Trump says Russia ‘lost control’ of diesel industry, asks Zelenskyy to halt refinery strikes

New Delhi: The United States president, Donald Trump, on Monday said Russia had “lost control” of its diesel oil industry after Ukrainian strikes knocked out or disrupted several refineries and called for an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. His warning came a day after Ukraine launched a massive drone assault on Moscow, hitting the Moscow Oil Refinery and setting the facility ablaze.

Trump’s post on Truth Social came hours after his Sunday phone call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which he asked Kyiv to stop its attacks on Russian refineries, the Financial Times reported. According to reports, Trump repeatedly focused on diesel supplies and expressed concern that the attacks were worsening a global shortage and pushing prices higher.

A senior Ukrainian official who participated in the call told the Financial Times that Trump’s main message was about “diesel, diesel … diesel” and that he urged Zelenskyy to order Ukrainian forces to halt drone and missile strikes on Russian refineries.

Another Ukrainian official said Trump was particularly worried about rising diesel prices and wanted Russian fuel supplies to continue reaching the global market.

The conversation followed the large Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow. Russian authorities said 450 drones were shot down as they approached the capital, while the assault set a major oil refinery ablaze and killed at least two people, with 20 others injured, as RNA Media had reported earier.

Why Trump is worried about diesel prices

The issue has become a direct economic problem for Trump. US diesel prices reached a record $6.51 a gallon on Monday, according to the media reports, having risen more than 70 per cent since the Middle East conflict began in February.

Diesel is particularly important because it powers trucks, farm machinery and other parts of the transport and agricultural economy. The rising price is putting pressure on American farmers just as the autumn harvest season begins.

The timing is particularly sensitive for Trump because the United States is heading towards the midterm elections, and diesel prices has become a political liability for the president, with higher fuel costs resulting into inflation and putting additional pressure on businesses and consumers.

Ukraine has spent months targeting Russian refineries and fuel infrastructure, arguing that the facilities contribute to Moscow’s ability to wage war. The strikes have increasingly disrupted Russian refining capacity.

Last week half of Russia’s six largest diesel-producing refineries had significantly reduced output or completely halted operations because of drone damage. Those six facilities account for about half of Russia’s diesel production. Kirishi was fully shut down, while the Volgograd refinery and Norsi were operating at roughly one-quarter of their nameplate capacity, according to market sources cited by Reuters.

Russia has responded by restricting fuel exports as domestic supplies come under pressure. The disruption has therefore affected not only Russia’s internal fuel market but also the amount of diesel available to international buyers.

The Moscow Oil Refinery, hit during Sunday’s attack, is one of Russia’s major fuel-processing facilities. It processed about 11.6 million tonnes of crude oil in 2024 and produced around 2.9 million tonnes of gasoline and 3.2 million tonnes of diesel, according to Reuters figures cited in the earlier RNA Media report.

Who is behind the global diesel crisis?

Trump has blamed Russia and Ukraine for rise in diesel prices. But an assessment by Ukraine’s KSE Institute, cited by the Financial Times, points to a much larger disruption from the US-Iran war, which Trump himself launched in February. The assessment found that Persian Gulf exports fell by 152 million barrels between March and August, compared with a 68 million-barrel decline in Russian exports linked to the Ukraine war.

The figures show that while Ukrainian strikes have disrupted Russian fuel production, the US-Iran war has caused a substantially larger shock to global supplies.

Trump had previously claimed Russia and Ukraine had agreed to stop striking each other’s energy facilities. Ukrainian officials later said no such agreement had been reached, although Zelenskyy said Kyiv would honour a reciprocal halt if the US and its partners could ensure Russia did the same.

Ukraine, however, continues to argue that strikes on Russian energy infrastructure are part of the pressure being applied to Moscow. Zelenskyy said the attacks had damaged facilities supporting Russia’s war effort and argued that continued pressure was necessary to force an end to the conflict.