US President Donald Trump on Sunday defended his decision to waive some sanctions against Russia and again accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of not wanting to end the war.
Trump and Zelensky have clashed over the US President’s decision to block new sanctions against Russia and strike a diesel supply deal with Moscow. The agreement stunned Kyiv and its allies, triggering another dispute between the two leaders and further straining their already troubled relationship. “My latest model was: We don’t target Russian diesel, you give us missiles for Patriot systems to protect our facilities. But they just want us to stop attacking diesel. And if we strike that, they will disconnect us from something.
His remarks came after Trump signed an executive order late on Friday to waive sweeping new Russia-related sanctions required under a law named after the late US senator Lindsey Graham , the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026.
On Sunday, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he was working towards a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine and had made “great progress”. “Zelensky is using Diesel Refineries in Russia as a target, knowing that these attacks are seriously hurting the world diesel markets, including those in the United States,” Trump said. “Now, we have dangerous days ahead of the elections,” Zelensky said, referring to the US midterm elections on November 3. Zelensky said relations with Washington could improve after the US midterm elections.
“Politics is very aggressive during election time,” he said. “I think it is agony now, but after elections, life will continue and I believe it will be calmer.”
