Trump's Patience With Putin Leaves Senate Sanctions Push on Hold

Mint

12 hours ago

President Donald Trump's suggestion that he may let Russia and Ukraine keep fighting has left US lawmakers in an awkward spot over their plan to force a ceasefire with 'bone-crushing' sanctions against Moscow.
The Senate bill has more than 80 co-sponsors, an all-but-unheard-of level of bipartisan support. Yet although that kind of veto-proof backing is enough for the Senate to press ahead without White House backing, supporters show no sign they're ready to challenge the president.
Trump's comments on Thursday — he said he hadn't even looked at the bill, but will do what he wants 'at the right time' — put the brakes on what had seemed to be an accelerating push to advance the proposal as soon as this month.
Republican co-author Lindsey Graham, who said earlier in the week that he aimed to have the Senate plan in place by the Group of Seven leaders' summit to be held in Kananaskis, Alberta, -17, seemed to ease off the gas in a tweet after Trump's comments. 'I have coordinated closely with the White House on this endeavor from day one,' he wrote.
Trump, however, has shown little interest in backing Graham's plan, and the White House has insisted that any decision on sanctions will be the president's alone. Instead, he's signaled he may walk away from efforts to force a settlement amid growing frustration with his inability to deliver the quick peace deal he promised on the campaign trail.
Graham's Democrat co-author Richard Blumenthal said the pair are still working on changes to the bill to make it more acceptable to the White House.
European leaders, meanwhile, are pushing ahead with plans to impose more restrictions on Russian financial institutions and the shadow fleet of tankers Moscow uses to export its oil. Those limits have squeezed Russia's economy — but not President Vladimir Putin's resolve to continue fighting. Russia's war in Ukraine, conceived as a days- or weeks-long 'special military operation,' is well into its fourth year.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made the case for turning up the heat on Putin during an Oval Office meeting with Trump on Thursday, but came away sounding cautious.
'I asked the president to go along with us to put more pressure on this government, on Putin, to come to an end with this terrible war,' Merz told Fox News. 'I was a little bit more optimistic a couple of weeks ago, when the first diplomatic initiatives were more or less successful.'
Since then, talks have moved slowly amid a yawning gulf between Russian and Ukrainian demands, and fighting has raged.
A daring Ukrainian strike on June 1, using drones smuggled into Russia to hit its strategic bombers at bases thousands of miles from the front lines, provided a stunning show of Kyiv's capabilities.
While some in the US administration were privately impressed with the attack, there were also signs of unhappiness that it would only harden Putin's resolve to fight on, according to allied officials who asked not to be identified discussing matters that aren't public.
Trump said he'd asked Putin not to retaliate. But the Russian leader rejected that appeal, and mounted deadly new missile and drone strikes on Kyiv and other cities Friday.
The attacks continued overnight, including the largest barrage of the war so far against Kharkiv in Ukraine's northeast. At least three people were killed and 21 injured as the city, which had a prewar population of about 1.4 million people, was struck with dozens of drones, aerial glide bombs and at least two missiles, many aimed at apartment buildings and private homes.
Pressed by reporters, Trump didn't completely rule out new sanctions, even suggesting that he might impose them on Ukraine as well as Russia.
'They're waiting for me to decide on what to do, and I'll know maybe very soon,' Trump said. 'It's a harsh bill, yeah, very harsh.'
Earlier in the week, Trump shared a social media post suggesting the Senate move ahead with the bill to give him leverage against Putin, even if the plan might not make it into law.
Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, remained hopeful about the plan after a visit to Washington. 'The Graham package contains very painful sanctions. If this is voted through, they will start working very quickly,' he told Ukraine's 1 1 network on Friday. Asked about the prospect Trump might impose restrictions on Kyiv, he said, 'there were no signals on that.'
The draconian nature of the penalties in the Senate bill — aimed at cutting off Russia's large and lucrative exports of oil, gas and other products with threats of 500% tariffs on buyers, including big US trading partners like China and India — would make them costly for the US if Putin didn't immediately back down. Global energy prices would spike, just as trade flows seized up.
'It's a risky but courageous proposition,' said Ben Harris, director of economic studies at Brookings Institution. Ukrainian officials estimate cutting oil exports would starve Russia of $60 billion a year, the amount it's currently spending on the war.
The bill gives Trump a fail-safe, requiring the administration to certify that Russia isn't serious about peace talks or has violated a ceasefire before imposing the maximum penalties.
The measure also codifies many of the sanctions already imposed on Russia, from financial and trade restrictions to bans on top officials. That would complicate any attempt by the administration to seek the potential economic deals with Moscow that Trump has touted without an end to the war.
Last month, testifying before the Senate, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made Trump's position clear. The president thinks Russia will likely walk away from Ukraine peace talks if the US threatens more sanctions, he said.
With assistance from Alex Wickham, Alberto Nardelli and Olesia Safronova.
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