The lifting of sanctions against Russia will continue. The US–Russian diesel deal is the first step.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this in an audio comment to journalists on 17 October. Lifting the restrictions will not help stop Vladimir Putin — on the contrary, he feels happy that he has such support, the head of state is convinced.
“And yet we very much hope — and I personally — that the President of the United States will do everything to make Putin stop the killings, stop the strikes on our energy sector and stop the war,” the President said.
He stressed that this cannot be achieved by limiting Ukraine’s responses against Russia and lifting sanctions.
Commenting on Donald Trump’s executive order cancelling the “hellish sanctions” from Lindsey Graham’s bill, the President said this would not be the last step towards easing restrictions against the aggressor. Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to the late senator and added that the decision to block his work helps only the Russians and does not stop the war.
The President added that Ukraine had received no warnings about the suspension of sanctions. Nor did it know about the diesel deal or the “energy truce” announced by Trump.
Context
Last week, Trump unexpectedly announced a deal with Russia to supply millions of tonnes of oil, thereby easing sanctions against it. He also once again accused Ukraine of causing energy market prices to rise through its strikes on Russia’s oil refineries. Analysts, however, noted that the price increase began as a result of Iran’s strikes on oil facilities in the Persian Gulf countries.
On 16 October, the US president signed an executive order cancelling tougher sanctions against Russia from a bill co-authored by Lindsey Graham, which was due to come into force soon.