Sledgehammer for Putin

On Sept. 16, the US Senate and House of Representatives handed President Donald Trump an economic weapon of mass destruction capable of crushing Russia’s economy.The bill, signed by Trump on Sept. 18, permits the president until Oct. 18 to impose crippling sanctions on Russia’s oil, tanker fleets, foreign customers, banks, and intermediaries unless Moscow signs a peace deal with Ukraine.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.The legislation (the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026) is a sledgehammer. Its passage marks a shift in strategy concerning Vladimir Putin, from offering mostly “carrots” to “sticks,” as does Washington’s decision this week to deploy thousands more US troops in Poland and the Baltics to reinforce NATO’s front line. Such pressure tactics, and Ukraine’s recent military gains, are behind Trump’s bold statement at the UN that the war will conclude “more quickly than people understand.”But simply being armed with a diabolical “stick” isn’t sufficient. Trump must be willing to use it, fully or partially, and scrap his “personal diplomacy” strategy of sucking up to Putin, offering “carrots,” and hoping for cooperation.It hasn’t worked, but the threat of punitive sanctions on Russia’s economy and its oil customers like China and India may help. Trump must also stop being nice to Putin, such as inviting him to attend the G20 this year after he was suspended in 2014 following his first invasion of Ukraine. Trump has yet to comprehend that, unlike New York real estate dealmaking, these are negotiations with thugs and sociopaths, and there is no win-win here. Putin’s war is about genocide, eliminating Ukraine, its people, their culture, and assets. And Ukraine’s only win is to destroy and bankrupt Russia so it cannot destroy them. On top of it all, Putin has no incentive to stop his war because he doesn’t care how many thousands of hapless Russian soldiers die daily in the massive digital kill zone that Ukraine has created. Other Topics of Interest 20-Year-Old Sentenced to Life for Killing Ukrainian Linguist, Nationalist He denied killing the linguist and former lawmaker, but judges said forensic, digital and surveillance evidence proved his guilt. Now the sledgehammer bill, authored by the late Senator Lindsey Graham, gives Trump 30 days to unleash draconian sanctions against Russia, its allies, and oil customers. This leverage is designed to start talks, but Putin will play for time as usual. When asked in recent days whether Putin will set a date for talks, a spokesman said that Ukrainian drone attacks during Russia’s recent elections had changed Putin’s “calculus.” In other words, there would be no meeting. Nothing has changed.To date, Trump’s “personal diplomacy” and persuasion methods have flopped with Putin, but Russia’s economy is weakening. Moscow just sold half its gold bullion to pay war bills. There is a run on its banks, and credible polling shows that Russians want the war against Ukraine to stop. In the United States, there is growing discontent that Trump has been playing footsie with Putin.This week, a group of bipartisan senators demanded that Trump disinvite Putin from the G20 to be held in Miami because they believe the invitation legitimizes the Russian assault on Ukraine. Public opinion clearly backs Ukraine, which is why the sledgehammer received overwhelming support in Congress and should be used, partially or wholly. Trump has 30 days to roll out draconian sanctions to stop the slaughter unless he can come up with a valid reason not to do so in writing to Congress.In the meantime, Ukraine’s counter-offensive “Vivaldi,” an army and tank force comprised of robots, puts pressure on Russia and has reoccupied as much land in recent weeks as Russia captured in the past year. In addition, Trump deploys 10,000 more troops to Eastern Europe and allegedly decided to give Ukraine a license to produce Patriot air defense systems. And Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to garner support from allies such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a ceasefire, and there are campaigns among UN members to remove Russia’s veto power at the UN Security Council or ban it altogether. Zelensky said he discussed the Black Sea grain situation with many nations to lobby Moscow.“Everybody wants [a] ceasefire,” he said.Russia’s Food WarThe fact that Trump has “signed” the sledgehammer and other initiatives sends important messages:— The American public is running out of patience with Russia to stop its war.— Trump realizes that his attempt to negotiate business deals with Russians to stop its war hasn’t worked.— The US is increasing military assistance that will raise Russia’s already unaffordable war costs.— The US can devastate Russia’s economy with these sanctions, but is also offering a diplomatic off-ramp to Putin.If invoked, the sledgehammer will be crippling: Trump can impose tariffs of up to 500% on Russian goods; tariffs of up to 100% on imports from the top five buyers of Russian crude oil or natural gas that keep buying after Oct. 18, and sanction the top five countries that help Russia evade oil sanctions. Sanctions will also apply to ships carrying Russian oil and to foreign banks doing business with Russia.But at the same time, Trump contemplates rolling out a few more “carrots” to get Russia to the negotiating table. Recent reports are that he’s weighing agreements involving the Arctic, rare earth metals, aluminum, and sales of Russian gas to Europe to demonstrate good intentions and reactivate stalled peace talks. But these are “Hail Mary passes” – as well as attempts to enrich his family and friends – that won’t end Putin’s warmongering. Wars are difficult to stop once started. As Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz wrote, a war is never truly finished until the enemy’s will has been entirely subdued or they have been forced into submission.Trump’s pandering to Putin is a political problem for him in the midterms, as is the Iran war. The country’s Republican-leaning business voice, The Wall Street Journal, bluntly articulated its disdain for Trump’s strategy toward Russia.In a recent editorial, it wrote: “Mr. Trump is hosting the G-20 heads of state at his Trump National Doral club in December. The US invitation will give the Russian a photo-op to show Russians that he’s no longer a pariah on the world stage. It’s a global rehabilitation gift even as the Russian public grows tired of the war. Mr. Trump might argue that bringing Mr. Putin back into the global fold could make him more likely to end the war. But we’ve heard this for years, and Mr. Putin shows no sign of abandoning his goal of making Ukraine a wholly owned subsidiary. Inviting the dictator to the G-20 is morally offensive. Even worse, it might make the Russians think he could get away with a targeted attack on NATO.” The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post. Diane FrancisDiane Francis is an award-winning columnist, bestselling author, investigative journalist, and television commentator. She writes twice weekly at https://dianefrancis.substack.com/ and is Editor at Large with the National Post and Postmedia newspapers writing twice weekly. She is Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Eurasia section, in Washington DC. She has written pieces for the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Daily Beast, Politico, Miami Herald and the New York Post. In addition she is a Distinguished Professor at Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Management and has been a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University’s Joan Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. In 1991, she became Editor of Canada's Financial Post, the first woman editor of a national daily newspaper in Canada, a position she held until the paper was sold in 1998.