PARIS (AP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin is getting stuck at the Peace Table while preparing a new military offensive in Ukraine, two senior American senators warned on Sunday, arguing that the next two weeks could shape the future of a war that has already broken the cities, moved millions and redut the safety card of Europe.
Republican senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal spoke to the Associated Press in Paris after meeting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and districts on tour broken by what they called the worst Russian bombardments since the start of the large -scale invasion.
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In Paris for interviews with French President Emmanuel Macron – who, according to them, is “100%aligned” with them on the war – the senators warned the window from preventing renewed aggression.
A bill on American sanctions could be the last chance of the West to stifle the Kremlin war economy, they said – adding that they hope that their first -hand conclusions will change Dehetum to Washington and help bring a skeptical president Donald Trump on board.
“What I learned during this trip is that he is preparing for more war,” said Graham about Putin. Blumenthal qualified the sanctions proposed in the “bone grinding” legislation and said that it would place the economy of Russia “on a commercial island”.
“It’s time to hug for Putin and for the world because Russia is mounting a new offensive,” he said.
At the heart of their thrust is a bipartite sanctions bill, supported by almost the entire American Senate, but still confronted with uncertain chances in Washington. It would impose prices of 500% on countries which continue to buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports – targeting countries like China and India which represent around 70% of Russia’s energy trade and finance a large part of its war effort.
Graham called it “the most draconian bill I have ever seen in my life in the Senate”.
“The world has a lot of playing cards against Putin,” he said. “We are going to hit China and India for supporting his war machine.”
Peace talks or hold tactics?
The peace talks giving little and the approach of Trump in very uncertain Ukraine, Graham and Blumenthal entered the breach – emissaries blunt on a lonely mission. Political opposites moving in locking, they cross Europe and the aisle, with the moral urgency of two men trying to prevent another Russian offensive before it is too late.
Peace talks are expected to resume on Monday in Istanbul. But Ukrainian officials say Moscow has not yet submitted a serious proposal – a delay that the two senators have described as deliberately and dangerous.
“Putin plays President Trump,” said Blumenthal. “He takes it for a miller.” The senator said that Putin “was in fact blocked and in stone, extending the conversation so that he could set up this offensive and take control of more territory on the ground.”
Graham added: “We have seen credible evidence of a summer or early fall invasion, a new Putin offensive. … He is preparing for more war.”
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Trump has not yet approved the sanctions bill, telling journalists on Friday: “I don’t know. I’ll have to see it.” Graham said the legislation had been written in consultation with Trump advisers.
Graham supported the president’s diplomatic instincts but said: “trying to hire Putin – being friendly and attractive – he has become painfully clear that he is not interested in putting an end to this war.”
Blumenthal hoped that bipartite support at Ukraine at least in the Senate – and the personal testimonies they plan to bring home to the Congress and the Oval Office – can help move the conversation.
“He needs to see and hear this message from us, of the American people,” he said about Putin.
A moral calculation
In Kyiv, the senators said, the human toll of war was impossible to ignore. Graham highlighted what Ukrainian officials and Yale researchers believe that nearly 20,000 children are forcibly expelled to Russia – calling for a question of justice, no diplomacy.
Blumenthal described standing on serious mass sites in Bucha, where civilians were executed with gunshots. The destruction, he said, and the stories of those who survived, clearly explained the issues of delay. “Putin is a thug. He is a murderer.”
Both said that not acting could attract the United States deeper into the conflict later. If Putin is not arrested in Ukraine, said Blumenthal, the obligations of the NATO Treaty could one day force American troops in combat.
They see resolution in Europe
After a one -hour meeting with Macron in Paris, Graham, in South Carolina, and Blumenthal, of Connecticut, said that they had left that Europe was ready to tackle its position.
“This visit was a revolutionary moment because President Macron has shown moral clarity in his conversations with us,” said Blumenthal. “Today, it is 100% aligned on this message that we give to Washington.”
Blumenthal highlighted the rare bipartite unit behind the sanctions bill. “There are very few causes that will take 41 Republicans and 41 Democrats and have registered them on a single legislation,” he said. “The cause of Ukraine does it.”
In front, the Ukrainian military leaders are ready to patent the congress and a vote of sanctions could follow.
“President Trump said we will know in two weeks if he was suspended,” said Graham. “There will be more evidence of this from Russia on Monday.”