Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged supporters Saturday to speak out in defence of new US sanctions against Russia, hours after President Donald Trump signed an executive order pausing a sweeping package of restrictions targeting the Russian economy.
The White House decision has further raised fears that Ukraine could be left exposed to Moscow’s escalating assaults with winter approaching. Russian attacks overnight killed at least four people, including an ambulance driver, and injured dozens, officials said. Ukrainian drones killed a woman in a Russian border region and disrupted flights at Moscow’s airports, according to Russian authorities.
Zelenskyy described Trump’s move to put sanctions on hold as unfortunate, but did not directly criticise the US leader despite deepening tensions between Ukraine and Washington in recent days.
“A decision was unfortunately made in America to completely disregard the Lindsey Graham Act, which was supposed to impose truly effective pressure on Russia to bring this war to an end,” Zelenskyy wrote. He also expressed hope that the new sanctions could be revived. “This Act could have helped enormously -- and still can! But it needs to actually work, and every voice in support of it matters,” he said.
Named after late South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, the legislation had sought to clamp down more quickly on the flow of financial resources fueling Russia’s 4 1/2-year-old war against Ukraine. The bill had sought to sanction Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of tankers that keeps Russian energy moving. Trump personally signed the legislation just last month, and his move came just two days before a deadline set in the law itself for its implementation. The President told Congress that the pause was in the national interest but gave no further details.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who co-drafted the bill, said in a statement that Trump was turning his back on “the majority of Americans, their representatives in both houses of Congress, and our European allies.”
“These waivers have nothing to do with our national security, and everything to do with sucking up to Vladimir Putin,” Blumenthal said.
Trump’s unexpected decision comes a week after he stunningly said the US had agreed to purchase diesel from Russia to try to bring down global energy prices, despite that potentially hurting Ukraine in its war with Russia.