In a moment heavy with symbolism and geopolitics, the US Senate moved forward on far-reaching legislation to tighten the screws on Russia’s energy industry as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at the Capitol — a vote he viewed as a tribute to the bill’s author, the late Senator Lindsey Graham, held on the day of his funeral.
Mr Graham had been one of Kyiv’s most influential and outspoken allies in Congress throughout the four-year-old war with Russia. The legislation is designed to intensify economic pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, using sanctions and trade penalties aimed at the revenue streams that help sustain the conflict.
Senators voted 86 to 12 on a procedural motion to advance the measure. The bill seeks to sanction Russian officials and authorise steep tariffs on China, India and other nations, with the goal of reducing reliance on Russian oil and gas.
Republican President Donald Trump has said he would back the legislation, after requesting that sanctions targeting Iran be incorporated — language that has now been added as the US war against Iran enters its sixth month.
Democrats largely support punishing Russia, but some have warned that granting Mr Trump broad tariff authority could drive up import costs, a risk that has already stirred debate inside the party.
Those concerns could complicate the bill’s path to approval in the Senate and later in the House of Representatives when lawmakers return in September.
Lindsey Graham was among Kyiv’s most influential and outspoken allies
If enacted, the legislation would give Mr Trump the power to impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries that are major consumers of Russian energy, including India, Japan and some European Union nations, while leaving it to his discretion to lift them.
Some Democrats have said they may vote against the proposal, which still must clear additional procedural hurdles in the Senate before it can reach final passage.
After that, the bill would head to the House of Representatives, which will not reconvene until September.
“This is not so much a sanctions bill as it is a massive backdoor authority for President Trump to impose more tariffs, including on our European allies, that hurt American families,” Representative Gregory Meeks said in a statement when the legislation was released this month.
Supporters countered that the tariff provisions are limited and carefully aimed — strong enough, they argue, to reduce the Russian energy income that helps fund the war in Ukraine without triggering unintended economic fallout.
Backers also described the bill as Congress’s clearest chance to deliver concrete legislative support for Ukraine, saying the lopsided bipartisan Senate vote could build momentum for House passage, most likely in the autumn.
“This bill is the one that will pass. This bill is the one that the president will sign,” Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a bill co-sponsor who travelled to Ukraine repeatedly with Mr Graham, told a news conference after the vote.
Zelensky visit
The late senator announced shortly before his sudden death on 11 July that he and Mr Trump had agreed to finally move the bill forward, more than a year after it was introduced.
Mr Zelensky travelled to Washington for Mr Graham’s funeral and to meet Mr Trump, and said the legislation would strike at Russia’s capacity to bankroll the war while underscoring US backing for Ukrainians.
“It’s also a big signal to Europe, big signal to Ukraine, big support of our people, so I’m very thankful,” Mr Zelensky told reporters before heading into the Senate chamber to watch the vote on what is now called the ‘Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026’.
Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump in the Oval Office (Pic: Zelensky social media account)
In a statement, a bipartisan group of senators supporting the bill said the legislation would stop foreign purchases of Russian oil and gas revenue from fueling Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “war machine” while also constraining “the Iranian regime’s ability to support terrorism and build its nuclear programme’.
Among the senators was Republican Darline Graham, Lindsey Graham’s sister, who was appointed to his South Carolina Senate seat on an interim basis and is running to win election to the post.
The group said the bill empowers the president to levy targeted tariffs on imported goods from countries that buy the vast majority of Russian oil or gas and help Russia evade sanctions.
They said the bill limits the tariffs to the five largest importers of Russian crude oil or gas, as well as the top five countries that aid Russia’s evasion of energy sanctions.
The measure also includes a provision intended to prevent a lapse in sanctions authority that restricts funding for Iranian energy and weapons.
