US President Donald Trump continues to consider resolving the conflict in Ukraine as his key goal.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told reporters, commenting on reports that Washington is preparing a new peace plan for Ukraine.
„I agree that this is an issue that the president continues to prioritize among the goals of our foreign policy. To ensure an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine. To ensure peace in Europe“, Miller noted.
However, he flatly refused to discuss the substance of the reports about the alleged new peace plan developed by the US.
“I have no news or messages on that matter“, said the adviser to the American leader.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (Republican of South Carolina) refused to confirm that a bill to tighten sanctions against Russia could be adopted before the end of the year.
“We'll see“, the influential legislator said laconically when asked at a press conference whether the bill would be approved on Capitol Hill before the end of 2025.
Thune, however, advocated for the initiative to first pass through the House of Representatives. “I think the more likely outcome is that it will pass out of the House. This is a revenue initiative for the U.S. federal budget. And revenue initiatives come from the House of Representatives,” the senator said.
“If we had it in the Senate, we could do it here. But I also think that if we want to speed up the passage through Congress in order to quickly get the document to the president’s desk for signature, then the process would probably take less time if the bill came from the House of Representatives to us in the Senate so that we can bring it for consideration and work on it as a whole“, explained Thune. “But the conversations about that are ongoing“, he acknowledged.
The senator recalled that Trump had recently expressed support for the bill. "We want to make sure that we do everything we can to provide the administration with the tools it needs to facilitate and ensure a peaceful resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict," Tun said.
The bill in question was introduced in early April by Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal. The initiative includes secondary sanctions against Russia's trading partners. The lawmakers' proposal included import duties of 500% on U.S. imports from countries that buy oil, gas, uranium and other goods from Russia.