President Trump defended pausing sanctions against Russia, claiming the move keeps Moscow at the bargaining table for a Ukraine peace deal.
The former president, 78, fired back at critics of his executive order halting sanctions against Moscow in a Truth Social post on Saturday. He framed the policy as strategic leverage rather than concession, insisting that economic pressure would only undermine fragile negotiations.
“My decision on Russia is a very simple one. I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don’t want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table,” he wrote.
Trump also tied the sanctions pause to domestic pocketbook concerns, suggesting a successful deal could ease American fuel costs. The claim came alongside his broader argument that carrot-not-stick diplomacy represents the fastest path to ending the nearly three-year conflict.
“Great progress is being made, and that includes current hostage negotiations!” he added in the same post, though he did not identify which hostages or captives he meant.
The hostage reference raised immediate questions, as no major prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine have been publicly announced in recent days. Trump offered no additional details about the scope or status of those talks.
While defending his Russia policy, Trump simultaneously attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for ongoing strikes targeting Moscow’s oil refineries. The Ukrainian leader has championed such attacks as legitimate military operations against Russia’s war machine, but Trump cast them as counterproductive to peace efforts.
The dual messaging — conciliatory toward Putin, critical of Zelensky — underscored Trump’s unconventional approach to the conflict. Where the Biden administration armed Ukraine and tightened sanctions, Trump has pursued direct engagement with the Kremlin while publicly chiding a democratic ally under invasion.
Zelensky, 46, has not publicly responded to Trump’s latest criticism. The Ukrainian president has previously rejected any peace framework that cedes territory to Russia, setting up potential friction with Trump’s negotiation strategy.
Trump’s executive order to halt sanctions drew swift backlash from congressional hawks in both parties, who warned it weakens American leverage before any deal is secured. The pause represents a dramatic reversal from the comprehensive sanctions regime built since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion.
The former president’s “carrot” framing directly addressed those critics. He has long argued that Putin responds better to personal diplomacy than to economic punishment, a theory he tested throughout his first term and now seeks to apply to Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.
Trump’s post offered no timeline for when negotiations might produce a concrete agreement, nor did he specify which intermediaries are currently engaged with Russian officials. The “great progress” he claimed remains unverified by independent sources.