawn Europe's security map.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal spoke to The Associated Press in Paris after meeting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and touring neighborhoods shattered by what they called the worst Russian bombardments since the full-scale invasion began.
In Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron — who they say is '100% aligned' with them on the war — the senators warned the window to prevent a renewed assault is closing.
A sweeping U.S. sanctions bill could be the West's last chance to choke off the Kremlin's war economy, they said — adding that they hope their firsthand findings will shift momentum in Washington and help bring a skeptical President Donald Trump on board.
'What I learned on this trip was he's preparing for more war,' Graham said of Putin. Blumenthal called the sanctions proposed in legislation 'bone-crushing' and said it would place Russia's economy 'on a trade island.'
'It is crunch time for Putin and for the world because Russia is mounting a new offensive,' he said.
At the heart of their push is a bipartisan sanctions bill, backed by nearly the entire U.S. Senate but still facing uncertain odds in Washington. It would impose 500% tariffs on countries that continue buying Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations like China and India that account for roughly 70% of Russia's energy trade and bankroll much of its war effort.
Graham called it 'the most draconian bill I've ever seen in my life in the Senate.'
'The world has a lot of cards to play against Putin,' he said. 'We're going to hit China and India for propping up his war machine.'
With peace talks yielding little and Trump's approach to Ukraine highly uncertain, Graham and Blumenthal have stepped into the breach — blunt emissaries on a lonely mission. Political opposites moving in lockstep, they're crossing Europe, and the aisle, with the moral urgency of two men trying to forestall another Russian offensive before it's too late.
Peace talks are scheduled to resume Monday in Istanbul. But Ukrainian officials say Moscow has yet to submit a serious proposal — a delay both senators described as deliberate and dangerous.
'Putin is playing President Trump,' Blumenthal said. 'He's taking him for a sucker.' The senator said Putin 'is, in effect, stalling and stonewalling, prolonging the conversation so that he can mount this offensive and take control of more territory on the ground.'
Graham added: 'We saw credible evidence of a summer or early fall invasion, a new offensive by Putin. … He's preparing for more war.'
Trump has yet to endorse the sanctions bill, telling reporters Friday: 'I don't know. I'll have to see it.' Graham said the legislation was drafted in consultation with Trump's advisers.
Graham backed the president's diplomatic instincts but said, 'By trying to engage Putin — by being friendly and enticing — it's become painfully clear he's not interested in ending this war.'
Blumenthal hoped the bipartisan support for Ukraine at least in the Senate — and the personal testimonies they plan to bring home to Congress and the Oval Office— may help shift the conversation.
'He needs to see and hear that message as well from us, from the American people,' he said of Putin.
In Kyiv, the senators said, the war's human toll was impossible to ignore. Graham pointed to what Ukrainian officials and Yale researchers estimate are nearly 20,000 children forcibly deported to Russia — calling their return a matter of justice, not diplomacy.
Blumenthal described standing at mass grave sites in Bucha, where civilians were executed with shots to the head. The destruction, he said, and the stories of those who survived, made clear the stakes of delay. 'Putin is a thug. He's a murderer.'
Both said that failing to act now could pull the U.S. deeper into conflict later. If Putin isn't stopped in Ukraine, Blumenthal said, NATO treaty obligations could one day compel American troops into battle.
After a one-hour meeting with Macron in Paris, both Graham, of South Carolina, and Blumenthal, of Connecticut, said they left convinced Europe was ready to toughen its stance.
'This visit has been a breakthrough moment because President Macron has shown moral clarity in his conversations with us,' Blumenthal said. 'Today, he is 100% aligned with that message that we are taking back to Washington.'
Blumenthal pointed to the rare bipartisan unity behind the sanctions bill. 'There are very few causes that will take 41 Republicans and 41 Democrats and put them on record on a single piece of legislation,' he said. 'The cause of Ukraine is doing it.'
Ahead, Ukrainian military leaders are set to brief Congress and a sanctions vote could follow.
'President Trump said we'll know in two weeks whether he's being strung along,' Graham said. 'There will be more evidence of that from Russia on Monday.'