On Friday, Trump temporarily opened the American market to Russian diesel and presented the move as a way to lower fuel prices. By Saturday, he had found his culprit. Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries, Trump said, had become a “world problem” that was hurting American farmers and ranchers. He suggested Ukrainians might need a new president if Volodymyr Zelenskyy would not make a deal. The administration went further behind closed doors, according to the Financial Times, threatening to restrict weapons procurement and intelligence sharing unless Ukraine stopped attacking Russian energy facilities.
Then came Sunday. Trump announced an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, even though Kyiv had not been given the terms and Moscow had not confirmed that it had agreed to anything. It may yet become real. Or it may join the growing list of agreements Trump has proclaimed before the other parties knew they had made one.
Sifting through Trump’s logic is always a challenge. His calculation seems to be that Kyiv’s strategic decision to target Russian refineries — crippling a critical source of revenue for Moscow — has added pressure to an already tight global diesel market. But Ukraine did not create the diesel crisis. Much of the chaos Trump is trying to contain began with his own war against Iran
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