Seven United States senators — four Republicans and three Democrats — issued a joint statement on Sunday urging President Donald Trump to reverse a diesel supply arrangement with Russia, arguing that the deal conflicts with legislation Congress passed in 2022 prohibiting American imports of Russian energy, a measure enacted to stop US funds from underwriting Russia's military campaign against Ukraine.
Critics also contended that the administration had bypassed the legally mandated requirement to consult with Congress or provide any written justification for its decision, while one lawmaker argued that extending financial benefits to Russia while its forces continued to target Ukrainian civilians ran counter to American interests. The statement called on the administration to change its current direction without delay.
Among the signatories were four Republicans — Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and John Curtis of Utah — alongside three Democrats: Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, and Ron Wyden of Oregon.
Speaking at a Sunday morning appearance, Tillis raised questions about whether the diesel agreement aligns with current law and whether it presents any threat to public safety. On Friday, the president announced that Russia had agreed to make diesel available to global markets, and his administration issued a temporary easing of sanctions on Russian fuel — a commodity widely used in agriculture, home heating, and road freight — that had been put in place to limit Moscow's war revenues.
Separately, Senator Tillis, who leaves the Senate in January, told a broadcast news programme that he considered there to be a legitimate legal question over whether the president's actions conform to statute, while diesel prices hovering near record levels stand to affect voters ahead of next month's congressional elections.
Analysts who track energy markets projected that the agreement reached between the United States and Russia would leave fuel prices largely unchanged over any extended period.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated on Sunday that the administration intended to carry out the deal through available legal mechanisms, and that the arrangement would benefit the public and put downward pressure on prices, adding that every legal tool at the administration's disposal would be deployed toward that end. Bessent maintained that any member of Congress claiming either the older legislation or the current Lindsey Graham bill would bar that course of action was mistaken.
A measure honouring the memory of Lindsey O. Graham — the South Carolina Republican who died in July and had long pushed for a tougher posture toward Russia — was signed into law by Trump a month earlier, putting in place a set of Russia and Iran sanctions under the official name of the "Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026."
Nebraska Representative Don Bacon, in the final stretch of his congressional tenure, took to X to argue that purchasing Russian oil sustains the revenue streams behind strikes on civilian populations, a position he framed as incompatible with any reasonable ethical standard. Former Vice President Mike Pence described the lifting of sanctions on Russian oil as a repudiation of Graham's record and urged the president to reconsider the policy.
John Barrasso of Wyoming, the Senate's second-ranking Republican, appeared on "Face the Nation" to back the diesel agreement, conveying that Trump's attention was on lowering costs and that the president faced difficult trade-offs requiring careful judgment.
During a Sunday telephone conversation, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's office conveyed that the diesel arrangement was at odds with the shared goal held by Ukraine, Canada, and their partners of advancing peace and stability throughout Europe.
On Sunday, a post to Trump's social media account announced what he characterised as an "energy ceasefire" between Ukraine and Russia, describing it as taking effect immediately while offering no further details. Zelenskyy indicated he had yet to receive the specifics of the agreement, while separately affirming through a Telegram post that Ukraine backed the ceasefire and that Russian endorsement of it was equally necessary. Moscow offered no public response to the announcement, which came after a period in which the United States had been pressing Ukraine to stop targeting Russian oil refineries.
