As President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with Donald Trump in Washington today, the Ukrainian campaign group Razom We Stand urges the U.S. administration to finally enact the “bone-crushing” sanctions on Russia’s energy sector, long promised by Senator Lindsey Graham, and now backed by 85 US Senate members.
Dr Svitlana Romanko, Founder and Executive Director of Razom We Stand, said: “As President Zelenskyy sits down with Trump in Washington, the world will be watching to see whether this meeting brings real commitment or just more empty rhetoric from the US. The White House has been blocking Senator Graham’s sanctions bill for months, and it’s time for President Trump to stop standing in the way. Even his fellow party leaders are saying it is time to move. If Trump truly wants Ukraine to win back its territory like he has said in the past, he must prove it with action, not more photo ops with Putin and finally pass the sanctions bill.
Bone-crushing’ sanctions must mean cutting off every remaining dollar that fuels Putin’s war machine. The United States cannot lecture Europe on Russian energy dependence while allowing U.S. firms, such as SLB, to continue operating in Russia and importing refined Russian oil through the back door. America must lead with integrity, by enforcing full fossil-fuel sanctions and helping to secure a clean-energy future for both Ukraine and the world.”
Last night, as Zelenskyy was flying into Washington, Trump announced that he plans to meet Putin in Hungary, despite the failed Alaska summit in the summer that yielded no progress and only further encouraged the Kremlin to continue their bombardment of Ukraine. Trump even posted on his social media about trade with Russia once the war is over.
We are now entering the fourth year of the full-scale invasion, and the time for negotiating with Putin, if there ever was one, has long passed. While the European Union is moving to phase out Russian fossil fuels under its REPowerEU plan, the United States continues to watch as its own companies continue to operate in Russia.
U.S. oilfield-services giant SLB has expanded operations in Russia since the full-scale invasion began and even signed contracts with the Russian oil and gas institute Vnigni, directly aiding development of projects that feed the Kremlin’s war chest. At the same time, new data from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) shows that between January 2024 and June 2025, the U.S. imported $3.6 billion in oil products from Indian refineries, $1.5 billion of which originated from Russian crude.
Razom We Stand calls on the U.S. administration to:
- Sign Senator Lindsey Graham’s “bone-crushing” sanctions bill, including 500% tariffs on Russian energy products.
- Fully sanction Russian fossil-fuel exports, with secondary sanctions on major buyers such as China.
- Strengthen LNG sanctions, targeting projects like Arctic LNG 2.
- Create international enforcement mechanisms to identify and halt the illegal “shadow fleet” of oil tankers.
- Immediately ban companies such as SLB from aiding or transporting Russian fossil fuels.
- Lower the oil price cap to $20–25 per barrel to starve the Kremlin’s revenues.
Even members of Trump’s own party are signalling it is time to act. Senate Majority Leader John Thune recently said lawmakers are “talking about a time and date” for taking up the legislation that would impose tariffs on countries that import Russian energy and implement secondary sanctions on foreign firms that support Russian energy production, adding “I think its time to move”. Trump should listen to his lawmakers instead of trying to charm Putin.
Only by dismantling Russia’s energy profits can the world cut off the lifeblood of Russian aggression and build a safer, cleaner, and more democratic future.
