WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that President Donald Trump’s decision to waive new sanctions on Russia would encourage further attacks on Ukraine, while the administration defended the move as necessary to preserve peace negotiations.
Zelenskyy criticized the decision Saturday, Oct. 17, a day after Russia struck more than 15 Ukrainian power generation and transmission sites, he said.
“The decision to undo all of this, to block all of it, seems wrong to me,” he wrote on X. “It definitely helps only the Russians.”
Trump signed the waiver Friday, Oct. 16, two days before the penalties were scheduled to take effect under legislation he approved less than a month earlier. The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act sought to restrict Russia’s access to money, energy customers and international financial services.
The suspended measures included an additional 500% tariff on Russian goods and 100% tariffs on goods from the five largest importers of Russian crude oil and natural gas that continued making purchases. The legislation also targeted countries helping Moscow evade oil sanctions.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that Trump would take up to 60 days to assess how the sanctions and tariffs would affect the U.S. and global economies. Trump defended the waiver Sunday, saying he wanted to keep Russia at the negotiating table.
The executive order itself contains no 60-day expiration. It allows the waivers to continue until Trump or the secretary of state, consulting other senior officials, determines that further action is appropriate.
Trump used authority Congress included in the law to waive penalties on national-interest grounds. The order says he submitted the required certification and explanation to lawmakers.
The decision also suspends new restrictions on foreign banks doing substantial business with Russian state-owned banks, purchases of Russian sovereign debt and U.S. investment in Russia. Existing sanctions imposed through earlier executive orders remain in place, although Trump waived the new law’s requirement to preserve them.
The waiver follows a separate Treasury authorization permitting Russian diesel sales, deliveries and imports into the United States through April. Without relief from the new legislation, those shipments would have faced tariffs and participating vessels could have faced sanctions.
The decisions drew objections from Republicans as well as Democrats. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., criticized the waiver and noted that the Senate passed the legislation 86–11. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Graham would have opposed the decision. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who voted against the bill, welcomed it.
White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said enforcing the penalties now would hinder negotiations, adding that Trump could impose them later if he determined that doing so served U.S. interests.
