Ukraine-Russia warfare newest: Trump approves main Russia sanctions invoice after Zelensky says warfare might finish quickly | EUROtoday

US president Donald Trump will permit a bipartisan sanctions invoice concentrating on international locations doing enterprise with Russia to maneuver ahead in Congress and it may very well be put to a vote as early as subsequent week, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham stated on Wednesday.

Graham stated in an announcement Trump had “greenlit” the laws after the pair met yesterday.

The laws, which Graham has been engaged on with fellow Republicans and Democrats for months, would impose sanctions on international locations doing enterprise with Russia, together with consumers of its power exports, over Moscow’s failure to barter a peace take care of Ukraine. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

“This bill will allow President Trump to punish those countries who buy cheap Russian oil fueling Putin’s war machine,” Graham said, citing China, India and Brazil as potential targets of the legislation.

Graham, a senator from South Carolina, said he is looking forward to a “strong bipartisan vote” on the legislation to take place as early as next week.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said he believes Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine could be brought to an end in the first half of this year, adding that the negotiations have reached a new milestone.

The Ukrainian leader was speaking at a ceremony marking the start of Cyprus’s European Union presidency.

“As Cyprus begins its presidency of the Council of the EU, we note that the negotiations have reached a new milestone together with our European partners and, of course, the United States, and all members of the Coalition of the Willing,” Zelensky stated.

“We sincerely believe that this war can be ended during your presidency of the Council of the EU,” he said.

The Mediterranean nation’s presidency of the Council of the EU will end in six months, at the end of June.

Neither would No 10 guarantee that the vote would be binding. Asked if MPs could prevent a deployment, the PM’s official spokesperson said: “I think we are getting ahead of ourselves.”

Russian strikes have knocked out power almost entirely in southeastern Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, the Energy Ministry said late on Wednesday.

“As a results of the assault, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia areas are nearly fully with out electrical energy,” the ministry said in a statement on Telegram.

“Critical infrastructure is operating on reserve power.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he has received no “unequivocal answer” from European leaders on how they plan to defend Ukraine within the occasion Russia attacked it once more after a peace deal was reached.

On being requested if he was positive that European allies would assist Ukraine defend his nation within the occasion of one other invasion from Russia, Zelensky stated he had no “clear” reply” on that.

“I personally very much want to get a very simple answer: yes, if there is aggression again, all partners will give a strong response to the Russians. And that’s the exact question I put to all our partners. And so far I haven’t received a clear, unequivocal answer,” Zelensky stated.

Zelensky stated there was “political will” from Ukraine’s allies to “give us strong security guarantees”.

“But until we have such security guarantees – legal ones, backed by parliaments, backed by the United States Congress – we cannot answer this question,” he stated.

A member of the sixty fifth Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is seen firing a Javelin anti-tank missile system throughout a army train at a coaching floor close to a entrance line, amid Russia’s assault on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia area on Wednesday.

The Independent’s Chief International Correspondent, Bel Trew, studies:

Trump has “greenlit” a Russia sanctions invoice, and a vote is feasible as quickly as subsequent week, Senator Lindsey Graham says.