TEHRAN — With the 2026 U.S. midterm elections a month away and diesel at $6.28 a gallon, Donald Trump went looking for someone to blame and settled on Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, whose official presidential mandate expired long ago and whose continued rule under suspended elections remains constitutionally questionable.
On Friday, after talks with Vladimir Putin, Trump announced that Russia would ship more than 300,000 tons of diesel immediately, 500,000 in November and a million after that.
U.S. Treasury’s General License 135 makes it legal, reportedly until April 7, 2027. Trump signed a Russia sanctions law last month. He thanked Putin anyway.
The fuel crunch traces to the war on Iran, which the United States and Israel opened on February 28 and which has throttled Persian Gulf supply since. Trump blames Ukrainian drones hitting Russian refineries instead. Analysts are unconvinced.
Analyst Tom Kloza called the announcement “more noise from Truth Social,” adding that Ukrainian drones have reportedly crippled about half of Russia’s refining. Ed Hirs of the University of Houston told Newsweek that he expects relief at the pump only well after the election, and only a temporary one, because the pledged volume is small next to the global market.
Saturday brought the insult. “I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president,” Trump told reporters, accusing Zelensky of wanting “to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel.”
The same day, Russian glide bombs reportedly hit Zaporizhzhia, where Ukrainian officials counted at least 21 dead, three of them children. Zelensky called Washington’s waiver “an investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged.”
The timing was almost comic. Ukrainian and European officials were in Miami with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner when the announcement landed, and a senior Ukrainian official told the AP that Kyiv had no warning.
A U.S. official gave Axios another version: Trump moved after Zelensky ignored roughly six requests to stop hitting Russian refineries. Ukrainian officials say Washington threatened to cut intelligence sharing.
Sunday’s Truth Social post claimed an “ENERGY CEASEFIRE,” effective immediately. “Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!” Zelensky said the announcement “was news for me,” and said Ukraine will comply if Moscow does.
Trump tried this on September 14. Neither capital confirmed it then, and both kept striking each other’s energy sites.
The pattern is hard to miss. Washington announces by social media post, informs its partner afterward and calls the result a deal.
Kyiv is asked to stop hitting refineries, absorb strikes on its power grid and, if Trump gets his way, hold an election under bombardment. Moscow may get sanctions relief and export revenue. Stockholm and Berlin claimed they are keeping their sanctions, even if Washington is not.
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