Senate bills pressuring Russia advance into uncertain future

For the first time in this Congress, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved measures on Wednesday that would hold Russia to account for its war on Ukraine, but the bills’ outlook is murky.

The panel approved all three bills by voice vote.

One of the bills would update a 2024 law that authorizes the president to send roughly $5 billion in frozen Russian assets under U.S. jurisdiction to Ukraine.

Another measure would require sanctions on people or entities from China that aid Russia’s military.

The third bill would require that Russia be declared a state sponsor of terrorism unless it returns to Ukraine all of the Ukrainian children who have been abducted and sent to Russia and elsewhere.

The Ukrainian government estimates that nearly 20,000 children and counting have been kid