“We will not prevail, and we will not be able to stand.” That was Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s warning if the United States officially takes Russia’s side. The Zelenskyy warning on U.S. support for Russia landed on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” less than two days after the White House waived a fresh round of Russia sanctions.
Speaking with host Kristen Welker, Zelenskyy was blunt. “If the United States will take officially, will take the side of Russia, of course, if these two countries will be together, of course, we will not prevail, and we will not be able to stand,” he said, according to The Hill.
What set off the Ukraine U.S. Russia sanctions fight
On Friday, President Trump signed an executive order waiving new sanctions and tariffs on Russia. The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 would have put the penalties into effect two days later. ABC News says it is the second time in two weeks that Trump has waived Russia sanctions. He used the law’s national-interest waiver.
The waiver arrived alongside a deal letting Russia resume diesel exports. Trump said Moscow would immediately supply more than 300,000 metric tons to U.S. and global markets. Our report on the Russian diesel deal between Trump and Putin covers the details.
Zelenskyy says that deal helps the wrong person. It “will strengthen Putin in his will to occupy us,” he told NBC. He also said it would not have “a real influence” on U.S. oil prices, and he blamed rising prices on the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, per NBC News.
Zelenskyy’s “historic mistake” and the case for trust
The word he kept reaching for was “mistake.” “If United States will support Putin, I mean, it’s unbelievable, it’s tragedy, it’s historic mistake and big tragedy,” Zelenskyy said.
Still, he did not slam the door. Zelenskyy says he still sees Trump as an ally. “We want to trust him,” he said. He called it a “pity” that the waived sanctions sit in a bill named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, “a great supporter of peace and of Ukraine.”
He also offered a line about friendship. “Maybe it’s not very polite,” he said, but it is “better to have partners who are very open and clear than to have those who are killers, even with a smile on their face.”
Intelligence, Starlink and a public spat
The interview also touched on how Washington helps Ukraine on the battlefield. Zelenskyy said the U.S. blocked intelligence sharing for “some period of time” and that it is working again, Bloomberg reports.
Washington pushed back hard. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, on the same “Meet the Press” episode, called Zelenskyy “reckless” for saying the U.S. government caused Starlink lag. Bessent called the choice of siding with Russia a “false binary” and said the U.S. provides intelligence and Starlink. Kyiv tells a different story about the Starlink speed cap on Ukraine’s war drones.
The result is two governments arguing in public, on the same Sunday show.
Why this Zelenskyy Russia warning matters beyond Kyiv
This is not only a story about one war. Sanctions are the main economic leverage the West holds over Moscow, and each waiver weakens that leverage. The Zelenskyy warning on U.S. support for Russia is really a warning about that leverage.
It is also awkward at home. Republican senators including McConnell, Tillis, Collins and Cornyn criticized the waiver, ABC News reports. Bloomberg notes the tariffs complicated Trump’s push to lower diesel prices before the midterms. That is a lot of politics riding on one pump price.
Meanwhile, the stakes on the ground are real. NBC’s report points to a critical munitions shortage and another hard winter for Ukrainian civilians. For background on the diplomacy, see our look at the push for peace between Trump, Zelenskyy and Russia.
The question now is simple. Does Washington call this a business deal, or a side? Kyiv has already picked its word for it.
