US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that Ukraine and Russia have agreed not to target each other’s energy facilities, a claim that came a day after he publicly criticised Kyiv for striking Russian oil refineries.
“Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian energy targets. Russia has agreed to do, likewise!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network. He added: “The world’s diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine War, not Iran.”
The Ukrainian presidency declined to comment, and there was no immediate response from Moscow.
Trump’s statement comes as global oil prices climb in the seventh month of the US-Israel war with Iran, pushing up American fuel costs and inflation weeks before crucial midterm elections. The president has insisted the Iran conflict will end after the polls and that gas prices will fall, but he has now shifted some blame for high pump prices onto Kyiv.
During a trip to Ireland on Sunday, Trump lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, urging him to “stop knocking out diesel fuel” refineries in Russia. “Let him go after targets, but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage of diesel,” Trump said.
Ukraine has launched repeated drone attacks on Russian oil refineries deep inside Russian territory, while Moscow has intensified its own long-range missile strikes, driving up civilian casualties.
Trump said last week he had a “great conversation” with Russian President Vladimir Putin and claimed Putin wanted to make a deal to end the war. Zelensky has said he would meet Putin at the G20 summit at Trump’s Doral resort in Miami in December, but the Kremlin rejected the idea.
With diesel shortages and rising prices weighing on voters, Trump’s latest intervention signals a fresh push to reshape the narrative around the war’s economic impact ahead of the midterms.
