Former Ukraine Minister of Economy Tymofiy Mylovanov is responding to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio‘s comments about the possibility of the United States applying sanctions against Russia amid the lagging ceasefire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
On CBS News’ Face the Nation, Rubio said, “We’ve advised the Russians, repeatedly now for over two months, that this was coming if no progress was made.”
This statement comes as headlines around the world Sunday reported a version of: ‘Russia launches biggest drone attack on Kyiv since the invasion began.’ Reuters reported: “Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 273 drones by 08:00 Sunday (05:00 GMT) targeting the central Kyiv region, and Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions in the east.”
Rubio: The Senate will move forward with sanctions legislation against Russia if there’s no progress. We’ve asked the Senate for a bit more time to see if negotiations yield results. 5/ pic.twitter.com/U0sEaCp46b
— Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) May 18, 2025
Rubio added: “The Senate is going to act ultimately” on moving forward with sanctions legislation against Russia. “That’s an effort we couldn’t stop and don’t control. Ultimately, Congress and particularly Republicans in the House and Senate have tried to give the President space and time to negotiate something here but we’ve advised the Russians repeatedly now, almost two months, that this was coming if no progress was made. So I think this is just coming to fruition now.”
Rubio is not bluffing. Sanctions are coming — against Russia for refusing a good faith peace effort. But he gives Trump cover, pointing to Congress: even if the administration wanted to go soft, Congress would force sanctions anyway. 0/ pic.twitter.com/GduZ8QnEVl
— Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) May 18, 2025
With the video above, Mylovanov — who is currently President of the Kyiv School of Economics — wrote on X: “Rubio is not bluffing. Sanctions are coming — against Russia for refusing a good faith peace effort. But he gives Trump cover, pointing to Congress: even if the administration wanted to go soft, Congress would force sanctions anyway.”
In saying Rubio was giving “cover” to Trump, Mylovanov refers to the administration’s willingness to act unilaterally on numerous fronts, in some cases simply ignoring and overriding Congress’s previous appropriations and by applying pressure to compel cooperation, when needed, from Republican lawmakers.
Note: Numerous media outlets have provided ample coverage portraying Trump trying to control Congress with his executive orders, with examples including closing USAID and taking over the Library of Congress.
Democracy Docket reports the latter as “a test case to see how susceptible congressional Republicans are to his power grab. If they let him install ideologues throughout the LOC, maybe they’d let him do the same to other indispensable legislative entities,” including the Congressional Budget Office, which provides objective analysis on economic and budgetary matters.