The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has considered this Saturday "unfair" the decision of his American counterpart, Donald Trump, to halt the 'Graham Law' —a package that toughened sanctions against Russia— although he has reiterated that he is still willing to hold a direct meeting with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, with the participation of the United States.
"The relief of sanctions (against Russia) will continue. I believe that the agreement on diesel and the measure adopted regarding the Graham Law will not be the only thing, unfortunately," the leader pointed out in a long post on his social media, in which he responds to the main issues raised by the press following the recent decision of the White House.
From Kiev, they emphasize that the only beneficiary of this shift from Washington is the Kremlin, warning that the measure "only feeds its satisfaction and its eagerness to keep killing people," in addition to insisting that "of course, this does not stop the war."
Kiev states that "the negotiation channel with the US remains open"
The Ukrainian leader has reiterated that he remains "open" to a face-to-face negotiation with the head of the Kremlin with mediation from the White House, which he has urged not to be "unfair" in the pressure it exerts on the Ukrainian government. Zelensky has added that Washington would be preparing a new round of contacts for next week, without providing further information.
"The US negotiation channel will continue. We expect them to exert more pressure on Putin and not on us; otherwise, it would simply be unfair (...) The US side has sent us a signal that the meeting could take place next week," he specified.
Zelensky warns of a Russian "threat" after Trump's shift
After the change in tone from the White House towards Moscow in the last two weeks, Zelensky believes that the Kremlin will "undoubtedly" take advantage of this context to intensify operations in western Ukraine and that it would already be preparing for it.
"We know that they are installing relay stations in Belarusian territory to use that corridor with drones and intensify the offensives. But that is not enough for them: they need Lukashenko's support to deploy other types of weaponry in Belarus, including ballistic missiles. This would represent a direct threat, mainly to the western part of our country," he explained.
The Ukrainian president has added that "dragging Belarus directly" into the conflict "would be very dangerous," also for the Lukashenko government itself.
Recognition to Lindsey Graham and criticism of Trump's reversal
Zelensky wanted to dedicate a few words to the sponsor of the law, the late senator Lindsey Graham, to whom he thanked for his involvement after the Trump Administration has frozen its most emblematic initiative.
"I will be honest: it is difficult without him. I want to thank both the Democrats and the Republicans who supported his bill. It was a great victory, a true bipartisan support. That is why the decision to reverse all this and block it seems wrong to me," he lamented.
Trump decided this Friday to suspend the implementation of the latest package of sanctions against Russia — approved by Congress a month ago and about to come into effect — claiming that the measure "was redundant to the national interest" of the United States.
With this step, Washington's shift towards Moscow is consolidated — after the recent agreement to import Russian diesel despite the existing restrictions — and the distancing from Ukraine deepens, whose leadership under Volodymyr Zelensky has been openly questioned by the White House.