Zelenskyy Presses Allies on Russia Sanctions After Trump Pause

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Western partners to maintain pressure on Moscow after President Trump placed new US sanctions on Russia on hold, two days before they were set to take effect, according to AP News.

Trump signed an executive order waiving several of the sanctions after they had already been written into law, saying the measures ran against US national interests, BBC World reported. The order came a week after the United States and Russia finalized a diesel-trade arrangement with President Vladimir Putin, Al Jazeera reported.

A widening rift

The sanctions pause has sharpened a dispute between Trump and Zelenskyy that had already been building over the diesel deal and over Ukraine’s continued strikes on Russian refineries. BBC described the standoff as intensifying, with Zelenskyy pressing Washington not to retreat from penalties Congress had already passed into law.

The dynamic follows a week in which Trump had publicly called Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refineries a “disgrace” and described dealing with Zelenskyy as more difficult than negotiating with Putin, positions laid out in two prior dispatches from this desk. Kyiv has not backed down from the refinery campaign, resuming strikes even as Washington pushed a diesel arrangement with Moscow.

The sanctions law and the waiver

The sanctions Trump paused were part of a broader package aimed at punishing Russia for the war in Ukraine, passed by Congress and signed by Trump himself earlier this year, according to The Independent. The waiver applies to several — not all — of the measures, and comes as the administration pursues the diesel channel with Moscow that this desk covered earlier this week and that AmericaStrikes has also reported on the Zelenskyy-Washington rift it has produced.

Zelenskyy’s office has argued that easing sanctions removes leverage at a moment when Ukraine needs it most. He has also pressed European governments to take on a larger share of financial and military support if US backing softens, a position detailed in a separate dispatch on his outreach to European capitals.

Conditions on the ground

The sanctions dispute is unfolding against a difficult winter for Ukrainians living under Russian occupation. AP reported that residents trapped in at least one Russian-occupied city face a winter of hunger, with humanitarian access to the area constrained, according to AP News. The report underscores the stakes Kyiv has cited in urging Washington to keep sanctions pressure on Moscow rather than easing it through trade arrangements.

Neither Washington nor Kyiv has indicated the sanctions dispute is resolved. Trump’s order leaves open the possibility that the waived measures could be reinstated, while Zelenskyy has signaled he will continue pressing both the US and European partners on the issue in the coming days. This desk will continue tracking developments in the sanctions standoff as both sides stake out positions ahead of further diplomatic contact.