Ukraine war passes 4.5 years as Trump sanctions waiver lifts pressure on Russia
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Oct. 16 waiving sanctions and tariffs targeting Russia that he had signed into law just weeks earlier.
By David Mokoena ·
The war in Ukraine has run more than four and a half years, and fighting continues despite President Donald Trump's repeated pledges to end it. Trump promised on the campaign trail dozens of times that he would settle the conflict. At a July 7, 2023 rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa, he said, "Before I even arrive at the Oval Office shortly after I win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled."
Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy twice at the White House. He met once with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in August 2025 in Anchorage, Alaska. Trump said of that session, "I will say that I believe we had a very productive meeting. There were many, many points that we agreed on. Most of them, I would say. A couple of big ones that we haven't quite got there, but we've made some headway. So, there's no deal until there's a deal."
On Sept. 18, Trump signed bipartisan legislation named after the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, imposing sanctions and tariffs on Russia. On Oct. 16, he signed an executive order waiving those sanctions.
That sequence left the sanctions package in place for under a month. The legislation carried broad support in Congress, and the waiver followed shortly after. Trump has said he wants people to stop dying in the conflict, telling rally attendees in 2023, "I want people to stop dying. That's the side I'm on."
Fighting in Ukraine has continued through the period covered by the sanctions debate. Trump's meetings with Zelenskyy and Putin did not produce a settlement. As of Oct. 29, the conflict has lasted more than four and a half years.
Source: WCJB
