Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday blasted the “unfortunate” decision to hold back new sanctions on Russia after the country released still more devastating attacks on his country’s energy infrastructure.
He posted on X about the “unrelenting pace” of Moscow’s attacks, just hours after President Trump issued a surprise order from Mar-a-Lago to pause sanctions under the newly-signed Lindsey Graham Act sanctions legislation.
The Ukrainian leader urged people to speak out forcefully for the sanctions, but notably did not go after President Trump by name, days after Trump said it was time for Ukraine to “get a new president.”
Trump kept up the heat Thursday, when he blasted Zelensky for Ukraine’s “shooting at refineries,” calling it a “disgrace” and saying “all he’s doing is making the world price of oil higher.
Zelensky said attacks from more than 320 jet-powered and gasoline-powered Iranian shahed drones “along with loitering munitions, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles, were used against our energy sector, our cities, and our communities.
“At a time when the Russians have carried out such a massive attack on our energy sector, a decision was unfortunately made in America to completely disregard the Lindsey Graham Act, which was supposed to impose truly effective pressure on Russia to bring this war to an end,” he wrote. “This Act could have helped enormously – and still can! But it needs to actually work, and every voice in support of it matters.”
Trump on Friday signed a new executive order pausing the Russia sanctions named after his late friend Graham, signing a waiver that it was in the “national interest” of the United States. The move came days after Trump announced a plan to buy 300,000 metric tons of Russian diesel to lower global prices. Zelensky has slammed that move as funding Russia’s war machine.
Provisions that Trump waived that were set to go into effect Sunday would have slapped tariffs of up to 100% on the largest importers of Russian oil and gas and imposed tariffs of up to 500% tariffs on all Russian goods.
