Kyiv fears a winter without electricity and heating

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy considered the decision of US President Donald Trump to exempt Russia from sanctions approved by the US Congress to be a reward for his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, expressing his belief that the United States will lift more sanctions, and warned that Russia is seeking to deprive millions of Ukrainians of heating and electricity before the arrival of winter.

Trump signed an executive order suspending a law of great symbolic significance, the "Graham Act," which constituted the first major move by Congress against Moscow since the Republican president's return to the White House.

The law, which Trump signed in mid-September, targets the Russian energy and defense sectors, President Putin, and other senior officials, and also targets for the first time what is known as the "shadow fleet" of Russian oil tankers used to circumvent Western sanctions.

The suspension of sanctions came amid a new crisis in relations with the Ukrainian president, sparking speculation that Trump is increasingly leaning toward Moscow's side, more than four and a half years after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said the exemption came on the day Russia attacked 15 vital energy generation facilities across Ukraine, in "one of the largest" attacks against the Ukrainian power grid.

He added via social media platforms, "It is important that everyone in the United States also sees what is really happening."

He considered that the Graham Act was "supposed to represent truly effective pressure on Russia to put an end to this war," adding that the law "could have helped a lot, and it still can!"

He continued, "Blocking US sanctions, easing pressure on the aggressor, and granting financial rewards to Putin, all only serve to encourage him to continue the attacks."

He also believed that the United States would lift more sanctions on Russia.

In remarks to reporters, he said, "Unfortunately, the lifting of sanctions will continue. And I believe that what is known as the diesel agreement is only the first step," referring to the agreement that Trump announced he had reached with Putin to allow Moscow to export quantities of this material in an effort to curb the rise in global fuel prices.

Furthermore, Zelenskyy accused Russia of attempting to plunge his country into darkness before the arrival of winter.

He said, "Russia is trying to cause power outages in Ukraine, right before winter... and Russia is trying to leave millions of our people without electricity or heating."

He called on allies to "exert pressure" on Moscow to put an end to this.

Last winter, hundreds of thousands in Ukraine remained without heating or electricity amid freezing temperatures.

The day after Trump suspended the sanctions, Ukraine announced that at least two people had been killed as a result of Russian airstrikes.

Officials stated that one person was killed in the city of Kherson (south) in an attack that also resulted in the injury of 22 people, including two children, and another person was killed in the city of Sumy (northeast).

There has been no response yet from the Kremlin or Putin to Trump's decision, but a number of Russian officials celebrated the move and considered it a victory.

Presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev said on social media that "the Trump administration's suspension of the Graham Act is a truly important and historic moment."

He considered that this law would have caused "grave damage primarily to the American economy and global markets."

Trump's announcement of the suspension of sanctions came on Friday shortly after Putin appeared wearing a military uniform and made statements saying that Moscow aims to control what remains of eastern Ukraine.

The US-led talks to end the war in Ukraine have not resulted in any tangible progress toward ending the bloody conflict.

During a visit to Brussels to attend a European Union summit on Thursday and Friday, Zelenskyy called on allies to continue contributing to funding Ukraine's war effort, while emphasizing at the same time that he is defending his country amid deteriorating relations with Trump.

More than four and a half years after the start of the Russian invasion, Ukraine is facing an intensification of Russian strikes and fears a worsening of conditions in winter, especially with Moscow targeting the energy sector.

Ukraine relies on Western military intelligence, especially American, to anticipate and counter Russian attacks, especially with its dwindling stockpile of interceptor missiles.

Russia controls large areas of eastern and southern Ukraine, and Putin constantly calls for completing the control of its east.

During his visit to a military command center on Friday, Putin said, "In general, I see that the momentum of our forces' movements is positive."

He continued, while sitting at a table and wearing a military uniform, that "one of the main goals remains the liberation of the Donetsk People's Republic," which is the name Moscow gives to the Donetsk region in the Ukrainian Donbas.

European Union leaders assured Zelenskyy of their support and acknowledged the need to bridge Ukraine's funding gap next year.

European Council President Antonio Costa said, "This is not the time to withdraw support for Ukraine... This is not the time to ease the sanctions imposed on Russia... It is the right time to increase our support and increase our pressure."