President Trump paused new Russia sanctions after a diesel deal and soaring fuel costs, calling it a national-interest move, a step Zelenskyy says only rewards Putin.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday putting on hold sweeping new sanctions against Russia that Congress had just enacted, saying the pause “is in the national interests of the United States.” The order followed a deal last week to release Russian diesel onto the global market as American drivers face sharp fuel spikes, NBC News reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy answered Saturday by calling the lift “wrong” and arguing it “only helps the Russians.” He framed the waiver as pressure relief for Moscow less than three weeks before U.S. midterm elections, with cost of living already topping voter concerns.
Trump had signed the bipartisan package, named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., only last month. The law targeted revenue streams Russia uses to fund its war on Ukraine and gave the president power to hit goods from Russia’s biggest oil and gas buyers, countries that may include China and India.
Diesel prices have jumped almost 70% since the Iran war began in February. Trump tied that squeeze to Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil and gas sites and downplayed the Iran conflict’s effect on the oil market. The diesel arrangement called for hundreds of thousands of tons of Russian fuel to enter the market.
Just The News reported the order pauses sanctions, restrictions, and duties under the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 and leaves other existing Russia sanctions untouched. The Act also extends Iran-related measures and allows tariffs of up to 100% on top buyers of Russian energy, with a presidential waiver option.
Before any waiver, the law requires an unclassified report to Congress. Trump said the White House has already sent it. In the order he wrote that he was waiving application of the Graham Act measures and had certified to Congress that the step serves U.S. national interests.
"I am hereby waiving the application of such sanctions, restrictions, and duties provided for in the Graham Act... I have submitted to the Congress a certification that the issuance of such a waiver at this time is in the national interests of the United States."
The Washington Examiner noted the waiver rests on Section 115 of the Graham Act and blocks steep measures that had faced a tight clock after the Sept. 18 signing, including 100% tariffs on top buyers of Russian crude and 500% tariffs on Russian imports, plus related entity sanctions.
Zelenskyy did not hold back. On Telegram he decried an “American sanctions blackout” and said easing pressure on the aggressor works as a financial reward for Putin and only encourages more attacks.
"weakening of pressure on the aggressor, effectively serving as a financial reward for Putin, only encourages him to continue his attacks."
In WhatsApp notes to journalists he went further, saying the move will not restrain the Russian leader.
"It seems to me that this won’t stop Putin. On the contrary, he feels joy and happiness that there is such support."
He also praised Graham’s record, saying the late senator “always supported us very strongly and pushed for as much assistance to Ukraine as possible,” adding it is “difficult without him” and thanking Graham’s friends who backed the bill. Democrats and Republicans who supported the legislation drew his thanks as well.
Senate passage of the underlying law was lopsided, 86-11, as cited by critics of the waiver. Many Democrats had opposed the bill earlier because it handed the president new tariff powers, even as the package drew strong bipartisan majorities overall.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., labeled the waiver a “craven, cowardly action” and claimed the decision had “nothing to do with our national security, and everything to do with sucking up to Vladimir Putin.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren charged that by waiving the sanctions Trump was “thumbing his nose at Congress’s direction” and “enabling Vladimir Putin to continue his war of aggression.”
Some Republicans who backed the Graham package also objected. Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., called the decision “Beyond irresponsible” on X and asked what part of enforcing a law passed 86-11 the president and his advisors did not understand. He argued that if the goal is lower energy prices, the path runs through the Iran problem, “not by doing a solid for Vladimir Putin.”
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a Ukraine ally who is not seeking re-election next month, wrote that “the president is prolonging the war, not ending it.” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who lost a primary earlier this year to a Trump-backed challenger, said “Lindsey would be appalled.”
Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., the late senator’s sister, a co-sponsor of the bill that bears his name, and a firm Trump ally whose endorsement helped her primary win, has touted the measure on the campaign trail. She has not criticized the president over the diesel arrangement or the sanctions hold while she seeks a full term in that seat.
The timing is plain. Voters head to the polls in under three weeks with household costs front and center. Trump’s order presents the pause as a tool to ease those pressures after the diesel deal, while leaving separate Russia sanctions in place. Zelenskyy and several lawmakers cast the same choice as a gift to the Kremlin and a retreat from the pressure Congress wrote into law.
The statute’s design was leverage: tariffs and sanctions aimed at the buyers and revenue that sustain Russia’s war machine, plus a formal report to Congress before any presidential off-ramp. Trump used that off-ramp, certified the national-interest basis, and tied the move to fuel supply. Ukraine’s president says Putin will read it as encouragement. American drivers are still paying the elevated diesel bill that followed the Iran war and the strikes on Russian energy infrastructure.
Voters can judge which pressure matters more, the one on Moscow’s ledger, or the one on the pump, when they weigh national interest for themselves.
