Donald Trump said today that Vladimir Putin had agreed to send hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel to the United States, a move he suggested could help lower pump prices before Americans vote in November.
“I have just concluded a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, saying Moscow would “immediately supply over 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to the American and global marketplace.”
Trump said a further 500,000 tons would be released in November, followed by 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.”
He added that Russia could provide another 3 million tons “within a short period of time,” depending on the condition of its diesel refineries, which have been heavily damaged by Ukrainian drone strikes.
At the same time, the Treasury Department said it would relax sanctions on Russia through April 7 to help enable the diesel shipments. The United States and other countries have imposed extensive sanctions since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the arrangement as a “gift to Putin.” Kyiv was taken by surprise by the announcement, an official told Axios.
“Gifts to Putin will not bring peace or any benefit to the civilized world. Russia will ‘repay’” the diesel with “further terror and treachery,” Zelensky said. “Allowing Russia to sell petroleum products is an investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged.”
The initial 300,000 tons equates to approximately 2.2 million barrels—less than two hours of global diesel consumption, based on calculations using International Energy Agency figures.
Donald Trump greets Putin on the tarmac after they arrived at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15
The 500,000 tons scheduled for November would amount to roughly 125,000 barrels a day, or about one-eighth of the approximately 1 million barrels of diesel Russia exported daily before Ukraine’s campaign against its refineries.
Trump said the agreement, combined with America’s “total control of the Strait of Hormuz,” would drive diesel prices lower worldwide.
US diesel prices have climbed to record levels amid the overlapping wars in Iran and Ukraine. AAA puts the average price at $6.28 a gallon, more than $2.60 above the $3.68 average recorded a year earlier.
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Diesel futures in the United States dropped about 4.5 percent to $4.66 a gallon on Friday. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading near $104 a barrel, down approximately 0.3 percent.
Diesel fuels the trucks and trains that transport goods across the country, as well as much of America’s farm equipment, making higher prices a concern for households.
The cost of living has emerged as a dominant concern for voters ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in late August, 47 percent of registered voters identified it as the single most important factor in their vote.
The reported agreement with Putin followed claims that Trump had urged Zelensky to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries, arguing that the strikes were contributing to higher diesel prices.
During a September 20 call, Trump repeatedly pressed Zelensky about the attacks and mentioned diesel several times, a source told Axios.
Rescuers work at the site of an apartment building damaged during a Russian air strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Friday
A plume of smoke rises during a reported airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition on the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa, on Friday
The call took place on the same day Ukraine launched its largest drone assault on Moscow since the war began. The city’s mayor said 450 drones had been shot down and that the capital’s main oil refinery was struck.
Ukraine has become increasingly adept at hitting the parts of refineries that take longest to fix, such as the units that turn heavy oil into diesel and jet fuel, which rely on equipment Russia cannot easily replace, analysts say.
Global oil prices were already pushed back above $100 a barrel last month after Iranian-backed militias in Iraq were blamed for a drone attack that shut Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline.
Tehran’s Houthi proxies in Yemen have also seized an island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the mouth of the Red Sea, a vital route after Hormuz was disrupted.
Trump has blamed the diesel spike on Ukraine, rather than his own war with Iran, telling reporters at his golf resort in Ireland on September 13: ‘This isn’t done by the Middle East, this is done by what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine.’