Trump: "My decision to deal with Russia is simple... I don't want to leave Russia after the end-of-war negotiations."

Refuting criticism of ‘suspension of sanctions against Russia and transit deal’… Criticism: “Zelensky does not want the end of the war”

Zelenskiy's first phone call with Trump's special envoy after the strained US-U.S. relations... Discussion on resumption of peace talks

(Washington = Yonhap News) Correspondent Park Seong-min = U.S. President Donald Trump claimed on the 18th (local time) that his decision to suspend sanctions against Russia and allow sales of Russian diesel oil was a decision to allow Russia to continue negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

“My decision regarding Russia is very simple,” President Trump wrote on the social media platform TruthSocial. “I am currently negotiating peace in the Russia-Ukraine war, and I don’t want to do anything foolish that would force Russia to leave the negotiating table.”

“Great progress has been made (in negotiations), and that includes the current hostage negotiations,” he said. “If I sign that document now, I can do that, and I can sign it later or whenever I want.”

However, President Trump did not clearly state what 'the document' meant.

“Perhaps more importantly, Russia is doing next to nothing, if anything, to help Iran,” Trump said.

President Trump's post today is interpreted as a rebuttal to growing criticism in the United States over the so-called "Lindsey Graham Act," which includes strong sanctions against Russia, including imposing high tariffs on countries purchasing Russian energy, and agreeing to a so-called "diesel deal" that allows Russia to sell diesel to the world.

President Trump then criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has publicly criticized him, for attacking Russian diesel oil refineries and causing a serious blow to the global diesel market.

“Zelensky doesn’t care at all, and frankly, given all the money Europe is giving him and what crooked Joe Biden has given him in the past, he doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never has.”

He also said that the damage from the war in Ukraine was aggravated by Zelenskyy's failure to choose a better agreement two years ago, and emphasized, "I want this war to end."

Meanwhile, President Zelensky announced in a post on

Regarding this, U.S. Internet media Axios said, "This is the first phone call between President Zelensky and a high-ranking U.S. official since tensions between the two countries (the U.S. and Ukraine) increased due to President Trump's transit deal 10 days ago," and that they discussed the crisis between the two countries and U.S. efforts to resume peace talks with Russia.