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Donald Trump is expected to press Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy on an energy ceasefire during a face-to-face meeting this week during United Nations high-level week, as world diesel prices have soared due to the war in Iran, as well as Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Ukraine stepped up its attacks on Russia’s energy sector over the weekend, launching its largest reported strike yet on the Moscow region in a barrage that struck a major Moscow oil refinery and killed three people.
On Monday, Trump said the whole world was suffering due to an energy shortage that he said was being exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.
“Russia has unfortunately lost control of its Diesel Oil Industry due to its War with Ukraine,” Trump said in a Truths Social post on Monday morning. “A large number of their Diesel refineries have been blown up and are, at least temporarily, out of commission.”
“This ridiculous and never ending War with Ukraine must be ended,” Trump said. “The whole World suffers as 25,000 people, mostly soldiers, are being killed each month. What a shame!”
Trump had earlier blamed Kyiv for the escalating energy war even as Russia has decimated Ukraine’s economy and launched night barrages of drones and ballistic missiles against Ukrainian cities.
Zelenskyy on Monday said negotiations were continuing and that that there are “ideas on the table for bringing peace closer, starting with strong de-escalation steps”.
“Ukraine’s energy sector, critical infrastructure, and our food exports must stop being targets for Russia, and this will lead to matching de-escalation steps on our part,” he said in a statement. “Solutions are possible.”
The two leaders are expected to meet on Tuesday during a rare sitdown on the sidelines of the high-level week of the United Nations general assembly. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will also be in Washington this week, and is expected to meet with secretary of state Marco Rubio.
During a trip to Ireland last week, Trump directly addressed Zelenskyy, saying he has to do “one thing: he has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia”.
“Let him go after targets but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage,” he said.
Trump spoke with Zelenskyy on Sunday in a phone call that one senior Ukrainian official told the Financial Times was about “diesel, diesel, diesel”.
Average diesel prices in the United States hit a record $6.50 per gallon on Monday, up from $3.19 per gallon this time last year before the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran and Tehran responded by closing the Strait of Hormuz to most international trade. The rise in prices is seen as a liability for Trump’s Republican party in the US midterm elections, which will take place in November.
Trump is expected to deliver a speech to the UN general assembly on Tuesday morning, and is expected to meet with major energy producers including the Gulf Cooperation Council and Venezuela’s recently installed leader Delcy Rodriguez.
In a preview, Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, said Trump would speak about how he has “confronted complex problems head-on around the world. Many of the peace deals that he has driven to conclusion, or is in the process of driving to conclusion.”
Trump last week prematurely announced an energy ceasefire under which Ukraine had agreed not to hit Russian energy targets and that “Russia has agreed to do likewise!” The deal had not been agreed, however, and Russian strikes against Ukrainian energy and other critical infrastructure have continued.
