• Zelenskyy urged Biden and Congress to escalate financial punishments on Russia.
  • He called on all US companies to exit Russia right away.
  • "All American companies must leave their market immediately because it is flooded with our blood," he said.

During a joint address to Congress on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the US to escalate its financial and economic penalties on Russia to punish the country for its increasingly brutal invasion of Ukraine.

"We propose that the United States sanction all politicians in the Russian Federation who remain in their offices and do not cut ties with those who are responsible for the aggression against Ukraine," Zelenskyy said, via a translator.

"All American companies must leave their market immediately because it is flooded with our blood," he said.

The Russian economy has been pummeled from Western sanctions cutting it off from foreign currency reserves, paired with an accelerating exodus of US and European companies from Russia. Major banks like Goldman Sachs have suspended operations in the country, as well as other large firms including McDonald's and Starbucks.

It comes in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, orchestrated by Russian president Vladimir Putin. The Russian military campaign has fallen short of capturing the capital Kyiv after three weeks, prompting the Russian military to increasingly target civilian areas.

Western sanctions have also targeted top Russian government officials and other elites with close ties to Putin, freezing their assets or seizing them outright. Zelenskyy wants the US to go further and sanction every Russian lawmaker in the Duma, the equivalent of Russia's legislative branch.

There is appetite in Congress to revoke tax benefits for US companies still operating in Russia. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, chair of the Finance Committee, said he supported the move.

Zelenskyy also urged the US and its allies to impose a no-fly zone, a step that Biden and Congress have shied away from out of fear of triggering a broader war with Russia.

This story will be updated.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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