Sanctions target Putin’s oil and gas revenue
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at the U.S. Capitol hours after the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham and was met by an unusually attentive audience of lawmakers, the Associated Press reported. Roughly half the Senate gathered for the closed-door meeting, with senators setting their mobile phones aside and focusing their attention on the Ukrainian leader’s presentation.
Members of the House joined the senators in the room, listening as Zelenskyy fielded questions about his country’s strategy in the long war against Russia, according to the AP. The Ukrainian president described how Ukraine was repelling the Russian invasion and taking the fight to Moscow.
Zelenskyy told the lawmakers that Ukraine was in need of U.S. help, the AP reported. He requested Patriot interceptor missiles and the licensing agreements needed to obtain them, as well as expanded access to Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service.
Most immediately, ahead of a Senate vote, Zelenskyy pressed for a punishing Russia sanctions package designed to deprive Russian President Vladimir Putin of the oil and gas revenue fueling the war machine, according to the AP.
The Senate passed Graham’s Russia sanctions bill, the AP reported. The legislation targets the energy revenues that Moscow relies on to fund its invasion of Ukraine — revenues that Zelenskyy raised during his Capitol presentation as the financial backbone of the war effort.