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United States President Donald Trump has called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to halt military strikes directed at Russian diesel and oil processing facilities, asserting that Kyiv’s ongoing drone offensive against Russian energy infrastructure is driving a severe global fuel shortage and inflating prices worldwide.
Addressing reporters on Sunday during an official visit to the Republic of Ireland, Trump stated that he had personally communicated this position to the Ukrainian leader. The remarks came as the US president spent time at his golf resort in Doonbeg, where he attended the Amgen Irish Open.
According to Trump, Ukrainian military forces should redirect their combat efforts away from Russian fuel production assets. He insisted that while numerous other valid targets exist across the battlefield, targeting Russian diesel facilities creates profound economic disruption that reverberates far beyond the immediate theater of war, causing harm to international consumers.
The US president also minimized the impact of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East on recent fuel inflation, explicitly pointing to the war between Russia and Ukraine as the primary catalyst behind skyrocketing diesel rates. Trump maintained that current supply strains are directly linked to Eastern European developments rather than broader geopolitical hostilities involving Iran.
Over recent months, Ukraine has conducted a sustained campaign of long-range drone strikes hitting oil refineries deep inside Russian territory. These deliberate operations have significantly curtailed Russia’s domestic fuel manufacturing capacities, precipitating notable petrol shortages across various Russian regions.
Kyiv has consistently defended the legitimacy of these operations, emphasizing that Moscow’s petroleum industry provides both the financial capital and the physical fuel required to sustain Russia’s invasion, which has now lasted more than four years. Ukrainian officials have also pointed out that their own national energy grid remains under continuous bombardment from Russian forces, making refinery strikes an essential strategic countermeasure.
The intensifying dispute over energy supplies arrives at a sensitive moment in Washington, where soaring transportation and living expenses have emerged as a dominant concern for American citizens ahead of the upcoming midterm elections in November.
In the United States, commercial diesel prices reached an unprecedented milestone at the end of last week. According to data compiled by the American Automobile Association, the national average price for diesel rose to an all-time record of $6.06 per gallon, or approximately $1.60 per liter.
This marks a steep increase compared to figures recorded twelve months prior, when the nationwide average for diesel stood at $3.71 per gallon, equivalent to $0.98 per liter. The rapid escalation in fuel overheads has placed immense financial strain on critical logistics networks throughout the country.
Because diesel serves as the vital fuel source for cargo ships, freight trains, and commercial trucking fleets, higher fuel costs directly elevate the expense of shipping goods internationally and domestically. Consequently, freight operators are transferring these heightened expenditures directly to consumers, accelerating broad-based price increases on everyday items.
While Trump attributed the diesel crunch primarily to Ukrainian actions, global energy markets have also been severely unsettled since February, when a joint military campaign by the United States and Israel against Iran commenced. That conflict has created widespread disruption to major petroleum trade corridors throughout the Middle East.
Key maritime routes, particularly the Strait of Hormuz—which routinely handles approximately one-fifth of global oil transit during peacetime—have seen severe transit interruptions, instigating a broader international energy crisis and pushing crude markets into extreme volatility.
These regional disruptions contributed to crude oil prices breaking past the $100 per barrel threshold last week, a level not observed since July. Brent crude, which functions as the leading global benchmark, escalated sharply to reach highs of $109 per barrel during peak trading.
Independent energy analysts indicate that pressures on refined products stem from the convergence of both major global conflicts. In a comprehensive monthly assessment published on September 11, the International Energy Agency noted that the war between the US and Iran continues to obstruct international efforts to stabilize commercial shipping flows across the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.
However, the agency confirmed that Ukrainian operations have indeed compounded the crisis in refined fuels. The International Energy Agency highlighted that structural disruptions across Russia’s domestic refining facilities, coupled with an almost total shutdown of Russian refined product exports following the escalated Ukrainian drone incursions, have severely tightened global diesel availability.
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