On Friday, President Donald Trump shocked the world by easing sanctions on Russia to allow the sale of Russian diesel fuel to the United States and global markets. He boasted that his action would dramatically reduce the price of diesel fuel for Americans and the rest of the world. Trump’s action is a shameful betrayal of Ukraine and our allies that will have little, if any, effect on the price of diesel but will help finance Russia’s war machine and reward a ruthless autocratic regime that continues to murder Ukrainian civilians every week.
Ironically, Trump’s action comes in the wake of newly authorized sanctions that have the potential to throttle the Russian war machine. Less than a month ago, he signed into law the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, which imposes mandatory sanctions and tariffs on countries buying Russian oil and natural gas. The bipartisan act passed the Senate by an overwhelming 86-11 margin, reflecting the broad support for sanctions in the United States. Under the act, the administration is required by law to announce the mandated sanctions and tariffs on Oct. 18.
The easing of existing sanctions less than 10 days before additional sanctions are scheduled to go into effect is a sign of weakness and only will embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin. Despite the clear mandate of the Lindsey Graham Act, Trump has given up whatever leverage he might have had to bring the war to an end with stiff sanctions under the new law by rewarding Putin with the easing of existing sanctions. Trump’s continuing criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and praise of Putin only give Putin further confidence the United States is not serious about imposing more severe sanctions.
Trump’s reward to Putin comes in the wake of weeks of Russian bombardment of civilian targets in Ukraine resulting in the daily murder of civilians and destruction of civilian infrastructure. In a further sign of weakness, Trump has responded to these murders with deafening silence, thereby conveying to Putin he will not be held to account if he continues his targeting of Ukrainian civilians. And, not surprisingly, that is exactly what happened — the day after the easing of sanctions, 20 people, including three children, were killed when Russian aerial bombs hit residential buildings in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia. Putin’s war crimes will now continue unabated.
The Ukrainian people have demonstrated incredible bravery, courage and resilience since the Russian invasion. Ukraine now faces daily horrific bombings and does not have sufficient air-defense capability to protect its people. This is a time when we should be doing everything possible to increase pressure on Russia to end this war. Instead, by Trump’s inexcusable action, the United States will now be helping to finance Russia’s war against Ukraine and will thereby be complicit in Russia’s war crimes.
Trump’s action needs to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. We should not be lending support to the authoritarian aggressor in this war, nor should we be threatening to halt intelligence sharing and arms shipments to Ukraine if it doesn’t cease attacks on Russian oil refineries. We should be supporting Ukraine’s defense of democracy, sovereignty and freedom. The action taken by Trump is a betrayal of Ukraine and our allies, defies logic, weakens our standing in the world and is detrimental to our country’s national security interests.
Trump needs to rescind this deplorable action and move swiftly to implement the Lindsey Graham Act.
Joel R. Levin is a former federal prosecutor who has been active in Ukraine-related advocacy. Mariya Dmytriv-Kapeiak, a Chicago-based physician, is president of the Illinois division of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here More Top Picks Apple Earpods Usb C