Trump meets Zelenskyy as legislators ready for sanctions against Russia

Legislators are watching President Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and are ready to jump with punchy sanctions against Moscow if necessary.

Trump, Zelenskyy and a multitude of European leaders should meet in the White House on Monday, just days after the president’s summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska.

The way in which this meeting took place depends on what side of the legislators of the aisle are, the Republicans praising Trump for having sought a diplomatic end to war, while the Democrats accused the president of legitimizing Putin and of having given him a big scene.

Democrats doubt that Trump will get a Ukrainian ceasefire at the top of Alaska with Putin

President Donald Trump welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on August 18, 2025. (Getty Images)

The whip of the majority of the Senate John Barrasso, a member of the senatorial committee of foreign relations, told Fox News Digital in a statement that “American strength and leadership” were fully exposed under Trump.

“European nations also intensify to join us in this show of force in Vladimir Putin,” said the Wyoming Republican. “The murder must stop. A longtime peace and verifiable between Ukraine and Russia will be good for Ukraine, Russia, Europe and the United States.”

But some legislators agree that if an agreement is not concluded, the paralyzing sanctions are the next best step.

“ Game changer ”: Bipartisian senators have shot sanctions in Russia ready to give Trump’s track

The leader of the majority in the Senate, Senator John Thune, speaks while the senator of the Senate, Senator John Barrasso, listens to a press briefing at the American Capitol on July 22, 2025. (Getty Images / Alex Wong)

Head of the majority of the Senate John ThuneRs.d., congratulated Trump for an “obstinate determination” to find a peaceful end to war and engage with “all parties in a way that his predecessor refused to do”. But, he pointed out that the Senate was standing next to hitting Moscow with sanctions if necessary.

“While peace talks continue in Washington today, the American Senate is ready to provide President Trump, any economic lever effect necessary to maintain Russia at the table to negotiate a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” said Thune on X.

Last month, Trump said Putin would have a 50-day deadline to reach a cease-fire agreement, which the president recently shortened in “10 or 12” days. Although no immediate agreement seemed to be concluded between the two leaders, the Trump administration said that the Russian chief had accepted security agreements for Ukraine.

Zelenskyy heads for Trump’s crucial meeting while the United States weighs security guarantees for Kyiv

Senator Jeanne Shaheen speaks during an audience of the senatorial committee of foreign relations in the American Capitol on December 7, 2021. (Alex Brandon-Pool / Getty Images)

However, the Democrats of the Senate were not satisfied with the end of the meeting and, before the second Trump summit in the high stakes with Zelenskyy, demanded that the congress advance with a pack of sanctions.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the first classification democrat of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that if Trump does not act, “the congress must do so decisively by passing overwhelming sanctions on our return in the coming weeks”.

“I will also continue to put pressure for my bipartite legislation in order to strengthen the defense of Ukraine and to negotiate the position with additional security assistance and my bipartite bill to tackle the catalysts of Russia in China,” said the Democrat of New Hampshire. “There is no appetite for Congress to entertain a relationship with Russia while Putin continues to remove Ukrainian children and murder of innocent civilians.”

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And as for the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy, the legislators wanted to see a path to peace.

“The interests of the American people should come first, which means finding a path to a negotiated peace,” said Senator Mike Lee, Rutah, in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Peace is also in the best interest of the Ukrainian people, which was unfairly used as pawns in a war by proxy when they heroically resist the Russian aggression. In one way or another, the Americans should not send one more dollar to prolong this disastrous conflict.”

And Senator Tim Kaine, D-VA., Said in a statement to Fox News Digital that he was “happy that President Trump joined directly with President Zelenskyy and European White House leaders today to discuss the Russian war in Ukraine.”

“All decisions concerning the next steps must involve these key leaders-they cannot be dictated by Putin’s blood regime,” he said.