Trump urges Ukraine to stop strikes on Russian refineries

US President Donald Trump on Sunday called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries and other infrastructure used to produce and distribute diesel, saying the attacks are causing a global shortage. He spoke after diesel prices in the US hit a record on Friday, soaring past $6 (R97.09) a gallon on average.

Ukraine has for months been targeting Russia’s oil and gas industry with long-range strikes, prompting fuel rationing across the country and causing Moscow to ban diesel exports in July, removing supplies from the already tight global market.

The global crunch also came after the war on Iran curtailed oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

Fuel prices are weighing on Americans as they prepare to vote in midterm elections in November.

Trump was asked by a reporter if he had spoken to Zelensky after his recent conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He responded by calling on Zelensky to halt strikes against Russia.

“Mr Zelensky has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia,” Trump told reporters on the sidelines of the Irish Open being played at his Doonbeg golf club.

“We spoke to Mr Zelensky about it. There are plenty of other targets. Don’t hit diesel fuel because that’s hurting, that’s hurting the world,” he said.

According to a report published on Friday by the International Energy Agency (IEA), net exports of diesel and gasoil from the Gulf countries in August stood at “just over a quarter” of what they were before the war on Iran began in February.

“Disruptions to Russia’s refining system and a near-halt to product exports after intensified Ukrainian attacks have compounded the losses,” the IEA wrote. It said in February that combined next exports of diesel and gasoil from the Gulf and Russia “accounted for almost 45% of global seaborne trade”.

Kyiv said Russia’s oil industry funds and directly fuels Moscow’s more than four-year-old invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has ramped up its air campaign against Ukraine in recent weeks, using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to pierce Ukraine’s defences. Moscow’s attacks have targeted Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter in a move officials said is meant to demoralise civilians.

Civilians were killed and injured overnight into Sunday as Russia and Ukraine exchanged large-scale drone strikes.

Two people were killed and 14 wounded near an oil and industrial hub in Russia’s Tatarstan, according to local officials, while Ukrainian authorities reported Russian drones pummeling the Black Sea port of Odesa and starting a fire near a border crossing with Poland.

The two Russian civilians died after a drone slammed into a tree near their parked car in the city of Nizhnekamsk, according to the office of regional head Rustam Minnikhanov. Nizhnekamsk houses a key cluster of oil refineries and other industrial plants. Mayor Radmir Belyaev said a fire had broken out at an unspecified “enterprise”.