“Zelenskyy is helping Democrats”: Trump’s MAGA base accuses Ukraine of trying to swing US midterms, says journalist in US

Three weeks before the US elections, the American right has a new villain for high fuel prices: Ukraine. Ukrainian journalist in the US, Ostap Yarysh, says the MAGA wing of US conservatives is pushing a claim that Ukraine deliberately strikes Russian oil refineries to raise fuel prices, trick US President Donald Trump, and help the Democratic Party before the November congressional vote.

The accusation casts Kyiv’s refinery strikes as a planned political move against Republicans, and it has spread from anonymous social media accounts to national television and members of Congress, Yarysh notes. Yet experts tie the fuel-price spike mainly to the US war with Iran, and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, not to Ukraine, and even Russia’s promised 300,000 tons of diesel would barely cover a day's US demand.

The messaging runs through influential American figures. Utah Senator Mike Lee wrote on X that “Zelenskyy is working overtime. To help Democrats in November.”

Zelenskyy is working overtime.

To help Democrats in November. https://t.co/HTvapB5Wt3

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) October 10, 2026

Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy called Zelenskyy ungrateful for continuing to bomb refineries and complicate the president’s position before the midterms, according to Yarysh’s account.

Blogger Jack Posobiec, who has a multimillion audience, has urged Washington to immediately stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine and cut off its funding, framing the strikes as an attempt to hurt Trump before the vote.

When you cannot fix the problem, try to control the story

Yarysh reads the campaign as damage control. The Republicans’ weak position before the vote stems mainly from the economy and a jump in domestic fuel prices, he says, a problem the promised Russian diesel cannot solve.

Blaming Ukraine serves two purposes, Yarysh argues: it channels voter anger toward an outside culprit, and it gives Trump a ready explanation if Republicans lose in November, that Zelenskyy set him up to help the Democrats.

Not everyone on the right is buying the blame

Even inside MAGA, some push back on that rhetoric. Yarysh points to far-right activist Laura Loomer, who argued that buying Russian oil fills the coffers of Iran’s regime, which she said "chants death to America."

Buying Russian oil puts money back into the coffers of the Islamic regime of Iran that chants Death to America.

We know this.

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) October 11, 2026

With three weeks to the vote, Yarysh warns that Ukraine should expect many more such accusations, as the information attack is likely to intensify rather than fade before election day.