US senators meet Zelensky in Kyiv-doubts about Ukraine Russia peace talks

US senators meet Zelensky in Kyiv-doubts about Ukraine Russia peace talks

On Friday, two BI-partisan US senators met with the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj in Kiev and called for stronger sanctions against Russia. This happened in a time great uncertainty as to whether the next peace talks will take place in the coming days.

meeting in Kiev

The Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina and the Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut visited Selenskyj and other high -ranking Ukrainian officials in the capital. This visit took place only a few days after Russia's largest air raid on Ukraine since the beginning of the war, at the same time the US government increases the pressure on Moscow to end the conflict that has been going on for three years.

sanctions against Russia

Among the topics that were discussed, the ongoing peace talks and a proposed law to strengthen the US sanctions against Russia, according to a Communication of the Ukrainian Presidential Office.

Graham and Blumenthal are committed to a BI-partisan draft law that is intended to further increase the pressure on Russia. This project has been increased among Republican legislators in the past few weeks, especially in view of the increased air strikes Moscow.

draft law in the congress

As reported by the news agency Reuters, Graham announced that the legislators will vote on the draft in the coming week. The draft law is supported by 82 senators of both parties and could Insect a 500%customs on goods imported from countries will buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other products. This would pass both the House of Representatives and the Senate and need the approval of President Donald Trump to obtain legal strength.

Trump and the peace talks

When asked by journalists, whether he would support the draft law, Trump replied: "I don't know, I have to look at it. I'll take a look at it."

Questions about peace discussions

Selenskyj expressed concerns about the planned peace talks in Istanbul on Friday, which should take place on Monday because Russia was still sending its negotiation proposals - a central demand.

"The agenda must be clear to make a meeting sensible, and the negotiations must be well prepared," wrote Selenskyj on X after receiving the Foreign Minister of Turkey in Kiev.

Selenskyj also emphasized that with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, he spoke about the need that the meeting should not be without content. "Neither we in Ukraine nor Turkey as the host side have information about Russia's alleged memorandum," he explained in his evening approach and accused Russia of "hiding" the memorandum from both countries.

Development of negotiations

Ukrainian official reports that Ukraine has already provided its own version of a peace memorandum. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrow said on Wednesday that Moscow would present his memorandum during the next round of negotiations.

Selenskyj said that he and his Turkish counterpart also spoke about the opportunity to organize a four -energy meeting with the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United States to further advance the peace negotiations.

frustration about the situation

In the past few weeks, the US President has made his frustration over Russia clear in the face of the deadly attacks on Ukraine and the lack of progress in peace talks. Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed this month to have talks directly in Turkey, but he did not appear despite Selenskyj's approval. Ultimately, the two countries only sent low -age delegations for negotiation.

A large -scale prisoner exchange, the greatest since the beginning of the war, was the only significant result, with both sides to relieve 1,000 Founders each - however, this was overlaid by the continuous Russian attacks.

Trump expressed his frustration about Putin and said: "We are in the middle of conversations and he shoots rockets on Kiev and other cities."