Trump defends diesel deal, eased Russia sanctions as tools to keep peace talks alive

US President Donald Trump on Sunday (local time) defended his administration's decision to suspend tough Russia sanctions and broker a so-called diesel deal, saying the moves were intended to keep Moscow at the negotiating table.

Trump posted on Truth Social that "my decisions on Russia are very simple," adding that he was "in the middle of negotiating peace" in the Russia-Ukraine war and did not want to "do something stupid that will cause Russia to walk away from the negotiating table."

"Great progress has been made, and this now includes hostage negotiations," he wrote, adding that signing "the document" now would allow that to happen and that he could sign "later, or whenever I want." He did not clarify what document he was referring to.

Trump also said that "perhaps more importantly, Russia is doing very little, if anything, to help Iran, as compared to what they could do," and vowed to maintain that situation "unless the fools get in the way."

The posts appeared to be a rebuttal to mounting domestic criticism over the Trump administration's decision to suspend the so-called Lindsey Graham Act — which would have imposed steep tariffs on countries buying Russian energy — and its agreement to allow Russia to sell diesel fuel on global markets.

Trump also turned on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has publicly criticized the deals with Russia.

"Zelensky doesn't care" about high oil prices, Trump wrote, adding that given all the funding Europe has provided Zelensky and what "crooked Joe Biden gave him in the past, he doesn't want to end this war, and probably never did." Trump also blamed Zelensky for Ukraine's mounting war losses, saying the Ukrainian leader had passed up a better deal two years ago. "I want this war to end," he said.

Meanwhile, Zelensky said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that he had spoken that day with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Axios reported the call was "the first conversation between Zelensky and senior US officials since tensions between the two countries escalated 10 days ago over Trump's diesel deal," and that the parties discussed the bilateral crisis and US efforts to restart peace talks with Russia.