WASHINGTON, D.C. — A controversial energy deal is putting President Donald Trump at odds with Ukraine.
Trump is defending an agreement with Vladimir Putin to bring Russian diesel into U.S. and global markets, arguing it will drive down soaring fuel prices.
“That is a big deal,” said Trump.
Trump stood by the deal on Monday and pointed to the European Union’s reported $250 billion energy payments to Russia, arguing his agreement with Putin is the right move for American consumers.
The deal calls for “over 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to the American and global marketplace, another 500,000 tons during the month of November, and 1,000,000 tons immediately thereafter,” according to the president’s Truth Social post on Friday.
With diesel prices surging during the war with Iran and the midterms just over three weeks away, Trump says the agreement could bring relief, and fast.
“I want to thank President Putin, to be honest with you, we have massive amounts of oil being coming into our country, and its diesel, which is what we want,” said Trump.
However, analysts say the deal lacks important details.
“I have a lot of skepticism. We’ve heard time and time again over the last seven months of various deals that lack the details of being credible,” said Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “Russia right now has been in a very difficult situation in terms of refining output because of the continued Ukrainian drone attacks that have really impacted Russia’s ability to produce diesel and gasoline. Somehow, magically they have hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel apparently ready to go that they’re not utilizing for their own country.”
De Haan added that any fuel price reduction will likely be short-lived.
“I really don’t think this is going to move diesel prices much. They may go a little bit lower, temporarily, awaiting whether these deals ultimately will be fulfilled, I think that’s what the market is very skeptical of,” said De Haan. “Even with the president pulling on possibly every lever that he can, we’re only seeing a minor response in the price of diesel. And unfortunately, even the energy cease-fire that the president had announced was extremely short lived.”
The deal comes less than one month after Congress passed and Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. The law calls for tariffs of up to 100% on major buyers of Russian energy or on countries helping Russia evade sanctions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized the decision to ease sanctions and allow Russian diesel exports.
“Every additional billion dollars they can earn from exports will be spent on nothing but sourcing and importing critical components and equipment to manufacture weapons,” said President Zelenskyy about the deal.
President Trump also announced an “energy cease-fire” between Ukraine and Russia on Sunday. Zelenskyy said over the weekend that Russia had already violated the energy cease-fire with a series of drone strikes. The Ukrainian president also said he was not aware of the cease-fire agreement in advance.
“Today, there was a statement from the President of the United States that an energy ceasefire has been secured. This is good news for everyone – and it is important that it become reality. Unfortunately, Ukrainian skies have been infested with Russian ‘shaheds’ all day today. There have been glide bomb strikes and strikes on our energy infrastructure too. A power plant in Kharkiv was attacked this evening. Overall, this past week alone, the Russians have carried out more than 200 strikes on our electricity generation and transmission facilities in Ukraine, and another 17 strikes this week targeted gas and oil facilities. They have killed more than 150 of our people, and more than 700 people have been wounded,” said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on social media Sunday.
