Ukraine president calls for international trade embargo on Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday pressed for more international sanctions against Russia including boycotting Russian oil and halting exports to the country. 

“If the invasion continues and Russia has not abandoned its plans against Ukraine, then a new sanctions package is needed … for the sake of peace,” Zelensky said, according to Reuters.

“Boycott imports to Russia — if they do not adhere to civilized rules, then they should not receive goods and services from civilization. Let the war feed them,” said the president, who has widely been praised as a wartime hero.

Western sanctions including barring transactions with Russia’s central bank, closing airspace to Russian aircraft and kicking certain banks out of the international SWIFT system have already begun to isolate Russia.

However, Zelensky has urged more action from the West — particularly a no-fly zone over Ukraine and harsher measures against Russia’s energy sector. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a letter on Sunday that the House would explore options to “ban the import of Russian oil and energy products into the United States, repeal normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus, and take the first step to deny Russia access to the World Trade Organization.”

A bipartisan bill to ban Russian oil imports was also introduced in the Senate last week. 

“The United States cannot continue to purchase millions of barrels of oil while Putin wages an unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who said on Saturday that he would support that bill.

But while a Russian oil ban appears to be gaining steam on Capitol Hill, lawmakers and the White House continue to say that a no-fly zone is a non-starter due to the risks of direct confrontation with Russia.