US President Donald Trump said that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had allegedly agreed to reduce the intensity of strikes on Russian oil refineries. He also again blamed Ukraine for rising diesel prices.
The American leader said this while speaking to journalists.
According to Trump, the rise in diesel fuel prices is “not so much a Middle Eastern problem as a Russian problem”.
“The big problem is that refineries in Russia are blowing up. Because Ukraine and Russia are at war with each other, and Ukraine is blowing up diesel plants in Russia, because they process a lot of oil. So this situation is really interesting. And I spoke with President Zelenskyy, I said: ‘You need to ease off on the refineries,’” Trump said.
He said Zelenskyy allegedly replied that he would “probably do so”. He added that Ukraine’s leader could “be getting on with other things” as well.
Trump said the big problem is that refineries in Russia cannot operate as they used to, but “we will sort this situation out”.
- This is not the first time Trump has said that Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refineries are among those to blame for higher diesel prices. Recently, he wrote that Russia had lost control of its diesel fuel industry because of the war with Ukraine.
- Before that, as the FT reported, during a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy about a meeting in New York, he asked Ukraine to stop striking Russian oil refineries. At the meeting itself, however, the discussion was about an energy ceasefire rather than a unilateral halt to attacks by Ukraine, the Ukrainian President said.
- Earlier, the American leader said that Ukraine should stop such attacks.
- Recently, Trump said he expects the Presidents of Ukraine and Russia — Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin — to hold talks to end the war.