Two days before new sanctions on Russia were supposed to take effect, they were put on hold. I’m saying this as someone speaking from Kyiv and watching what these decisions mean on the ground: sanctions are not just politics, and they are not abstract. They are one of the few things that make this war cost Russia money and save Ukrainian lives. When pressure on the aggressor is eased right before it is supposed to hit, people here do not experience that as a policy game. They experience it as betrayal.

We know what trauma is when the missiles and drones come. Ukrainians have had far too much experience with that. But there is another wound here too: moral injury. That is what happens when people see that the law to raise the cost of attacks exists, was written, was ready, and then is not used. It tells people under fire that their lives can be bargained away, even when tools to help protect them are already available.

Congress cannot pretend this ends with a waiver and a news cycle. Members of Congress wrote this law, and they have a responsibility to defend it, oversee its use, and demand answers when enforcement is halted. Congress must publicly press for full use of the Russia sanctions law, hold immediate oversight hearings on the waiver, and make clear that easing pressure on the aggressor is unacceptable while Ukrainians are still being attacked.

If you are an American, this was done in your name. Please sign this petition to tell Congress to use the law it already passed and stop rewarding the people driving this war. See what is happening, speak up, and help turn that pressure into action.