Trump Defends Russia Sanctions Waiver Amid Ukraine Fallout

President Donald Trump defended waivers of sanctions on Russia on Sunday, Oct. 18, saying he wanted Moscow to remain at the bargaining table as he negotiated an end to the war with Ukraine. His decision blocked numerous sanctions days before they were due to take effect and drew criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said the relief would hurt Ukraine.

Sanctions and the bargaining table

“My decision on Russia is a very simple one,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don't want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table.” The decision has triggered significant diplomatic fallout between Trump and Zelenskyy over the past week.

Zelenskyy said waiving sanctions “will hurt Ukraine.” On NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, he argued that the move would strengthen Russian President Vladimir Putin's war effort. “We can't compare me and Putin. He's [an] aggressor. He occupied us. He killed adults and children, his soldiers. He's a terrorist, and that's why I hope that President Trump will be very clear with this position.”

Trump also accused Zelenskyy of not wanting to end the war. He said Kyiv was striking diesel refineries in Russia despite knowing the attacks were “seriously hurting the world diesel markets.” Trump wrote: “Zelenskyy doesn't care, and frankly, with all of the money that Europe is famously giving him... he doesn't want to end this war, and probably never did.”

Energy supplies and diplomatic costs

On October 9, Trump announced plans for Russia to supply more than 300,000 metric tonnes of diesel to U.S. and global markets to address fuel prices. Those prices had risen since the United States and Israel launched a war on Iran in late February. The move led Tehran to effectively close the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of global energy exports had transited before the war.

Trump's embrace of Russian energy angered Kyiv, European partners and many U.S. officials. They said the decision rewarded Moscow even as it continued its four-and-a-half-year war against Ukraine. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour in 2022. The sanctions decision and diesel plan have put Russian energy supplies alongside disputes over negotiations and how much pressure to keep on Moscow.

Talks continue as strikes hit energy sites

On Sunday, Zelenskyy said on X that he had spoken with U.S. presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. He described exchanges between the countries' teams as “virtually non-stop communication” about the “next steps in diplomacy.”

“We are doing everything on our part to make this happen, and to ensure that America's position is strong and helps bring peace closer,” Zelenskyy wrote. He said the goal was “Peace that everyone, except Russia, has been waiting for over the past four and a half years.”

The diplomatic contacts came as Russia and Ukraine kept striking each other's energy sites. Moscow's attacks left thousands without power, while Kyiv carried out its largest drone attack on Russia, in St Petersburg, since the war began. Trump and Zelenskyy were pictured greeting each other at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on December 28, 2025.