Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a historic meeting in Washington, to which all 100 members of the US Senate were invited.
The visit, coinciding with the mourning ceremony for the late Senator Lindsey Graham, became a key diplomatic offensive for Kiev's security before the coming winter. Zelensky set the urgent need for anti-ballistic missile defense systems and Patriot interceptor missiles as an absolute priority for US lawmakers.
A major focus of the Capitol talks was the consideration of a new large-scale package of economic sanctions against the Kremlin. The Senate has begun a procedural vote on the “Lindsey O. Graham Russia and Iran Sanctions Act of 2026“, which was supported by a huge bipartisan majority of 86 to 12 votes. The bill aims to drastically reduce Moscow's revenues from the sale of energy resources by imposing heavy tariffs on countries that continue to buy Russian oil and gas.
Earlier in the day, Volodymyr Zelensky held a strategic one-on-one meeting at the White House with US President Donald Trump. The two leaders discussed the joint production of drones, licenses for “Patriot“ missiles and the possibilities of achieving a just peace. While Trump is pushing for the expansion of sanctions against Iran and Hezbollah due to the complicated geopolitical situation in the Middle East, Zelensky stressed in the Senate that economic pressure and military support must work in parallel to weaken the Russian war machine.