President Trump continues to seek to pressure Ukraine's Zelensky to halt long-range drone strikes on Russia's refineries, in a bid to calm rising diesel prices especially while the parallel Strait of Hormuz crisis persists.
Financial Times reports Monday that the US president just held a fresh phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart over the matter, where Zelensky was pressed over the strikes as Washington wants "Russian supplies to be able to reach the global market to provide relief" - also as cited in Bloomberg. News of the call broke just before Trump issued the following Truth Social statement early Monday:
The Truth Social words seem geared toward deflecting criticism that he's curtailing Ukraine's ability to fight and inflict pain on Russia. Trump says the Kremlin has "lost control of its Diesel Oil Industry" as a result of the war with Ukraine.
The president had starting on Sept.13 called on Kiev to de-escalate the oil infrastructure attacks, which have become so frequent as to be happening multiple times a week.
Zelensky "has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia," Trump told reporters while in Ireland over a week ago. "There are plenty of other targets. Don’t hit diesel fuel, because that’s hurting, that’s hurting the world."
Reuters in a fresh report observes: "Oil prices slid to their lowest in 11 days on Monday as investors hoped for diplomatic progress on the Iran war due to this week's UN meeting, and eyed a partial recovery in shipments from Saudi Arabia." The Iranian president and his delegation have (somewhat surprisingly) been issued visas and are expected to be present in New York City this week.
The report continues, "Brent crude futures and US West Texas Intermediate crude touched their lowest since September 10 earlier on Monday. The Brent contract for November was at $101.75 a barrel at 0859 GMT, down $2.12, or 2%."
We noted previously that the IEA indicated US diesel prices surpassed $200 per barrel in early September, which was 94 percent above their pre-war level. Diesel and other similar fuels account for nearly 30 percent of global oil demand.
On Sunday we reported Ukraine Pounds Major Moscow Refinery As Global Diesel Crisis Threatens Economic Shock - which involved Ukrainian drones pounding Gazprom Neft-owned Moscow Oil Refinery, about 16 miles from the Kremlin. The facility has a processing capacity of around 245,000 barrels a day and supplies fuel to the surrounding metro area.
Zelensky had then boasted on X, "One of Russia's key oil industry facilities and the aggressor’s logistics facility were hit. These are billions of dollars that sustain the war machine. The systems used included FP-1, RZ-100, MICH-2000, Palianytsia, Vendetta, Liutyi, Bars, Flamingo, Sichen, and Pelican."
It seems Trump will have an uphill battle trying to rein him in, especially given that European capitals may at the same time quietly be advising him the opposite. From Kiev's point of view, Washington is seeking to hobble the one aspect of its war strategy that's having a serious impact inside Russia.