Senate Majority Leader John Thune says Republicans will vote on a Russia sanctions bill once Trump approves it, as pressure mounts on Moscow to negotiate peace in Ukraine.

That included a Monday joint statement from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal calling Trump’s threat of ramped-up economic penalties if Russia doesn’t cut a peace deal in next 50 days “a real executive hammer to drive the parties to the negotiating table.”

In response to the escalating threat, President Trump confirmed that the U.S. will send additional Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine. He noted that the European Union would finance the purchase of what he described as "various pieces of very sophisticated" U.S. weaponry.

President Donald Trump is downplaying the possibility of sending Ukraine long-range weapons as Kyiv awaits an injection of U.S. weaponry that it hopes will help it beat back an intensifying Russian air offensive.

Oil prices edged lower on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump's 50-day deadline for Russia to end the Ukraine war and avoid sanctions eased concerns about any immediate supply disruption. Brent crude futures were down 15 cents at $69.

European natural gas fell as traders digested US President Donald Trump’s threat to hit Russia with financial penalties if there’s no deal on peace in Ukraine.

And so it was, just two days after Donald Trump revealed he had decided to lift his administration’s pause on the supply of US-made weapons to Ukraine, that Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov,

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has claimed the Kremlin could launch "preemptive strikes" on Western nations if they escalate the war in Ukraine just days after United States President Donald Trump demanded a ceasefire.