The Senate overwhelmingly approved a punishing Russian sanctions package Friday, the result of a year-long campaign by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham to reinforce US support for Ukraine and try to force President Vladimir Putin’s hand as the grinding war drags on.
The bipartisan legislation, which passed the Senate 86-11, would penalise countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas and other exports seeking to deprive Putin of revenues fueling the war.
It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the Capitol hours after Graham’s funeral, met with senators from both parties and watched from the gallery as the Senate took the first procedural votes last week on the sweeping legislation.
“Today, President Zelenskyy is watching from Ukraine — and Putin is watching from Moscow,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who had worked with the late South Carolina senator on the package.
“I would like to think Lindsey Graham is watching, too,” he said. “Today we say to the people of Ukraine: You are not alone. And today we say to Vladimir Putin: You will not conquer Ukraine.”
The sweeping show of force from the Senate is the most substantial move yet during President Donald Trump’s second term to shift the dynamic of the more than four-year war, which has now churned longer than World War I.
Congress has struggled to ensure US funding and munitions flows to Ukraine, but Trump has given a nod to the sanctions package, putting pressure for the House to take it up for a vote and send it to the White House for his signature.
Graham and Blumenthal had announced a deal with the White House on the sanctions legislation on July 10 after more than a year of negotiations with the White House. Graham, who had just returned from Ukraine, died suddenly the next day, likely from an aortic tear.
