Trump Urges Zelenskyy To Stop Strikes On Russian Diesel Infrastructure Amid Fuel Shortage

U.S. President Donald Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop strikes on Russian diesel infrastructure, saying the attacks were to blame for a global fuel shortage that was driving up prices rather than the war with Iran.

“Mr. Zelenskyy has to do one thing: he has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia”

Al Jazeera

Speaking to reporters during a trip to the Republic of Ireland, Trump said, “Mr. Zelenskyy has to do one thing: he has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia,” and added that “There are plenty of other targets. Don’t hit diesel fuel. That’s hurting the world.”

Akhbar Hayah

The remarks came as long-distance Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil refineries in recent months reduced Russia’s fuel production, triggering petrol shortages across the country, while Ukraine says refineries are legitimate military targets.

In the same period, the International Energy Agency said that “The disruptions to Russia’s refining system and a near-halt to product exports following intensified Ukrainian attacks have compounded these losses,” linking the Ukraine-initiated refining disruptions to wider diesel supply strain.

The diesel price pressure was reflected in the U.S. market, where the price of diesel hit an all-time high on Friday at $6.06 a gallon, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA), which tracks daily prices.

While Trump pressed Ukraine to avoid diesel targets, both Russia and Ukraine continued overnight waves of drone attacks, with local officials reporting two people were killed in Russia’s Tatarstan and Ukrainian authorities reporting Russian drone attacks on the Black Sea port of Odesa and a fire near a border crossing with Poland.

In Ukraine’s northwest, a Russian drone attack hit a gas station in the town of Yahodyn near the country’s border with Poland, and the border crossing was briefly shut before operating normally again by 10 a.m. local time Sunday, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Al Jazeera

Ukrzaliznytsia said a Russian drone targeted a train near the Ukraine-Poland border shortly after trains with top Western figures—including ex-CIA Director David Petraeus, former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt—passed through, and it reported no casualties after the strike at Yahodyn.

Johnson condemned the attack as “random and senseless,” and he asked, “When are we going to give them the air defences they need?”

Separately, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia is open to restarting peace talks in the autumn featuring Russia, Ukraine and the U.S., adding, “October cannot be ruled out,” while the U.S. and Russia/Ukraine diplomatic contacts were described as ongoing.

The diesel-focused dispute sits inside a broader energy-war pattern, with Kyiv saying Russian refineries are strategic targets because they supply fuel to Moscow’s military machinery and generate resources essential to financing the war, while Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter.

“fuel rationing across the country and causing Moscow’s July ban on diesel exports”

PBS

In Russia, Ukrainian authorities reported Russian drones pummeling the Black Sea port of Odesa and starting a fire near a border crossing with Poland, while in Ukraine a Russian drone set fire to a gas station near the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing, according to the Ukrainian foreign minister and a local customs spokesman.

Trump’s intervention also came as Russia and Ukraine exchanged large-scale drone attacks that left dead and injured in both countries, including two people killed and 14 wounded near an oil- and industry-focused center in Tatarstan, according to local officials.

The stakes were framed through the global market lens, with the International Energy Agency reporting that “Disruptions to Russia’s refining system and a near-halt to product exports following intensified Ukrainian attacks have compounded these losses,” and with the Associated Press describing diesel prices weighing on Americans as they prepare to vote in midterm elections in November.

As the conflict’s energy spillover grows, the PBS report said Ukraine’s long-range strikes had prompted fuel rationing across Russia and caused Moscow’s July ban on diesel exports, removing supplies from an already tight global market.