August 18, 2025
Kyiv/ Washington –
Ukrainian campaign group Razom We Stand states its goals for today’s meeting with Trump, Zelensky, and European leaders in Washington. This follows Friday’s meeting in Alaska with President Putin, where Trump rolled out the red carpet and even mentioned potential land “gifts” to Russia. Such gestures hand Putin leverage while Ukraine continues to endure missile strikes, drone attacks, and daily shelling, betraying both Ukrainian sovereignty and Western security.
The Alaska summit clearly failed at its most basic task: delivering a ceasefire. No real pressure was put on Putin, and that must now be the most central focus of today’s Washington, DC meeting. We need real sanctions, not land gifts, that will put real economic pressure on Russia and speed up an end to this war.
Dr Svitlana Romanko, Founder and Executive Director of Razom We Stand, said:
“As Ukrainians, watching President Trump roll out the red carpet for Putin in Alaska while speaking about land ‘gifts’ feels like a profound betrayal. Today’s meeting in Washington should be about strengthening unity with Ukraine, not dangling our regions as a bargaining chip.
Every hour this war continues, Ukrainians are paying with their lives. In the past 24 hours alone, at least seven Ukrainians, including a two-year-old boy, have died as a result of Russian attacks on an apartment building in Kharkiv, with yet more people still feared to be buried under the rubble. While Trump proposes concessions, our families continue to bury loved ones killed by Putin’s war machine.
What we need now is not empty talk, but decisive action to choke off Russia’s ability to fund this war. That means cutting its oil and gas exports, dismantling its Shadow Fleet, and shutting down every loophole that fuels Putin’s bombs and drones. Anything less risks rewarding a petro-dictator and undermining the justice and freedom that Ukraine is fighting for.”
Dr. Romanko and Razom We Stand call for these measures to be implemented now:
- Trump should announce that he will sign US Senator Graham’s existing “bone-crushing” sanctions bill, which contains tough 500% tariffs.
- Place full sanctions on all Russian fossil fuel exports, and put secondary sanctions on countries that consume them, like Trump did on India last month, and threatened this week to tighten further.
- Strengthen sanctions on LNG exports, especially the sanctions from Jan 2025 on Arctic LNG, one of Putin’s personal favourite new mega-energy projects.
- Create international mechanisms to find and track the illegal shadow fleet of ships exporting Russian oil. Enforce existing laws to dry up the industry.
- Imposing a total embargo on Russian fossil fuels and, at a minimum, lowering the oil price cap to $20–25 per barrel.
Functioning sanctions against Russia’s oil and gas industry will save Ukrainian lives. Since the beginning of the war, Russia has earned more than $1 trillion (€921 billion) from fossil fuel exports, funding the brutality, murder, and war crimes committed against Ukrainians for over three years. The UK government estimates that sanctions have deprived the Kremlin of ca. $450 billion in war funds, proof that they work.Existing measures have already forced Russia into longer trade routes, higher shipping costs, and shrinking foreign reserves, proof that pressure is working. President Trump should never have rewarded Putin with a photo opportunity on American soil; instead, Putin should be arrested for war crimes, including for kidnapping Ukrainian children. Strengthened and aligned sanctions and economic punishment measures are needed now, not after more delays.
Dr Svitlana Romanko (bio here) is also available for interviews today. Please email [email protected] to organise a time to speak with Dr Romanko.
ENDS
Razom We Stand is a Ukraine-based campaign group active internationally. It calls for a total and permanent embargo on Russian fossil fuels and an immediate end to all investment in Russian oil and gas companies by phasing out fossil fuels globally.
Svitlana Romanko has appeared in the top-tier international press, including BBC, Washington Post, CNN, NBC, Newsweek, The Hill, Rolling Stone, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Politico, The Guardian, FAZ, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, and more.
Contact:
Paraic Walker
Communications Specialist
Razom We Stand
