United States President Donald Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop attacks on Russian oil refineries and infrastructure used to make and distribute diesel. Trump said the strikes were contributing to a worldwide fuel shortage after average U.S. diesel prices climbed above six dollars a gallon.
Speaking to reporters at the Irish Open at his Doonbeg golf club, Trump said he had discussed the issue with Zelenskyy. He argued that Ukraine had other possible targets and should avoid diesel facilities because the resulting disruption was harming countries beyond the battlefield.
Ukraine has used long-range weapons against Russia's oil and gas sector for months, leading to fuel rationing inside Russia. Moscow banned diesel exports in July, removing additional supply from a market already tightened by the war involving Iran and reduced oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
The International Energy Agency said August net exports of diesel and gasoil from Gulf countries were only slightly above one quarter of their prewar level. It added that Gulf and Russian shipments together had represented almost 45 percent of worldwide seaborne trade in those fuels in February.
Kyiv says Russia's petroleum industry finances and directly supplies Moscow's invasion. Ukraine claimed another strike on a major refinery at Slavyansk-on-Kuban, saying drones hit a processing unit and storage tanks; regional Russian authorities said three people were injured and an oil pipeline was damaged.
Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces destroyed 389 Ukrainian drones overnight. In Tatarstan, regional officials said two civilians were killed and 14 were wounded near the oil and industrial center of Nizhnekamsk after a drone hit a tree beside a parked vehicle.
Russia simultaneously intensified attacks on Ukraine. Officials in Odesa said at least nine people were injured during a large nighttime assault, while a drone ignited a fuel station near the Yahodyn-Dorohusk crossing with Poland without damaging the border facility or causing injuries there.
Ukraine's air force said it shot down or suppressed 409 of 453 Russian drones, including a faster jet-powered model. Trump's intervention therefore came as both countries expanded long-range attacks, but it singled out Russian diesel infrastructure because of the claimed effect on international fuel availability and American consumers before the November midterm elections.
