A bipartisan group of US senators has proposed legislation that would slap sanctions on countries friendly to Russia if Moscow disrupts on-going negotiations to end the Ukraine war.
US president Donald Trump is trying to broker a ceasefire between Ukraine and its Russian invader, but his administration has failed to reach a breakthrough despite negotiations with both sides.
Ukraine this month agreed to a planned 30-day ceasefire, but Moscow has rejected the US-backed proposal and upped its rhetoric on wanting to install new leadership in Kiev.
The group of 50 Republican and Democratic senators introduced a proposal on Tuesday to impose a 500 per cent tariff on imports from countries that buy fuel and uranium from Russia, if Moscow 鈥榬efuses to engage in good faith negotiations for a lasting peace with Ukraine.鈥�
The sanctions would also be applied if Russia 鈥榠nitiates another effort, including military invasion, that undermines the sovereignty of Ukraine after peace is negotiated,鈥� the senators, led by Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal, said in a statement.
Trump has criticised both Russian president Vladimir Putin and Ukraine鈥檚 Volodymyr Zelensky over the deadlocked peace talks.
Warming ties between Washington and Moscow since Trump鈥檚 return to office and his threats to stop supporting Kyiv have bolstered Russia on the battlefield as it pursues its floundering invasion.
Meanwhile, Russian drone strikes killed at least three person and wounded 10 in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv, officials said on Wednesday.
Zelensky said Russia was intentionally attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure and called on allies to mount pressure on Moscow to halt its invasion.
He said there had been 鈥榓nother round of deliberate strikes and damage to energy facilities鈥� in the eastern Sumy region and the central city of Nikopol, adding that the strikes had cut power to thousands of people.
Russia and Ukraine have stepped up aerial attacks even as Trump pushes the Kremlin and Kyiv to agree to a ceasefire after more than three years of costly fighting.
In Kharkiv, several people were wounded in drone strikes, mayor Igor Terekhov said.
An AFP reporter saw firefighters hosing down smoke from a building in Kharkiv, where a blaze was raging and black smoke billowed from windows.
Zelensky said Russia had launched 74 drones in total at targets across Ukraine.
Russia also said that Ukraine had fired twice on its energy sites in the Kursk border region overnight.
Power to around 1,500 households was disrupted as a result of the attack, the defence ministry said, accusing Kyiv of 鈥榮ystematically launching strikes with drones and artillery against Russian energy infrastructure鈥�.
Both Kyiv and Moscow have complained to the United States about strikes hitting their energy sites, with Kyiv calling on Washington to strengthen sanctions on Moscow for 鈥榲iolating鈥� agreements made at talks in Saudi Arabia.
Following separate meetings with US officials, the White House said both Ukraine and Russia had 鈥榓greed to develop measures for implementing鈥� an 鈥榓greement to ban strikes against energy facilities of Russia and Ukraine鈥�.
But both have since accused each other of violating the shaky agreement, which has not been formally implemented.
