During a snowy trip to the war-torn country last week, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal surveyed the damages to a children’s hospital and power plant that have crippled Ukraine and has left its people at times without electricity and heat.
The Connecticut senator has made repeat trips to Ukraine since the start of the war. And as it marks four years since Russia’s invasion on Tuesday, Blumenthal and a small group of Democratic senators returned with a renewed sense of purpose.
They traveled to Kyiv and Odesa, the latter which was visited by a congressional delegation for the first time since the war began. The senators met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and visited Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital and the Darnytsia thermal power plant.
The group returned home and back to Congress this week with a few takeaways: they claim Russia is targeting U.S. companies in Ukraine and that continued support for the country is paramount to ending the war. Blumenthal believes it might be the push they need to move stalled bipartisan legislation to ramp up economic pressure on Russia and place sanctions on countries who purchase its energy.
“We’ve come away from this trip more convinced than ever that Ukraine can win with military and economic aid from America, that these attacks on U.S. businesses should outrage the American people even more,” Blumenthal said in an interview with The Connecticut Mirror after his trip to Ukraine and Moldova. “I think we’re returning with heightened determination to move forward.”
Blumenthal is hopeful his bill will see some movement before the end of the session. In the days before the trip, he said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., indicated support for a vote. The biggest obstacle, Blumenthal said, has been the White House.
The bipartisan bill was introduced by Blumenthal and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina last April. It would impose sanctions on countries like China, India and Brazil that purchase oil, gas and uranium from Russia. Blumenthal described it as a “very broad big bill” that would also take aim at Russia’s “shadow fleet” of aging oil tankers that seek to circumvent sanctions.
The legislation had amassed 85 co-sponsors split nearly evenly between both parties, more than enough support to clear the 60-vote threshold needed to advance most bills in the Senate. But the bill is being modified and in the coming days, Blumenthal said they’ll work to “resolve a few details to make sure we have the strongest possible majority.”
In the nearly one year since the bill’s introduction, it languished in the Senate, with various promises of votes and some confusion over which chamber would take it up first.
In early January, Graham said he met with Trump, that the president “greenlit” the bill and that it could come up for a vote “as early as next week.” A White House official confirmed that the president supports the legislation.
“This will be well-timed, as Ukraine is making concessions for peace and Putin is all talk, continuing to kill the innocent,” Graham said in a statement last month. “This bill will allow President Trump to punish those countries who buy cheap Russian oil fueling Putin’s war machine.”
But a vote didn’t happen. Still, Blumenthal feels hopeful about the path forward.
“The green light from Sen. Thune hopefully reflects Trump’s support for sanctions and tariffs,” Blumenthal said. “The stall has really emanated from the White House. Trump has been resistant to throttling purchases of Russian oil and gas, just as he has vacillated on support for Ukraine with military aid.”
Thune promised to hold a vote when the legislation has enough support to pass the upper chamber, according to a source familiar with the situation.
During this past trip, Blumenthal said his group saw the destruction of American businesses in Ukraine, some of them with ties to Connecticut. Nearly half of the 600 major corporations have been bombed or damaged, according to the senator.
Lawmakers don’t want to publicly disclose those names yet until they inform the companies. Reuters reported a Russian missile struck an Oreo plant in eastern Ukraine over the weekend.
“It’s clearly open season on American businesses with operations or offices there,” Blumenthal said.
The Connecticut Mirror/Connecticut Public Radio federal policy reporter position is made possible, in part, by funding from the Robert and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation.
This story was originally published by the Connecticut Mirror.
