Trump urges Zelenskyi to stop strikes on Russian refineries over rising diesel prices, Axios reports
As previously reported, Zelenskyi announced he held a phone conversation with Trump the day before. According to the Ukrainian president, the leaders agreed during the call to meet in New York, a meeting he believes "can change a lot."
At the same time, according to the Axios source, Trump also urged Zelenskyi during this conversation to stop Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries.
Separately, Rustem Umierov, Head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service, told Axios that he worked alongside White House envoys over the past few days to organize a meeting between Zelenskyi and Trump. They expect it to take place on Tuesday, September 22.
Earlier, Trump also publicly stated that Ukraine must stop striking Russian energy infrastructure. The US president explained his position by claiming that such attacks lead to a diesel fuel shortage.
According to Trump, the shortage arose precisely because of the military actions between Ukraine and Russia, rather than the US war against Iran.
Additionally, in early July, during the public part of his meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Trump stated that Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries represent an escalation that could lead to the end of the war.
Other representatives of the US administration made similar statements. In particular, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure cause an energy crisis. At the same time, he named the war with Iran as the second cause of this crisis.
For his part, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated that the United States is recording record-high diesel fuel prices due to significant damage to Russian oil refineries. According to him, Russia stopped exporting fuel as a result.
Background
As Rubryka previously reported, as of June 16, Ukrainian long-range strikes hit 16 large Russian refineries and terminals, knocking out over 30% of Russia's oil refining capacity. Following the attack on the Omsk refinery in early July, strikes hit almost all of Russia's ten largest oil refineries.
It is worth adding that on June 29, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin admitted for the first time that Russian citizens and businesses face difficulties purchasing gasoline. According to the Russian dictator, authorities took several measures to overcome the fuel crisis that engulfed almost all regions of Russia.
Currently, Russia is also negotiating the import of AI-92 gasoline from Kazakhstan. The negotiations involve potential deliveries of around 50,000 tons of gasoline to stabilize the domestic market.
Additionally, on July 5, reports revealed that gasoline imports from Belarus to Russia reached a record high in June, nearly 2.5 times May levels.
It is worth noting that the Syzran and Saratov oil refineries suspended oil refining after drone attacks.
Furthermore, following a Ukrainian drone attack on September 17, the Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery in Yaroslavl stopped refining oil.
Also, on the night of September 20, Ukraine's Defense Forces hit the Moscow oil refinery in the Kapotnya district. A large-scale fire broke out on the facility's grounds, damaging a primary crude-processing unit, a combined refining unit, and an isomerization unit.
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