Washington
\nDonald Trump has blocked numerous sanctions on Russia two days before they were due to take effect, as a row with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky deepens.
\nThe sanctions were passed by the US Congress and signed into law by Trump in September.
\nBut the US president issued an executive order on Friday night saying that suspending some was in the US \u201cnational interest\u201d, prompting a backlash from US lawmakers. Zelensky said it was unfortunate the US has decided to \u201ccompletely disregard\u201d the sanctions.
\nRelations between Washington and Kyiv frayed after the US struck a controversial deal to import Russian diesel last week. Ukraine then accused the Trump administration of withdrawing key military support.
\nTrump and Zelensky have exchanged sharp words about one another. Ukraine\u2019s president declared it was nice to be among \u201creal leaders\u201d while addressing an EU summit, after Trump said Zelensky was \u201cmore difficult to deal with\u201d than Russian President Vladimir Putin.
\nThe new US sanctions law took aim at Russia\u2019s economy, giving Trump broad powers to levy tariffs of up to 100% on imports from the top five purchasers of Russian oil and gas \u2013 most significantly China and India.
\nIt also included sanctions against senior Russian figures, including Putin, as well as Russian financial institutions and Moscow\u2019s so-called \u201cshadow fleet\u201d of vessels used to circumvent existing embargoes.
\nMany of these provisions have now been waived by Trump.
\nRussian envoy Kirill Dmitriev called the waiver \u201can important and truly historic moment\u201d.
\nPosting on X, he said the sanctions would have inflicted \u201cserious damage\u201d primarily on the US and global market, and that economic cooperation benefits both nations.
\nDemocrats including the Virginia Congressman Don Beyer have criticised the move, accusing Trump of capitulating to Moscow and turning his back on Kyiv and Zelensky.
\n\u201cTrump\u2019s latest surrender to Putin again betrays our Ukrainian partners and defies clear congressional intent of legislation designed to punish Russia for its illegal war of aggression,\u201d Beyer wrote on X.
\nThe move is likely to draw further anger from Ukraine, where Zelensky has long stressed the need for stringent sanctions to limit funding Russia can use in its war effort.
\nZelensky said on Saturday morning that the sanctions \u201ccould have helped enormously\u201d and that the law was \u201csupposed to impose truly effective pressure on Russia to bring this war to an end\u201d.
\nHe pointed to Russian overnight attacks on 15 Ukrainian energy facilities that had caused power cuts in several regions and said: \u201cRussia is trying to cause a blackout in Ukraine \u2013 right before winter.\u201d
\nZelensky said it was \u201cimportant that everyone in America also sees what is really happening\u201d on the ground.
\nHe later told reporters that he believed the Trump administration would lift more sanctions against Russia.
\nHe also said negotiators Ukrainian spoke to their US counterparts on Friday and that both teams could meet next week.
\nTrump was initially criticised by Zelensky and Ukraine\u2019s European allies for temporarily suspending some US sanctions to import Russian diesel in a bid to bring down US energy prices, which have skyrocketed during the Iran war.
\nTrump has spent months grappling with the political consequences of the Middle East conflict, which has sent fuel costs soaring ahead of the US midterm elections. Rising inflation has soured Trump\u2019s standing with the American public.
\nZelensky suggested the deal was tantamount to the US investing in Russia\u2019s war effort.
\nA few days later, Trump claimed that both Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an \u201cenergy ceasefire\u201d to facilitate the export of Russian diesel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington Donald Trump has blocked numerous sanctions on Russia two days before they were due to take effect, as a row with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky deepens. The sanctions were passed by the US Congress and signed into law by Trump in September. But the US president issued an executive order on Friday night […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-572845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n