U.S. President Donald Trump has called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop targeting Russian diesel fuel infrastructure, arguing that the strikes are contributing to fuel shortages in Russia as the war between Moscow and Kyiv continues.
Trump made the remarks on Sunday when asked by reporters on the sidelines of the Irish Open at his Doonbeg golf club whether he had spoken with Zelenskyy following his recent conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Rather than detailing any conversation with the Ukrainian leader, Trump issued a direct appeal for Kyiv to halt attacks on Russia’s fuel supplies.
“Mr. Zelenskyy has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia. Let him go after targets but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage of diesel fuel.”
Donald Trump
Ukraine has carried out a sustained campaign of long-range strikes against Russia’s oil and gas industry, arguing that the sector provides Moscow with revenue and resources that support its more than four-year-old invasion of Ukraine. The attacks have increasingly disrupted Russia’s domestic fuel supplies, contributing to rationing despite the country being one of the world’s major oil and gas exporters.
Ukrainian strikes have also expanded beyond energy infrastructure, with attacks targeting major Russian online retailers and other facilities, bringing the consequences of the conflict closer to Russia’s population.
At the same time, Moscow has intensified its own aerial attacks against Ukraine in recent weeks, deploying ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones against Ukrainian targets. Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of targeting the country’s power infrastructure ahead of winter in an effort to weaken civilian morale.
The escalation continued overnight into Sunday, with Russia and Ukraine exchanging large-scale drone attacks that resulted in deaths, injuries and damage on both sides. Two people were killed and 14 others injured near an oil and industrial hub in Russia’s Tatarstan, according to local officials.
Ukrainian authorities, meanwhile, reported Russian drone attacks on the Black Sea port of Odesa and said a fire broke out near a border crossing with Poland. Ukraine also claimed to have struck a major oil refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kuban in Russia’s Krasnodar region.
The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine said its drones hit a key oil processing unit and the refinery’s tank farm overnight. Krasnodar authorities said an attack on an “enterprise” in Slavyansk-on-Kuban injured three people, damaged an oil pipeline and caused a fire, although they did not directly confirm Ukraine’s claim that the refinery had been targeted.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that its forces had shot down 389 Ukrainian drones during the night.Russian strikes also hit western Ukraine, with Ukrainian officials reporting that a drone struck near the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing with Poland and caused a fire at a petrol station.
Ukraine’s air force said its air defenses had shot down or suppressed 409 Russian drones overnight, including a newer jet-powered model that it said was faster and more difficult to intercept. According to the air force, Russia had launched 453 drones in total.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha condemned the attack near the Polish border in a post on X, warning that the conflict was increasingly affecting areas close to NATO and European Union territory.
“This is Putin’s terror ‘knocking’ directly on the doors of the EU and NATO. Russian barbarians are at your gate, dear partners.”
Andrii Sybiha
The border crossings with Poland are an important route for military and humanitarian assistance entering Ukraine from Western allies.
Russia Signals Possible Return to Peace Talks
Despite the continued military escalation, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow remains open to restarting peace negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
Peskov told reporters that such talks could potentially resume in the autumn, indicating that October remained a possibility.
“We are not ruling out that possibility. We are specifically talking about the foreseeable future. That is, October cannot be ruled out.”
Dmitry Peskov
His comments came after U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff held talks with Putin in Moscow last weekend before travelling to Kyiv to meet Zelenskyy. The latest diplomatic contacts represent a renewed effort by Washington to find a pathway toward ending the war, although significant differences remain between Moscow and Kyiv.
The central disputes, particularly over territorial concessions, continue to pose a major obstacle to a negotiated settlement, with the positions of Russia and Ukraine remaining fundamentally opposed.
Trump’s latest remarks therefore come amid an increasingly complex combination of military escalation and diplomatic engagement. While Ukraine continues to use long-range strikes to disrupt Russia’s energy infrastructure and weaken Moscow’s war effort, Trump is pressing Kyiv to limit attacks on Russian fuel supplies.
At the same time, Russia continues to conduct extensive aerial attacks against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, while the Kremlin says it remains prepared to consider a return to negotiations.The competing military and diplomatic developments pose the difficulty of achieving a ceasefire as both sides continue to pursue objectives on the battlefield while Washington pushes for a political resolution.
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