By Sumayya
KYIV, Ukraine — U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday asked Ukrainian Leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop hitting Russian oil factories and other facilities used to make and send out diesel, saying the strikes are causing a worldwide shortage. He spoke after diesel costs in the U.S. hit a record high on Friday, jumping past US$6 a gallon on average.
Ukraine has for months been hitting Russia’s oil and gas business with long-range strikes, forcing fuel limits across the nation and causing Moscow to stop diesel exports in July, taking supplies away from the already tight global market.
But the worldwide crunch also came after the war on Iran slowed down oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Fuel costs are weighing on Americans as they get ready to vote in midterm elections in November.
Trump was questioned by a reporter if he had talked with Zelenskyy after his recent chat with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. He answered by asking Zelenskyy to stop strikes against Russia.
“Mr. Zelenskyy has to do one thing. He has to stop hitting diesel fuel in Russia,” Trump told reporters on the side of the Irish Open, which is being played at his Doonbeg golf club.
“We spoke to Mr. Zelenskyy about it. There are plenty of other spots. Don’t hit diesel fuel, because that’s hurting, that’s hurting the planet,” he said.
“Disruptions to Russia’s refining setup and a near-stop to product exports after stronger Ukrainian strikes have added to these losses,” the IEA wrote. It added that in February, combined next exports of diesel and gasoil from the Gulf and Russia “made up almost 45 per cent of global sea trade.”
Kyiv says Russia’s oil business both funds and directly fuels Moscow’s more than four-year-old attack on Ukraine.
Russia has turned up its air campaign against Ukraine in recent weeks, using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to break Ukraine’s defences. Moscow’s strikes have hit Ukraine’s power setup ahead of winter in what officials say is meant to scare civilians.
Civilians were killed and hurt overnight into Sunday as Russia and Ukraine traded large-scale drone strikes.
Two people were killed and 14 more hurt near an oil and industrial hub in Russia’s Tatarstan, according to local workers, while Ukrainian authorities reported on Russian drones hitting the Black Sea port of Odesa and starting a fire near a border crossing with Poland.
Ukraine hits more Russian oil plants
The two Russian civilians died after a drone crashed into a tree near their parked car in the city of Nizhnekamsk, according to the office of regional boss Rustam Minnikhanov. Nizhnekamsk holds a key group of oil factories and other industrial plants. Mayor Radmir Belyaev said that a fire had broken out at an unstated “business.”
Ukraine also claimed to have hit a big oil factory in Slavyansk-on-Kuban, in Russia’s Krasnodar region near Crimea. The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) office said its drones hit a key oil processing unit and the factory’s tank farm overnight into Sunday.
Krasnodar workers said the strike on “a business” in Slavyansk-on-Kuban hurt three people and damaged an oil pipe.
Russian forces shot down 389 Ukrainian drones during the night, Russia’s defence ministry said Sunday.
Russia hits Odesa and western Ukraine
In Ukraine, at least nine people were hurt in a “massive” Russian nighttime strike on Odesa, according to Serhii Lysak from the city’s military office. Odesa is home to Ukraine’s main port hub on the Black Sea and has faced steady drone and missile strikes, with Kyiv blaming Moscow of trying to stop its exports.
A Russian drone strike on Saturday hit a tall living building in Odesa, killing two people and hurting 26 others, Ukrainian officials said.
Russian overnight strikes also hit western Ukraine, though there were no quick reports of casualties. One drone set fire to a gas station near the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing with Poland, according to Ukraine’s top diplomat and a speaker for the local customs force.
“This is Putin’s terror ‘knocking’ directly on the doors of the EU and NATO. Russian barbarians are at your gate, dear partners,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.
Ukraine’s border crossings with Poland are a path for much of the military and humanitarian help sent by Western friends.
Valentyna Chernysh, a speaker for the Volyn Customs Office, told The Associated Press that the Yahodyn crossing was safe and no one was hurt.
Earlier this week, two people died when Russian drones hit the Starokozache border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova on Tuesday. The next day a “direct threat” to a Polish-Ukrainian crossing point was skipped due to the teamwork between Warsaw and Kyiv, according to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Ukraine’s air force said its air defences shot down or stopped 409 Russian drones of various kinds overnight, including a newer jet-powered model that is faster and more difficult to catch. It said Russia had hit Ukraine with 453 drones in total.
