Trump Urges Volodymyr Zelenskyy To Halt Strikes On Russian Diesel Refineries

Trump targets diesel strikes

U.S. President Donald Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday to halt military strikes on Russian diesel refineries, warning that the attacks are creating global fuel shortages.

Trump told reporters, "Mr. Zelensky has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia," and said Washington raised the matter directly with the Ukrainian leader.

Trump argued that Ukrainian forces have "plenty of other targets" and that destroying Russian diesel production capacity is "hurting the world."

The appeal came as Ukraine intensified attacks on Russian energy hubs and refining infrastructure, with Zelenskyy saying on Sept. 10 that Ukrainian units hit eight military-supporting facilities within 24 hours.

The same reporting said strikes also targeted the Novorossiysk naval base and oil terminal on Sept. 9 and processing complexes across Ryazan, Perm, and Tatarstan on Sept. 7, constraining Moscow’s ability to process crude into transportation fuels.

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Drone strikes and casualties

While Trump pressed Kyiv to stop hitting diesel infrastructure, the same coverage described continuing exchanges of drone strikes, including reports of Russian attacks on Ukraine and Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy-linked areas. Local Russian officials in Tatarstan said on Sunday two people were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack, and Ukrainian authorities reported Russian drone attacks on the Black Sea port of Odesa. In Tatarstan, the office of regional head Rustam Minnikhanov said two civilians died after a drone slammed into a tree near their parked car in Nizhnekamsk, and it also reported that two people were killed and 14 more injured on Sunday as Ukrainian drones struck Nizhnekamsk.

On the Ukrainian side, Serhii Lysak, who heads the city’s military administration, said at least nine people were injured in a "massive" Russian attack on Odesa. Ukrainian officials also reported that a Russian drone attack on Saturday struck a residential high-rise in Odesa, killing two people and injuring 26 others, with the building’s upper floors completely destroyed, according to regional head Oleh Kiper.

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Fuel markets and diplomacy

Trump’s diesel warning was framed alongside broader energy-market disruptions, with the reporting saying Russia introduced diesel export curbs in July and extended them through September. The same reporting tied the wider market strain to other conflicts, including Iran’s announcement after US-Israeli strikes that began in February to close the Strait of Hormuz to navigation and recent attacks by Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabia’s oil pipeline. A separate report said the U.S. president spoke after diesel prices in the U.S. hit a record on Friday, soaring past $6 a gallon on average, and linked Ukraine’s long-range strikes to fuel rationing and Moscow’s diesel export ban in July.

The coverage also said Ukraine has argued that refineries are legitimate military targets, while the U.S. president urged Zelenskyy to redirect strikes toward other objectives. As strikes continued, the reporting noted that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow is open to restarting peace talks in autumn featuring Russia, Ukraine and the U.S., while Trump’s comments added pressure on Kyiv over its campaign against Russia’s energy infrastructure.

Reporting for this sectionReutersCaledonian Record