The Kremlin has hailed Donald Trump’s decision to waive imminent sanctions on Russia as “historic”, saying the move could strengthen Moscow’s war effort against Ukraine.

The US president signed an executive order late last night suspending sanctions on Russian oil and gas exports that had been due to come into force tomorrow.

The measures were expected to deal a serious blow to Russia’s ability to fund its war in Ukraine, while also imposing heavy penalties on countries accused of helping finance or facilitate the Kremlin’s campaign.

Trump said the decision to suspend the measures, championed by the late Senator Lindsey Graham and approved by Congress last month, was taken in the “national interest”.

The decision came as Britain announced it would join Germany and France in a major military exercise in Poland next month. It was also reported last night that RAF jets had experienced two “close encounters with unidentified drones in British skies” so far this year.

Russia’s presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev described Trump’s decision to waive some sanctions and tariffs on Moscow’s energy exports as a “historic moment”.

The Russian envoy spoke just hours after Trump suspended the legislation, known as the Graham Act.

“The Trump administration’s suspension of the Graham Act is an important and truly historic moment,” Dmitriev wrote on the social media platform X.

Dmitriev said the US-Russia economic dialogue and peacemaking efforts would continue, arguing that the act could have “effectively brought all economic co-operation between Russia and the United States to a complete halt”. He claimed that such an outcome would have caused serious damage, primarily to the US economy and global markets.

The White House announced the suspension of the Russia sanctions in a post published on its website.

The announcement added that a report setting out the reasons for the decision had been submitted to Congress.

Moscow has viewed the suspension as a major victory and a sign that the US president is supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine.

Putin was seen in military fatigues on state television last night, speaking confidently to army chiefs in footage that suggested the US decision had boosted confidence inside the Kremlin.

Trump also told a supporters’ rally yesterday, held ahead of the midterm congressional elections, that the war in Ukraine “has to stop”.

Meanwhile, Lord Peter Ricketts, the UK’s former national security adviser, accused Trump today of “going all out to woo Putin” in an effort to secure diesel supplies, while using Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “a scapegoat”.

The criticism came a week after Trump angered Ukraine by suspending sanctions on Russia and agreeing a deal to supply the US with an initial shipment of more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by additional deliveries.

The agreement triggered an escalating war of words with Zelensky, who condemned Trump’s decision to lift the sanctions to secure the diesel as “a gift to Putin”. He warned that the move would enable the Russian leader to “kill more people” and “wage war for longer”.

In retaliation, Mr Trump said it was time for Ukraine to ‘get a new leader’ and later in the week, he accused Mr Zelensky of destroying Ukraine and ‘being more difficult to deal with than Putin’ while branding Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil refineries as a ‘disgrace’.

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Speaking to the BBC this morning, the former NSA Head and Foreign Office chief Lord Ricketts said that Mr Trump was ‘obsessed’ with bringing diesel prices down ahead of the US midterm elections.

‘He has identified Putin as someone who can help with that. He has diesel. He has oil and gas and Zelensky is an obstacle to that. 

‘He gets in the way. He is annoying so now he is the scapegoat and Trump is going all out to woo Putin with the aim of getting that diesel over to America.’

He told Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘He is entirely focused on working with Putin to solve his immediate problem.’

The new bill was intended to starve Putin of the resources and finances he needs to step up his war against Ukraine which is now heading towards its fifth year.

It would crucially have imposed tariffs of up to 100 per cent within 30 days on all goods brought into the US from the five largest importers of Russian crude oil or gas.

It would also have sanctioned Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of tankers that keeps Russian energy circulating around the world.

And it would have imposed tough sanctions on any country who knowingly bought oil or gas from Moscow 30 days after the law was enacted, or any country that was among the top five countries helping Russia evade sanctions.

Countries including China and India would have been affected by the bill.

Announcing the order, Mr Trump said: ‘I have submitted to the ⁠Congress a certification that the issuance of such a waiver at this time is in the national interests of the United States.’

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat who had helped to draft the legislation, accused Mr Trump of turning his back on ‘the majority of Americans, their representatives in both houses of Congress, and our European allies’.

‘These waivers have nothing to do with our national security, and everything to do with sucking up to Vladimir Putin,’ he warned.

Lagging in the polls and with his approval ratings at an all-time low with his war on Iran unpopular with ordinary Americans, Mr Trump’s latest move is widely seen as a bid to desperately improve his standing ahead of the November 3 midterms.

Calling him ‘mercurial,’ Lord Ricketts said he would not be surprised if he blamed Putin if he did not do well in the elections and changed his position but he warned that it was ‘a real problem for the Ukrainian people’ with the MAGA movement and far-Right politicians in Europe claiming Ukraine could never win the war.

Dismissing the UK as unlikely to ‘have any influence on Donald Trump in the short term’ by the PM ‘acting as a bridge’ between the US and Ukraine, he also warned UK ministers should ‘put more effort into the coalition of the willing ‘to get behind Ukraine and to give Zelensky ‘not just the arm around the shoulder in Downing Street but to give him the material to get through this very difficult winter’.

He also sounded a sombre warning to the government that it should start ‘to warn the British people about what was coming’.

‘Not only is Putin trying to break morale in Ukraine. He is also trying to undermine morale in European countries,’ he said.

‘We have had some pretty stark warnings this week from the Director of MI5 and also from the Head of the Army that there could be worse to come in the form of hybrid attacks in the UK and in other European countries. I would like to hear what they are going to be doing about that.’

Calling on the government to ‘get on with spending the money on defence and also on resilience – our energy, our transport infrastructure, our air traffic control system, our defence sites,’ he warned:

‘They all need better protection and that’s an argument in Parliament that needs to happen because they need to find the money to do it.

‘I am not saying there’s going to be industrial war with tanks rolling across the North German plains but these hybrid attacks are getting more reckless and dangerous – one day people will end up being killed somewhere so we are going to have to look at responding in that sense and finding the money to do it and that’s a discussion that needs to start now.’

The Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) placed Lutheran High School on athletic probation Thursday and warned that the Parker school could be suspended after finding that racist and discriminatory language had been used at its athletic events.

Under the action announced by the state’s high school sports governing body, Lutheran’s athletic department will remain on probation for at least 12 months, effective immediately. The school also received formal notice that its CHSAA membership could be suspended.

CHSAA said member schools are responsible for the conduct of people in their stands.

“Racism and discrimination have no place in our schools or at our events,” the association said. “CHSAA takes sportsmanship, crowd control and the treatment of every participant at our events seriously, and every member school is responsible for the conduct of its coaches, players and spectators.”

The decision followed CHSAA’s review of documentation, official game reports and firsthand accounts collected by member schools from students and their communities. Lutheran must develop a Corrective Action Plan addressing game management, spectator behavior, employee training and school culture. School leaders must also appear before the CHSAA Board of Directors. If Lutheran fails to meet the requirements, CHSAA said it will recommend suspending the school’s membership.

The allegations began with a Sept. 24 game at Lutheran. Taura Williams, a parent from Sand Creek High School, said she reported the conduct to a Lutheran representative during the game but saw no response. Her daughter, cheerleader Laila Bryant, said she felt unsafe in the opposing student section. Rampart later reported similar concerns following an Oct. 2 game.

Lutheran Executive Director Dan Gehrke denounced racism but said CHSAA acted before the school had completed its own investigation.

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“Lutheran High School condemns racism in any form, and we will complete every requirement CHSAA has set. We are disappointed that CHSAA reached its determination before our own review is complete and before it could consider our findings,” Gehrke wrote in a letter to parents.

In an earlier message to families, Gehrke challenged portions of the allegations, saying the students questioned about the Rampart incident were not enrolled at Lutheran.

Air Academy and Coronado have forfeited their games against Lutheran. Palmer Ridge, ranked sixth in Colorado with a 7-0 record, said it still plans to play its Oct. 30 finale at Lutheran.

The probation comes after weeks of pressure from the Douglas County and Colorado Springs NAACP branches, as well as Parker Mayor Joshua Rivero, who said he was “deeply troubled” by the reports.

State athletic associations have previously faced scrutiny over sanctions involving faith-based schools. In September 2025, a federal appeals court reinstated Vermont’s Mid Vermont Christian School after the Vermont Principals’ Association expelled it from state sports.

The action against Lutheran also prompted criticism online, with users on X questioning CHSAA’s credibility and the strength of the allegations against the school.

Some schools in Italy are planning to serve chicken curry and couscous in place of traditional pork-based dishes as they adapt menus for Muslim pupils.

In Pordenone, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, dishes such as San Daniele prosciutto, pasta all’amatriciana—which traditionally contains pork cheek—and porchetta are due to be removed from some school menus.

Supporters of the change say it is intended to make school dining more inclusive, particularly because many pupils cannot eat pork for religious reasons.

Children from immigrant families make up around 21 per cent of pupils in the area, including both foreign-born students and those born in Italy to migrant parents. That figure is roughly twice the national average.

The proposal argues that serving pork-based meals is impractical when a significant share of students are unable to eat them.

Regional guidance, issued under the centre-Right administration, recommends that school cafeterias serve more white meat than red meat. Beef, however, will remain on the menu.

The approach will vary between schools: some will continue offering pork, while others are expected to remove it entirely.

In an unusual exception, pupils at one primary school in Spilimbergo will still be able to add ham to their pizzas.

The proposal has triggered an intense political argument in Italy, where immigration and demographic changes have helped create a more multicultural society in recent decades, much like those in Britain and France.

Marco Dreosto, a politician from the conservative League Party, criticised the plan, arguing: “Respect for other cultures and religions cannot and must not require us to abandon our traditions.”

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League members of the European Parliament Anna Maria Cisint, Silvia Sardone and Susanna Ceccardi also condemned the decision to replace pork dishes, calling it “absurd”.

Emanuele Loperfido, the Pordenone representative for Brothers of Italy—Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s party—said coexistence should be supported, but warned that Italian cuisine “cannot take a step backwards”.

Fausto Tomasello of the centre-Left Democratic Party said the priority should be ensuring that children are provided with nutritious, healthy meals.

Alessandro Basso, the province’s mayor, said schools should provide alternatives that recognise different religious beliefs, while preserving local dishes wherever possible.

The dispute comes after Italy’s government introduced a limit of 30 per cent on pupils with a low level of Italian in individual classrooms.

The policy is expected to affect about 1,000 classrooms nationwide, representing approximately 0.3 per cent of all classrooms in Italy.

The same decree also included a ban on burqas and niqabs in classrooms. Parents who breach the rule could face fines of up to €1,000 (£870).

Ms Meloni said the measures were designed to prevent the creation of “ghetto classes” and promote integration in schools.

In a social media statement, the prime minister described the legislation as a set of “common-sense measures” intended to support genuine integration, avoid “ghetto” classrooms and give every student equal opportunities.

However, the opposition accused the coalition, made up of the Brothers of Italy, The League and Forza Italia, of weaponising immigration ahead of a possible General Election in the upcoming year.

It comes as National Future, a new far-Right party led by former army general Roberto Vannacci, is fast becoming a political headache for Ms Meloni, polling with 7 per cent of the vote.