‘Ukrainian blood’: The view from Kyiv as Trump waives sanctions on Russia

KYIV — My friends here in Ukraine have been joking with me this week: “Why are you always here at the worst times?”

It’s true. I arrived Sunday, two days after President Trump announced his Russian “diesel deal,” opening the market to fuel sales that will bring fresh money into a country still bombing this one.

By Saturday morning Kyiv time, it had only gotten worse.

Late Friday in Washington, Trump signed an executive order waiving a sweeping package of new sanctions and tariffs under the law named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham — the same legislation Trump signed less than a month ago. The penalties were due to take effect Sunday.

No additional 100% tariffs on goods from the five largest buyers of Russian oil and natural gas. No additional 100% tariffs on goods from the countries most responsible for helping Russia evade oil sanctions. No additional 500% tariffs on Russian goods.

Trump also waived a broad range of the law’s sanctions and restrictions, invoking a provision allowing him to do so in the national interest. His order leaves the waivers in place until he or his administration decides otherwise.

Essentially, Congress handed him a hammer. He put it down.

Existing sanctions imposed under earlier executive orders remain in place. But the new economic squeeze lawmakers approved to pressure Moscow has largely been put on hold.

That follows Trump’s Oct. 9 announcement that Russia would supply more than 300,000 metric tons of diesel immediately, another 500,000 in November and 1 million shortly afterward. Treasury issued a temporary license allowing Russian diesel imports through April 7.

Trump’s stated priority was relief for Americans paying high fuel prices, particularly farmers, ranchers and truckers — especially with the midterm elections weeks away. The sales could also generate billions of dollars for Moscow.

Here, the people I’m speaking with have a different description: filling American tanks with “Ukrainian blood.”

Their fear is straightforward. Revenue from Russian energy helps sustain the state waging this war. Giving Moscow another way to earn money eases the pressure on Putin while Ukrainians are still waiting for something that will make him stop.

It’s also deeply unclear whether the move will have any positive impact whatsoever for Republicans next month.

Goldman Sachs estimated that the Russian diesel shipments scheduled for October and November would lower wholesale diesel prices on the US Gulf Coast and in Europe by just $1 to $2 a barrel, according to CNBC. That works out to roughly 2 to 5 cents a gallon at the wholesale level — not a guarantee of equivalent savings at the pump.

And Americans’ sympathies remain overwhelmingly with Ukraine over Russia. An Oct. 14 YouGov survey of 5,531 US adults found 57% sympathized more with Ukraine, compared with just 4% for Russia. Among Republicans, 46% chose Ukraine and 6% Russia, while 33% chose neither.

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Distrust of Putin also crosses party lines. Pew Research Center reported in April that at least eight in 10 Americans in each party held negative views of Russia and its leader.

Asked specifically about Trump’s suspension of diesel sanctions, 40% of adults opposed the move and 33% supported it in YouGov’s Oct. 14 survey, with 27% unsure. Those numbers do not establish how anyone will vote, but they hardly show a clear political winner.

And the backlash has reached well beyond Kyiv.

A dozen Republican and Democratic senators, including Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins and Jeanne Shaheen, urged Trump to reverse the diesel deal.

“This deal is a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies; it should be rescinded,” they wrote.

Other Republicans defended the president. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso described him as balancing efforts to end the war with lowering Americans’ costs.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer characterized the deal as an unconventional response to voters’ concerns, Roll Call reported.

Nobody here needs convincing that fuel prices matter. It was the Ukrainians themselves who first worried about rising oil prices when the US war on Iran began.

I was in Kyiv on Feb. 28 when the US launched the strikes. I interviewed several Ukrainian officials the next day who were deeply concerned that the move would send oil prices soaring, thus putting more money into Putin’s war machine.

Now, they need an explanation of how helping Russia sell fuel will persuade it to stop attacking Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky made that point Friday, warning that the diesel agreement would put more money in Putin’s pocket without resolving the wider disruption to energy markets. French President Emmanuel Macron also criticized the deal as divisive.

Meanwhile, Trump called Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries a “disgrace.” Kyiv struck another refinery Thursday after Zelensky said Ukraine was abandoning the energy ceasefire Trump had announced.

So Ukraine is being criticized for hitting the facilities that help finance its invader, while Washington clears the way for that invader to sell more of what those facilities produce.

The fuel is already moving. The Kremlin said Thursday that Russian diesel had begun reaching world markets, and shipping data showed exports resuming from the Baltic port of Primorsk.

Even Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged the supplies would not be enough to fully stabilize oil markets.

I’ve spent nights this week awake through air raid alarms as Russia attacked Kyiv with drones and ballistic missiles. From here, the argument over sanctions has a sound, and it keeps people up at night.

My friends joke about my timing because they’re glad I came, and because humor helps them get through another terrible week.

But there is nothing funny about watching Washington offer Putin another source of income while the people beneath his missiles wait for the promised pressure to arrive.