Senator Charles Grassley (R) says he supports imposing sanctions on Russia amid their ongoing war with Ukraine, as President Joe Biden announced new sanctions this week including Russia’s largest financial institutions and a ban on new investment.

President Biden declared major war crimes were being discovered in Ukraine this week, citing scenes of brutal, cold-blood executions from Russian forces. The U.S. Justice Department also announced this week that they are charging Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev with sanctions violations, the first criminal charges against an oligarch since Russia invaded Ukraine. Grassley tells KCII that the U.S. should continue its role of assisting Ukrainian refugees and providing weapons and materials to Ukrainian forces, “And I think we’re doing a good job of that. I think we got started way later than we should have but I think we’re trying to give them the equipment that they need to fight it and I’m in favor of that. In regards to the atrocities that you’ve talked about I think it comes down to the war criminal laws and people ought to be prosecuted.”

Grassley cosponsored a resolution this March supporting Ukraine’s war crimes complaint to the International Criminal Court. He and fellow co-chair of the Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced legislation last week to strengthen their partnership with the three Baltic countries and enhance their capabilities as critical allies on NATO’s eastern flank against the Vladimir Putin regime.