President Donald Trump has decided to engage in diesel supply transactions with Russian President Vladimir Putin after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ignored repeated U.S. requests to cease attacks on Russian oil facilities, U.S. media reported on October 9.
A U.S. official told Axios that Trump had requested Ukraine to stop attacking Russian oil facilities a total of six times, but these requests were not accepted.
The official stated, "Zelensky is misreading the situation," adding that continuing the attacks on oil facilities is damaging the favorable relationship Trump has built over the past six months.
In recent months, Ukraine has intensified its attacks on Russian oil facilities, leading to an energy crisis within Russia. In response, Russia has banned diesel exports, adding further strain to an already unstable international diesel market due to the war in Iran.
President Zelensky conveyed to the U.S. that Ukraine would halt its attacks on Russian oil facilities if Russia ceased its attacks on Ukrainian power plants.
However, the U.S. official explained that Trump demanded a halt to the attacks due to their impact on rising fuel prices in the United States.
Following a phone call with President Putin, Trump announced that Russia would immediately supply over 300,000 tons of diesel to the U.S. and global markets, with an additional 500,000 tons to be supplied in November and another million tons shortly thereafter.
In response, President Zelensky criticized the deal as "neither fair nor honest," arguing that it amounts to an unjust gift to President Putin.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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