US President Donald Trump has suspended several sanctions on Russia through an executive order, halting measures passed by the US Congress that were due to take effect within two days. The President said the suspension was intended to keep Moscow at the negotiating table for peace talks with Ukraine. The decision has triggered an immediate political storm on both sides of the Atlantic: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticised the move and urged his supporters to press Washington for new sanctions on Russia, while American lawmakers condemned the suspension as irresponsible, according to reports in Gorkhapatra Online, Nagarik News and Ratopati.
Congress-Approved Measures Stopped Days Before Taking Effect
The sanctions at the centre of the dispute had already cleared the US Congress, the legislative branch with constitutional authority over much of America's sanctions regime, and were only days from coming into force. With roughly two days remaining before the measures were set to take effect, Trump moved to block them through an executive order, exercising the presidential power to suspend or waive certain sanctions enacted by lawmakers.
The timing is central to the controversy. Had the sanctions taken effect, they would have added a new layer of economic restrictions on Russia at a moment when Washington has been positioning itself as a broker of negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. By suspending them, the administration has delayed, and potentially derailed, a package of punitive measures that enjoyed broad legislative support.
Trump's stated rationale is diplomatic rather than punitive. In justifying the order, he said he wants to keep Moscow at the negotiating table for peace talks with Ukraine. The argument reflects a longstanding position of his administration: that applying maximum pressure on Russia while talks are underway risks pushing the Kremlin away from the table rather than toward a settlement.
Critics, however, read the same sequence of events very differently. From their perspective, the United States has suspended an act of Congress, agreed to by both parties, in direct response to Russian sensitivity about sanctions, weakening American leverage at the very moment it is meant to be used.
Zelensky Unhappy, Calls for Fresh Sanctions
For Ukraine, the suspension lands as a heavy blow. President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly criticised Trump's decision and called on his supporters to campaign for the United States to adopt new sanctions on Russia, according to the reports. His response underscores how wide the gap has become between Washington's current approach and Kyiv's own assessment of what the talks require.
Zelensky's appeal to supporters is notable in its framing. Rather than simply lodging a diplomatic complaint, he is mobilising public pressure aimed at American policymakers, effectively asking Ukraine's allies and advocates to lobby the US government to reverse course and tighten, not loosen, the economic screws on Moscow.
The Ukrainian position is rooted in the experience of the war since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Kyiv has consistently argued that sanctions are among the most powerful tools the West possesses, and that sustained economic pressure is what forces Moscow to take negotiations seriously. In that view, suspending sanctions just as they were about to bite sends a signal that delay and defiance carry no cost.
Zelensky's dissatisfaction also reflects a practical worry: that Russia will interpret the American concession as proof that it can prolong the talks indefinitely while easing the economic strain that sanctions were designed to intensify.
US Lawmakers Condemn the Move
The suspension has also provoked sharp criticism inside the United States itself. Members of Congress described the decision as irresponsible, a pointed characterization given that the sanctions being suspended were the product of their own legislation.
That reaction points to a deeper institutional tension. When Congress passes sanctions into law and the executive branch then suspends them by order, the president effectively overrides the will of the legislature on a matter of major foreign policy. Lawmakers who supported the sanctions argue that this sets a damaging precedent, allowing any future administration to hollow out congressionally mandated pressure on Moscow through unilateral action.
The criticism from Congress also narrows the political space around the peace process. With members of the president's own institutional landscape openly calling the suspension irresponsible, any agreement that emerges from negotiations conducted under these conditions is likely to face heightened scrutiny on Capitol Hill.
Diplomacy or Leverage: What Is at Stake
The dispute captures the central dilemma of Western policy toward Russia: whether pressure or engagement is more likely to end the war. Trump and his administration have wagered that keeping Moscow willing to talk, even at the cost of postponing sanctions, offers the best path to peace. Zelensky and his supporters in Congress have wagered the opposite, that only sustained and escalating economic pressure will push Russia toward a settlement acceptable to Ukraine.
The coming days will test both bets. Zelensky's call for new sanctions is now a direct challenge to American policy, and it remains to be seen whether lawmakers attempt to legislate fresh measures or to block further suspensions. Meanwhile, the suspended sanctions, passed by Congress but never allowed to take effect, remain in limbo, a symbol of how fragile the current diplomatic track has become.
What is not in dispute is the urgency both sides attach to the moment. The war in Ukraine remains the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War, and decisions taken in Washington about sanctions and talks carry consequences far beyond the negotiating table. With the suspended measures shelved, Kyiv campaigning for new restrictions, and Congress in open revolt over the president's order, the debate over how to end the war is now being fought as fiercely in Washington as in the talks themselves.
