Trump Defends Russia Diesel Deal as Zelensky Says Moscow Ignores Truce

US President Donald Trump defended his diesel agreement with Russia on Monday, Oct. 12, despite condemnation from both US parties, European allies and Ukraine, latterly which remains under daily Russian terror.

Writing on Truth Social, Trump claimed that the EU had covertly acquired Russian energy valued at $250 billion. However, he did not specify the period or the source of the figure. Rather, he reiterated that he made the right choice striking a business deal with the Kremlin.

“I made the right choice for the American People – ALWAYS, AMERICA FIRST!” Trump wrote.

By contrast, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine had held off striking Russian energy facilities after Trump announced an energy truce on Oct. 11, while Russia kept attacking the country’s power grid relentlessly.

“I think this was [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s response to President Trump. And the signals from Russia have been very clear: they know nothing about an energy truce. It is regrettable, because they always find reasons not to stop this war,” Zelensky said in an interview with Fox News on Monday.

The diesel arrangement, announced on Oct. 9 after a phone call between Trump and Putin, would allow Russia to supply up to 4.8 million tons of diesel to US and global markets.

To enable the deal, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued General License 135 the same day. The license authorizes the sale, delivery and import of Russian-origin diesel through April 7, 2027.

Other Topics of Interest

Ukraine Passes Education Law to Unlock EU Talks

Parliament expanded education rights for EU-language minorities, meeting Hungary’s condition for advancing Ukraine’s membership negotiations.

No sign Russia is complying with truce

Ukraine’s negotiating team, which held US-led talks in Miami on Oct. 9 aimed at ending Russia’s war against Ukraine, remains in daily contact with its American counterparts, Zelensky said.

He made clear that Kyiv expects Washington to step up pressure on Moscow, after recent US moves raised concerns about its strategy and its role in brokering an end to the war.

“As of now, there is no indication that Russia is complying with the conditions announced by the President of the United States,” the Ukrainian President wrote on Telegram.

Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure took place on Oct. 11 and continued on Monday. Air-raid alerts remained in effect nationwide throughout the day as Russia launched Shahed drones and dropped aerial bombs, he said.

“If these strikes are Russia’s response to the statement by the President of the United States, it means that the Russians have squandered another opportunity to bring peace closer,” Zelensky wrote.

In a Fox News interview, Zelensky said Ukraine did not strike any Russian energy facilities overnight because of Trump’s announcement. He declined to say whether that restraint would continue. “We never announce what we will do next as part of our operations,” he said, adding that “more pressure needs to be applied on Russia.”

Kyiv has said it is ready to halt refinery strikes if Moscow stops attacking Ukraine’s grid.

The Kremlin has neither confirmed nor rejected the truce. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday only that contact on the matter was ongoing. A White House official told Axios that the truce covers only oil refineries.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said such an arrangement would favor Moscow, since Ukraine has one refinery while Russia has many.

Meanwhile, US pressure has focused on Kyiv after days of rising tensions.

The Financial Times reported on Oct. 11 that US officials had threatened to suspend the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) – a mechanism for buying American weapons for Ukraine – unless Kyiv stopped striking Russian energy sites.

A day earlier, Trump said Ukraine should get a new president and demanded that Kyiv stop striking Russian refineries, which he blamed for high diesel prices. The global price spike has been widely attributed to the US-Israel war with Iran.

Condemnation from both sides of the Atlantic

On Oct. 11, Republican Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Thom Tillis and John Curtis joined Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Richard Blumenthal in urging the administration to scrap the diesel deal.

They said the administration had neither consulted Congress nor submitted the justification required by law, the New York Times reported.

“The United States should not provide Putin with a financial lifeline while Russia continues to kill Ukrainian civilians. The Administration must immediately reverse course,” the senators wrote.

Sen. Tillis told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that there is “a legitimate case for saying the president’s not following the law.”

Republican Don Bacon called the deal “a grave error by the president.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described it as a “deal with the devil to try to help his flailing political fortunes.” Lawmakers from both parties have warned that the deal could help fund Russia’s war.

In Europe, Kallas said lifting the sanctions “provides Moscow with more revenues to wage war,” AFP reported.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday that a similar deal was “out of the question” for Germany and Europe.

The EU also adopted its largest-ever addition to its Russia sanctions list on Monday, consisting of 1,646 new sanctions targeting Russia’s military-industrial complex, including missile supply chains, drone makers, and submarine shipyards.