Zelenskyy: Easing of Russian sanctions could continue, starting with diesel
Istanbul (ANTARA) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday (17 October) that the easing of US sanctions on Russia could continue, describing the recently reached diesel fuel agreement as only “the first step”, according to Interfax-Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters, Zelenskyy said easing sanctions would give the impression of support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, rather than persuading him to end the war.
His remarks came after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending a number of sanctions, restrictions and tariffs on Russia under the Graham Act.
Nevertheless, Zelenskyy said he hoped Trump “would do everything he can” to stop attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and end the war.
He said Ukrainian and US negotiators could meet as early as this week, adding that Kyiv remained committed to talks.
According to Zelenskyy, Washington is drawing up proposals for a trilateral meeting involving Ukraine, the US and Russia.
Possible venues include the sidelines of the G20 summit, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia or a European country. He added that neither Moscow nor Washington had yet confirmed the meeting.
On reports of restrictions affecting Starlink services, Zelenskyy said terminals in Ukraine would lose connectivity when moving at speeds of more than about 161 kilometres per hour.
This affects interceptor drones intended to disable Russian-made Shahed drones powered by jet engines, and also hampers the delivery of food to isolated Ukrainian military positions.
He said tests in several European countries had shown that connectivity remained stable at speeds exceeding 180 kilometres per hour.
Zelenskyy added that military officials, the Defence Ministry and diplomats were involved in ongoing discussions, but that SpaceX had not yet communicated with the military.
“At various levels, this is being described as a technical problem. But this technical problem occurs only in Ukraine; it has not been found in the territory of the European Union,” Zelenskyy said.
He added that European countries were now exploring alternatives to Starlink, having realised that access controlled from the US could be restricted at any time.
On frozen Russian assets, Zelenskyy said Kyiv had received information that Moscow might be seeking to recover some of them through partner countries.
He said he had discussed the risk with Belgian officials and EU leaders, and stressed that the assets remained under European control and were safe.
European partners oppose the US-Russia diesel agreement and agree that sanctions should remain in force for as long as Russia continues its attacks, Zelenskyy said, adding that work was also under way on another sanctions package.