The United States is considering slapping Russia with new and harrowing sanctions in the likely event the country refuses the current ceasefire with Ukraine that they engineered, with both President Donald Trump and a highly influential Republican Senator behind this idea.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally in the US Senate, wrote on Wednesday on X that he “will submit a bill for crushing sanctions and tariffs against Russia by the end of the week. If they do not pursue a ceasefire with the same zeal as Ukraine, they will pay a hellish price.” He said that he has been convinced of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “desire for peace” and added that he expects bipartisan support for his bill sponsoring new sanctions.
His words rang similar to Trump’s. During a Washington meeting with Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin, the president spoke on the topic, saying that sanctions can be used and “it would be very bad for Russia. I don’t want to do that because I want peace. I want to see peace and we’ll see; but in a financial sense, yes, we could do things very bad for Russia. It would be devastating for Russia.” He hoped that his threat should not be necessary and that Vladimir Putin will accept the US-brokered ceasefire.
US envoys, namely CIA Director John Ratcliffe and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, met with their Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia and the US is sending Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff to a visit in Moscow.
Despite the US push and the threat of further sanctions, Putin is unlike to accept the ceasefire option. Even Trump is aware of it, as he admitted in the same meeting that the proposal may have some drawbacks from Russia’s point of view.
Reuters cited anonymous Russian sources about possible reactions to the ceasefire, speaking with high-ranking personnel. They all mentioned the doubts surrounding the proposal. One source said that Russia would like to take into account Russian advances on the front.
Russia is ready to carefully analyse the proposal, though, but would like guarantees to avoid weakening its position and being blamed for an eventual restart of hostilities if it doesn’t include specific promises on what a possible peace treaty may look like.
