Zelenskyy blasts 'unfortunate' U.S. pause of Russia sanctions package

Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged supporters on Saturday to speak out in defence of new American sanctions on Russia, hours after Donald Trump signed an executive order pausing the package. He called the pause “unfortunate” but stopped short of criticising Trump by name. New Indian Express

“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 on X. “This Act could have helped enormously – and still can! But it needs to actually work, and every voice in support of it matters.”

Answering journalists, Zelenskyy thanked Democrats and Republicans who backed the bill, warning blocking it would encourage Russia to keep killing. “We very much hope – and I personally hope – that the president of the United States of America will do everything possible to make Putin stop the killing, stop the attacks on our energy infrastructure, and end this war,” he added.

Trump signed the waiver from Mar-a-Lago on Friday, calling the pause in the “national interest”. Provisions due Sunday would have set tariffs of up to 100 per cent on the biggest importers of Russian oil and gas, and up to 500 per cent on all Russian goods. NY Post

The rebuke came as Zelenskyy said Moscow had carried out “one of the largest attacks” on Ukraine’s energy sector overnight, hitting more than 15 sites with more than 320 jet-powered and gasoline-powered Shahed drones, loitering munitions, cruise and ballistic missiles. New Indian Express