WASHINGTON, 17 February 2022, (TON): US senators joined together to express a message of solidarity to the Ukrainian people and a warning to Russia´s Vladimir Putin, although the chamber failed to agree on drafting sanctions against Moscow.

12 senior Democratic and Republican members of the Senate said in a statement “in this dark hour, we are sending a bipartisan message of solidarity and resolve to the people of Ukraine, and an equally clear warning to Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin.”

The text, signed by the chamber´s party leaders Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell, marked a rare point of political unity in a hyper-polarized Congress.

But the statement does not carry the weight of law, and comes after political rivals in the evenly divided Senate failed to reach agreement on a bipartisan bill to severely sanction Russia should it invade neighbor Ukraine.

Late last month key senators on both sides of the aisle were close to reaching a deal on sanctions. But late Tuesday Republicans essentially balked by introducing their own sanctions bill without Democrats for consideration.