A bipartisan pair of US senators met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Friday and urged stronger sanctions against Russia, while uncertainty swirls over whether the next round of peace talks will move ahead in the coming days.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut met with Zelensky and other top Ukrainian officials in the capital. Their visit came just days after Russia launched its biggest aerial assault against Ukraine since the start of the war, and as the US ramps up pressure on Moscow to end the three-year conflict.
Among the topics discussed were the ongoing peace talks and proposed legislation to strengthen US sanctions against Russia, according to a statement from the Ukrainian presidential office.
Graham and Blumenthal are co-sponsoring a bipartisan bill to impose more sanctions on Russia – a notion that has gained support among a number of Republican lawmakers in recent weeks as Moscow steps up its deadly aerial assaults.
Graham said lawmakers would move forward next week with a vote on the bill, the Reuters news agency reported. The bill is supported by 82 senators from both sides of the aisle and would impose a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other products. It must pass both chambers of Congress and be approved by President Donald Trump to become law.
Trump has so far held off on imposing more sanctions as he tries to negotiate a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv. However, he has threatened in the past to impose the measures if Russia doesn’t agree to a truce.
Asked by reporters on Friday if he would support the bill, Trump responded: “I don’t know, I’ll have to see it. I’ll take a look at it.”
Graham said Friday he had talked with Trump before his trip and the US president expects “concrete action” from Moscow, according to Reuters.
The visit comes as Ukrainian officials raised questions about planned peace talks in Istanbul on Monday – as they say Russia has yet to send its negotiating proposals, a key demand of Kyiv’s.
“For a meeting to be meaningful, its agenda must be clear, and the negotiations must be properly prepared,” Zelensky wrote on X on Friday after hosting Turkey’s foreign minister for talks in Kyiv.
Zelensky also said he spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, writing on Telegram: “We share the view that this meeting cannot and should not be empty.”
“Neither we in Ukraine nor Turkey as the host side have any information about Russia’s so-called memorandum,” he said in his evening address, accusing Russia of “hiding” its memorandum from both countries.
Ukraine has already provided its own version of a peace memorandum, officials say.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow would present its memorandum during the next round of talks.
Zelensky said he and his Turkish counterpart also spoke about the possibility of organizing a four-way meeting with the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, and the United States to further facilitate peace negotiations.
In recent weeks, the US president has become visibly frustrated with Russia over its deadly attacks on Ukraine and the lack of progress on peace talks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed holding “direct talks” in Turkey earlier this month – but never showed up, despite Zelensky agreeing to meet. In the end, the two nations sent low-level delegations to negotiate instead.
A large-scale prisoner exchange, the biggest since the start of the war, was the only significant outcome, with both sides agreeing to release 1,000 prisoners on each side – but it was overshadowed by ongoing Russian attacks at the same time.
Trump voiced frustration with Putin at the time, saying: “We’re in the middle of talking, and he’s shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities.”