U.S. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal expressed hope that U.S. businesses operating in Ukraine "will speak out more forcefully" to President Donald Trump and Congress about the need to demonstrate American strength to persuade Russia to engage in peace talks.
According to an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent, he made this statement at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Blumenthal said that about half of all American businesses operating in Ukraine had suffered significant damage from Russian missile or drone attacks. He said Americans should be outraged that U.S. businesses had been deliberately targeted by Vladimir Putin, stressing that these were not cases of missiles or drones going off course but repeated intentional attacks.
The senator said the strikes showed complete disregard for international law and basic morality, while also causing millions of dollars in losses to businesses.
Blumenthal expressed hope that American companies would speak out more forcefully to the U.S. president and Congress about the need to demonstrate American strength in order to pressure Putin into negotiations and bring the war to an end.
He added that Putin understood only force and described the sanctions bill he had introduced with Lindsey Graham as a powerful tool capable of applying the kind of pressure the Russian leader understood.
