JOEL ROSE, HOST:
Ukrainian drones attacked two major Russian cities this weekend, launching one of their largest strikes this year at targets in Moscow and St. Petersburg. But as Ukraine staged its latest attack, the U.S. has been tipping the scales for Russia. Last weekend, President Trump announced an oil deal with the Russian government, bypassing existing U.S. sanctions on Moscow. The president next called for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be replaced.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal.
ROSE: All this, and then late in the day on Friday, Trump signed an executive order exempting Russia from sweeping economic sanctions passed by Congress.
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PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: But if United States will support Putin, I mean, it's unbelievable. It's tragedy. It's historic mistake and big tragedy.
ROSE: Asked this morning in an interview on NBC's "Meet The Press" whether Ukraine can win the war without the U.S., Zelenskyy was unequivocal.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: We hope that president, his team will be on our side - minimum, in the middle.
ROSE: For more on the evolving relationship between the U.S., Russia and Ukraine, I'm joined now by NPR congressional reporter Eric McDaniel. Hey, Eric.
ERIC MCDANIEL, BYLINE: Hey.
ROSE: So the White House says it is in the national security interest of the United States to waive these sanctions. What's the argument there? Why is it in the national interest?
MCDANIEL: I mean, I think what's important to know is that it's coming on the back of a diesel sales deal that the U.S. struck with Russia earlier in the week. The president is deeply concerned about energy prices. It is a huge issue in the midterm elections. But I should just note, analysts with the International Energy Agency, which tracks all of this stuff, said it isn't really likely this diesel sales deal to nudge the extremely high price of diesel fuel, which is used in all transport of goods, basically any lower.
But these sanctions are maybe another lever that Trump can pull on energy prices, say, the only one he's got outside of winding down the Iran war to try and lower costs. And these prices, like I said, are at the top of voters' minds during this final stretch of the midterm elections. And when Congress passed the sanctions law in the first place, it did give Trump the power to temporarily waive sanctions if needed, and of course, he now has.
Trump has expressed frustration, too, at Ukraine for its strikes against Russia's energy infrastructure, even as Russia continues its own strikes, saying that the strikes are all driving the cost of fuel higher. And the IEA says supply disruption due to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, including the U.S.-Iran war, is the primary driver of costs here. So we'll see if really any of this can nudge things down.
ROSE: So while the president seems to have his eye on energy prices, this sanctions package was designed to bolster Ukraine's war effort, and it passed - we should say - on a robust, bipartisan basis through Congress. How are lawmakers reacting?
MCDANIEL: Let's start in the spot that's most interesting to me, which I will say is South Carolina. Senator Darline Graham - you might remember that name - her late brother, Lindsey, was this law's primary champion. He was the senator for South Carolina. She's now running for a full term there. Graham told Meg Kinnard of the AP that she understood that the president is concerned about costs but that she backs the sanctions to put pressure on Russia. Other Republicans have voiced their own concerns in much stronger terms.
He does have some support in the party. Senator James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, told NBC's "Meet The Press" that the president is trying to balance America's needs while also considering how best to support Ukraine. And Democrats, of course, are mad. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in a statement that, quote, "by giving the Russian economy life support, Trump's deal with the devil keeps getting dirtier."
ROSE: So what happens now? Does Congress have any recourse here?
MCDANIEL: I'll bring you into a congressional term of art - they can do basically diddly-squat. And that's on a couple of levels. As I mentioned, the law gives the president power to waive these as long as he provides a national security justification, which he has. And also relevant here, Congress isn't even here in Washington with us. They won't be for weeks and weeks. They're out campaigning until midterm voting ends, and the environment when they come back, sure, maybe they revisit the issue. Republicans, though, who are going to be finishing their terms, would have more space to oppose the president if they so desire.
ROSE: But presumably, this is not the only thing that's going to be on their agenda after the midterms, right?
MCDANIEL: Right. That's no secret. They already have a lot of things they've got to handle, among them, government funding. They were loath to let government funding expire before midterm elections. They kicked the can from the end of September to the beginning of December. And there's also going to be separate fights. There's a farm aid bill. There's war funding. There's the debt ceiling, which is basically the U.S. government upping its own credit card limit. And if Republicans do lose control of the Senate, they'll also have to rush through as many Trump appointees as possible before Democrats get the upper hand in January, which could really clog up their legislative calendar. Candidly, I don't see them coming back to sanctions.
ROSE: All right. That is NPR's Eric McDaniel. Thank you very much.
MCDANIEL: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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