BS BULLETIN:
- President Trump says he personally told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop attacking Russian facilities that produce and distribute diesel.
- Trump says Ukraine can attack “plenty of other targets” but its refinery campaign is worsening a worldwide diesel shortage.
- The intervention comes after the U.S. national average for diesel surged above $6 per gallon for the first time.
President Donald Trump has a new message for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: Find something else to bomb.
Trump revealed Sunday that he has personally told Zelenskyy to stop targeting Russian oil refineries and other infrastructure responsible for producing diesel as a worldwide shortage sends prices soaring.
“Mr. Zelenskyy has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia,” Trump told reporters while attending the Irish Open at his golf club in Doonbeg, Ireland.
And Trump says he has already delivered that message directly. “We spoke to Mr. Zelenskyy about it,” Trump said.
Trump isn’t asking Ukraine to stop attacking Russia altogether. “There are plenty of other targets,” he said. “Don’t hit diesel fuel, because that’s hurting, that’s hurting the world.”
He later put it even more bluntly: “Let him go after targets, but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage of diesel.”
The intervention comes at a painful moment for American drivers.
The national average for diesel blew past $6 per gallon Friday, reaching another record after hitting $5.85 just one week earlier.
The Daily BS has been following that rapid climb as disruptions from both the Iran war and Russia-Ukraine war squeeze supplies of refined fuels around the world.
Ukraine has stepped up long-range drone attacks against Russia’s oil and gas infrastructure in recent months, damaging refineries and reducing Russian fuel production.
Kyiv argues those facilities are legitimate targets because Russia’s energy industry finances and supplies Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The attacks have had consequences far beyond Russia. Moscow banned diesel exports in July, removing additional fuel from an already tight global market.
But Ukraine isn’t the only reason for the shortage.
The International Energy Agency reported Friday that diesel and gasoil exports from Gulf countries in August had fallen to just over one-quarter of their pre-Iran-war level.
The IEA said disruptions to Russia’s refining system caused by Ukrainian attacks have “compounded these losses.”
Before the Iran war began, Russia and Gulf countries together accounted for nearly 45% of global seaborne diesel and gasoil trade.
Ukraine, meanwhile, isn’t backing away from Russia’s energy infrastructure.
Its forces said they struck another major refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region overnight into Sunday, while another drone attack hit the industrial city of Nizhnekamsk in Tatarstan.
DBS WIRE SOURCES:
- Fox News — Trump tells Zelenskyy to stop targeting Russian diesel refineries
- Associated Press — Trump calls on Ukraine to halt strikes on Russian diesel infrastructure
- The Daily BS — Diesel prices soar to $6 per gallon as Iran war continues
- The Daily BS — Diesel price now so high in one state gas pumps don’t have enough space to show it
- The Daily BS — Diesel prices now higher than they were under Biden
