WASHINGTON (AP) — A delegation of U.S. senators was returning Wednesday from a trip to Ukraine, hoping to spur action in Congress for a series of sanctions meant to economically cripple Moscow and pressure President Vladimir Putin to make key concessions in peace talks.
It was the first time U.S. senators have visited Odesa, Ukraine’s third-most populous city and an economically crucial Black Sea port that has been particularly targeted by Russia, since the war began nearly four years ago. Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, Chris Coons, Richard Blumenthal and Sheldon Whitehouse made the trip. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis had planned to join but was unable to for personal reasons.
"One of the things we heard wherever we stopped today was that the people of Ukraine want a peace deal, but they want a peace deal that preserves their sovereignty, that recognizes the importance of the integrity of Ukraine,” Shaheen said on a phone call with reporters.
The visit and the push for Congress to take up sanctions on Russia come at a crucial moment in the conflict. Delegations for the two sides were also meeting in Switzerland for two days of U.S.-brokered talks, but neither side appeared ready to budge on key issues like territory and future security guarantees. The sanctions, senators hoped, could prod Putin toward settling for peace, as the U.S. has set a June deadline for settlement.
“Literally nobody believes that Russia is acting in good faith in the negotiations with our government and with the Ukrainians,” Whitehouse said. “And so pressure becomes the key.”
Still, legislation to impose tough sanctions on Russia has been on hold in Congress for months.
Senators have put forward a range of sanction measures, including one sweeping bill that would allows the Trump administration to impose tariffs and secondary sanctions on countries that purchase Russia’s oil, gas, uranium and other exports, which are crucial to financing Russia's military. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has also advanced a series of more-targeted bills that would sanction China's efforts to support Russia's military, commandeer frozen Russian assets and go after what's known as Moscow's “shadow fleet” of oil tankers being used to circumvent sanctions already in place.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has co-sponsored the Senate's sweeping sanctions and tariff legislation, also released a statement during the Munich Security Conference this weekend saying that Senate Majority Leader John Thune had committed to bringing up the sanctions bill once it clearly has the 60 votes needed to move through the Senate.
“This legislation will be a game changer,” Graham said. “President Trump has embraced it. It is time to vote.”
Blumenthal, who co-sponsored that bill alongside Graham, also said there is bipartisan support for the legislation, which he called a “very tough sledgehammer of sanctions and tariffs," but he also noted that “we need to work out some of the remaining details.” Democrats, and a handful of Republicans, have been opposed to President Donald Trump's campaign to impose tariffs around the world in an effort to strike trade deals and spur more manufacturing in the U.S.
In the House, Democrats are opposed to the tariff provisions of that bill. Instead, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, has proposed separate legislation that makes it more difficult for Trump to waive sanctions, but does away with the tariff provisions.
A separate bill, led by the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks, would bolster U.S. military support for Ukraine by $8 billion. Democrats currently need one more Republican to support an effort to force a vote on that bill.
Once they return to the U.S., the senators said they would detail how U.S. businesses based in Ukraine have been attacked by Russia. The Democrats are also hoping to build pressure on Trump to send more U.S. weapons to Ukraine. “Putin understands weapons, not words,” Blumenthal said.
Still, the lawmakers will soon return to a Washington where the Trump administration is ambivalent about its long-term commitments to securing peace in Ukraine, as well as Europe. For now, at least, they were buoyed by the conversations from their European counterparts and Republican colleagues.
“We and the Republican senators who were with us in Munich spoke with one voice about our determination to continue to support Ukraine,” Coons said.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the audience during a session at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, greets Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse D-R.I. and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Ct., center, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council is holding a high-level meeting Wednesday on the Gaza ceasefire deal and Israel's efforts to expand control in the West Bank before world leaders head to Washington to discuss the future of the Palestinian territories at the first gathering of President Donald Trump's Board of Peace.
The U.N. session in New York was originally scheduled for Thursday but was moved up after Trump announced the board's meeting for that same date and it became clear that it would complicate travel plans for diplomats planning to attend both. It is a sign of the potential for overlapping and conflicting agendas between the United Nations’ most powerful body and Trump’s new initiative, whose broader ambitions to broker global conflicts have raised concerns in some countries that it may attempt to rival the U.N. Security Council.
Asked what he hopes to see from the back-to-back meetings this week, Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour told reporters Tuesday, “We expect from the international community to stop Israel and end their illegal effort against annexation, whether in Washington or in New York.”
The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Indonesia, among others, are in attendance at the monthly Mideast meeting of the 15-member council after many Arab and Islamic countries requested last week that it discuss Gaza and Israel's contentious West Bank settlement project before some of them head to Washington.
The board to be chaired by Trump was originally envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing his 20-point plan for Gaza’s future. But the Republican president's ambitious new vision for the board to be a mediator of worldwide conflicts has led to skepticism from major allies.
While more than 20 countries have so far accepted an invitation to join the board, close U.S. partners, including France, Germany and others, have opted not to join yet and renewed support for the U.N., which also is in the throes of major reforms and funding cuts.
Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., dismissed concerns about the composition of the Board of Peace, telling conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview Monday that the most relevant countries, including Qatar and Egypt, which are in touch with Hamas' leadership, have accepted the invitation.
“All of those countries are on the Board of Peace, singing the same tune as the United States,” he said.
The Security Council is be meeting a day after nearly all of its 15 members — minus the United States — and dozens of other diplomats joined Palestinian ambassador Mansour as he read a statement on behalf of 80 countries and several organizations condemning Israel's latest actions in the West Bank, demanding an immediate reversal and underlining “strong opposition to any form of annexation.”
Israel, whose U.N. mission did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday's meeting, is launching a contentious land regulation process that will deepen its control in the occupied West Bank. Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said it amounts to “de facto sovereignty” that will block the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Outraged Palestinians, Arab countries and human rights groups have called the moves an illegal annexation of the territory, home to roughly 3.4 million Palestinians who seek it for a future state.
The U.N. meeting also is expected to delve into the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal that took effect Oct. 10 after more than two years of war between Israel and Hamas. The U.K., which currently holds the presidency of the council, said the meeting will include briefings by U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo and by Israeli and Palestinian civil society representatives for the first time since the Oct. 7 attacks.
Aspects of the ceasefire deal have moved forward, including Hamas releasing all the hostages it was holding and increased amounts of humanitarian aid getting into Gaza, though the U.N. says the level is insufficient. A new technocratic committee has been appointed to administer Gaza’s daily affairs.
But the most challenging steps lie ahead, including the deployment of an international security force, disarming Hamas and rebuilding Gaza.
Trump said this week that the Board of Peace members have pledged $5 billion toward Gaza reconstruction and will commit thousands of personnel to international stabilization and police forces for the territory. He didn't provide details. Indonesia’s military says up to 8,000 of its troops are expected to be ready by the end of June for a potential deployment to Gaza as part of a humanitarian and peace mission.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk on the South Lawn to the White House after arriving on Marine One Monday evening, Feb. 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
FILE - The symbol of the United Nations is displayed outside the Secretariat Building, Feb. 28, 2022, at United Nations Headquarters. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
