WASHINGTON — The sanctions against Russia will not be signed now. President Donald Trump defended that choice in a Truth Social post on Sunday, saying he did not want to drive Moscow away from negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
“My decision on Russia is a very simple one,” Trump wrote. “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.”
Trump said progress was being made, including on hostage talks. “Great progress is being made, and that includes current hostage negotiations!” he wrote, adding that he could sign the sanctions document “later, or any time that I want.”
He also pointed to Iran. Russia was doing “very little, if anything, to help the Islamic Republic of Iran, compared to what they could be doing,” Trump wrote, and he wanted it to stay that way.
The post then turned on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of targeting diesel refineries in Russia, attacks he said were hurting world diesel markets and American farmers, ranchers and businesses.
“He doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did,” Trump wrote of Zelenskyy. He said a large portion of Ukraine’s land was lost and its male population was “low, wounded, and/or dead,” before closing the post: “I WANT THIS WAR END!”
The defense came amid rising anger in Congress over the waiver. Several Republican lawmakers have demanded that the White House put the Russia sanctions legislation into effect, according to USA Today, arguing the easing of pressure helps Moscow while its attacks on Ukraine continue.
Zelenskyy made the same case on Sunday. In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he said the waiver amounted to “more support for Russian aggression,” according to USA Today. In a post on X, he said Russia had attacked Ukraine’s energy and oil and gas sectors 76 times in the week since Trump announced an energy ceasefire.
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