Ingmar Nevéus: Now Zelenskyj does not have to hide his contempt for Trump

On September 18, Donald Trump signed a law named after Lindsey Graham, the recently deceased senator who was his friend and staunch supporter.

The law had been overwhelmingly supported by both parties in Congress - by the now-rare 86 votes to 11 in the Senate. It was seen as an exception to the pro-Kremlin line Trump had pursued since returning to the White House in January 2025.

Today, Sunday, the law would have come into effect. It would have included tariffs of 500 percent on Russian exports to the United States, as well as the possibility of imposing sanctions on other countries that buy oil and gas from Russia.

In other words: a heavy blow to the Russian war machine.

But late Friday night, Trump took advantage of a loophole in the Lindsey Graham Act, which not many had thought of when it was pushed through. Namely, the possibility to drop the sanctions completely if he considered that they are not "in the interest of the nation".

Later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it was a "60-day pause" on the sanctions, and Trump said his decision was not final.

It applies anyway at the moment. The announcement also came just a few days after the agreement that the US will buy diesel from Russia.

Overall, Trump's actions can be seen as an American support package for Putin, giving him the opportunity to continue his war. And in Moscow, the decisions are quite rightly called "important and historic".

But several Republicans in Congress are almost shocked.

"Congress must investigate Trump's support and assistance to Putin," writes Senator John Cornyn. One of his colleagues, Thom Tillis, says the president is "capitulating to a dictator who slaughters civilians every day."

Zelenskyy seems to be letting out a long-held anger.

Even if it is about retiring senators who are not standing for election, the feeling is that this was the last straw for many - that Trump is now so openly pro-Putin that it is impossible to turn a blind eye to it anymore.

This apparently also applies to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi.

After a year and a half of being forced to appear balanced in his attitude toward Trump, he is now openly critical, if not contemptuous.

- Putin is evil. How can Trump be friends with him? he said in an interview the other day with the Financial Times, and continued:

- He chooses it over and over again.

Zelenskyy seems to be letting out a long-held anger.

He is taking a risk in doing so, because there are still three ways the US helps Ukraine: intelligence, the Starlink satellites, and the right for Kiev to buy US missiles.

Now Trump says that Zelenskyi "is not a good guy for us to deal with" and that he is "not a fan". It is not far-fetched to interpret this as that he is prepared to scrap even the remaining aid to Ukraine.