Trump urges Ukraine to halt strikes on Russian diesel refineries as fuel prices rise

Trump urges halt to diesel refinery strikes

Speaking on the second day of his visit to Ireland at his Doonbeg golf course on Sunday, 13 September, US President Donald Trump called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to halt drone and missile strikes against Russian diesel refineries. Trump argued that Ukrainian attacks on Russian fuel processing infrastructure are creating international supply shortages and driving up global fuel costs. The US president stated that he had raised the issue directly in discussions with Zelenskyy, urging Ukrainian armed forces to redirect their strikes toward alternative military targets.

Mr. Zelensky has only one thing to do. He must stop hitting diesel in Russia. Attack targets, but not diesel because it causes a diesel shortage.

Fuel market strains and domestic pressure

The appeal comes as the US national average diesel price exceeded $6 per gallon for the first time, according to price tracking service GasBuddy. The price increase comes ahead of US midterm legislative elections scheduled for early November. In response to recurring Ukrainian strikes, Moscow extended an export moratorium on diesel originally enacted in late July. The US Energy Information Administration warned that refined product inventories remain at low levels, projecting that fuel prices will remain high in coming months. Global energy markets also face disruption from the US conflict with Iran, which affected more than 20% of Middle East refining capacity and effectively halted transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a route that previously carried roughly one fifth of globally traded oil.

Diplomatic contacts and front-line strikes

Trump's comments follow renewed diplomatic initiatives by Washington aimed at ending the four-year war in Ukraine. The previous weekend, US special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff visited Moscow and traveled to Kyiv for the first time, during which both combatants observed a brief temporary ceasefire. Russian attacks intensified following the envoys' departure, with Ukrainian national railway operators reporting systematic strikes on rail infrastructure, including a drone attack on a train bound for Warsaw. Meanwhile, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported fresh strikes on Sunday against oil refineries in Russia's Krasnodar region and the Republic of Tatarstan, maintaining that energy processing facilities represent legitimate military targets that fund Moscow's war effort.

Nuclear safety concerns at Zaporizhzhia

Energy infrastructure disputes also extended to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine. Aleksei Likhachev, the director general of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, stated that Ukrainian forces launched a series of strikes on Friday against trucks delivering diesel to the facility. According to Likhachev, the incident killed two Russian soldiers and left multiple personnel injured near the plant perimeter.

The attacks hit in the immediate proximity of the plant's perimeter. Two soldiers were killed, and a large number of Russian soldiers were injured, some seriously.

The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe's largest nuclear station with six reactors, currently produces no electricity and relies on diesel generators to cool reactor fuel whenever external power transmission lines are severed. The International Atomic Energy Agency maintains permanent monitoring teams at the site and three other operating Ukrainian nuclear stations to monitor safety conditions.