US President Donald Trump’s decision to waive a new package of sanctions on Russia is a “historic moment”, a Russian presidential envoy said Saturday. Trump signed an executive order Friday that waived sweeping US sanctions and tariffs targeting Russia’s energy revenues, two days before they were due to take effect.The move came amid a clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that has fuelled speculation the US leader is increasingly siding with Moscow nearly five years into Russia’s offensive against Ukraine, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions. “The Trump administration’s suspension of the Graham Act is an important and truly historic moment,” Kirill Dmitriev, envoy for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on social media.The Kremlin and Putin –– who appeared in military uniform Friday and said Moscow intends to seize the rest of eastern Ukraine –– have not yet reacted to the move, which is a major diplomatic win for Russia. The Lindsey Graham Act –– named after the deceased US senator who sponsored the bill –– targeted Russia’s energy and defence sectors as well as Putin and other senior officials.Dmitriev said the act would have caused “serious damage first and foremost to the US economy and global markets”. The West imposed massive sanctions on Russia when it launched the Ukraine war in 2022.Russia on Saturday carried out a large-scale overnight attack on Ukrainian infrastructure targets including the country’s largest steelworks in the city of Kryvyi Rih, and vessels using the Ukrainian port of Odesa. The plant is owned by steel giant ArcelorMittal, which suspended operations there in Sept after a series of Russian ballistic missile strikes. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.In a statement, Russia’s defence ministry said the plant supplied steel products to the Ukrainian military-industrial complex.It said Russian forces had also hit an electricity substation in the northwestern city of Zhytomyr and another steel plant in Zaporizhzhia, a city near the front line.A cargo vessel in the Black Sea was also hit, the ministry said, alleging that it was delivering military cargo to Odesa. Later in the day, the ministry said Russian strikes during the afternoon had hit a vehicle-repair plant in Lutsk.Bloomberg
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