US President Donald Trump says he has reached an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin allowing Moscow to “immediately release” diesel into the global market.
He said Putin had agreed to release 300,000 tonnes of diesel immediately, followed by 500,000 tonnes in November and another million after that.
“Diesel Prices for Americans and, indeed, the World, will be COMING DOWN, IN RECORD NUMBERS, AND FAST!” Trump wrote on Truth social.
An envoy to Putin welcomed the deal, but Ukraine’s president said any easing of sanctions on Russia played into Moscow’s hands and would prolong a war that must be ended.
Diesel prices in the US have doubled since the war with Iran began in February, putting pressure on Republicans ahead of the midterm elections over the rising cost of living.
The average diesel price in the US is currently $6.28 a gallon, according to the AAA, down from the record high of $6.53 recorded at the the end of September.
Shortly after Trump’s announcement, the US Treasury formally issued a temporary license allowing Russian diesel into the market.
An envoy for Putin, Kirill Dmitriev, welcomed the deal on social media, saying: “Russia-US co-operation on diesel and energy will benefit the world.”
But Volodymyr Zelensky hit out at the deal, saying “gifts to Putin will not work for peace” and that Russia would repay the diesel with “further terror”.
“Allowing Russia to sell petroleum products is an investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged,” he wrote on social media.
This year Russia has experienced two waves of severe fuel shortages across the country as a result of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries.
According to the International Energy Agency, its diesel production is estimated to have fallen by nearly 30%.
Trump has expressed his displeasure over those attacks, blaming them for rising fuel prices.
But on Friday Zelensky defended the strikes, saying there were in response to “Russia’s years-long campaign of terror against Ukraine’s energy sector”.
“Ukraine will not set Russian oil refineries on fire if Russia does not destroy our energy infrastructure,” he said.