US Senate passes sweeping Russian energy sanctions bill amid Ukraine war

The United States Senate has passed an aggressive sanctions package targeting Russia’s energy revenues amid its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The legislation passed on Friday, dubbed the “Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026”, sets 100 percent tariffs on major nations importing Russian oil and gas. It further targets clandestine maritime networks used to evade Western embargoes.

The Senate voted 86–11 to pass the bill, which now heads to the House of Representatives. A vote in the 435-seat lower chamber will not take place until at least early September due to the congressional summer recess.

“This could finally bring Russia to the negotiating table and end this conflict between Russia and Ukraine,” Republican Jim Risch, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a speech on the Senate floor before the vote.

“It will make a decisive impact that goes beyond what can be achieved on the battlefield. It will cut off the flow of cash that powers Putin’s war machine,” he added, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the move, saying “real, strong American pressure and sanctions against Russia are what will help the most” to bring “this insane Russian war against our independence and our people to an end”.

In a post on the social media platform X, Zelenskyy explicitly extended his gratitude across political lines, noting that Ukraine deeply appreciates the continuous support “from both parties and the entire American people”.

The bill was named after Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator who died on July 11 and who had strongly advocated for new sanctions against Moscow amid its invasion of Ukraine.