Trump is becoming concerned about the price of diesel.

Donald Trump is concerned about the price of diesel, which last week peaked at 6.29 dollars a gallon – 68 per cent higher than last year, according to the Energy Information Administration: Understandably, with the mid-term elections just over a month away and widespread reports of farmers unable to harvest their crops because running their farm machinery is too expensive, the issue is receiving significant attention. Trump, however, refuses to acknowledge that the consequences of the war against Iran – with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian attacks in the Gulf – have contributed to this spike. On the contrary, he states quite explicitly: Iran has nothing to do with it. Instead, it is down to ‘the Russian-Ukrainian war’, as he calls it – a term he does not even use to mean ‘the war against Ukraine’.

Last week, a supposed agreement was fabricated between the Ukrainians and the Russians not to strike each other’s refineries: there was no such agreement; discussions were merely taking place, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated. A few hours after the announcement of this so-called agreement, the Russians struck Ukrainian energy sites, and Kyiv responded – on Sunday with a high-profile attack, notable for the weapons used and the targets struck, which hit the Kapotnya refinery in the Moscow region, which processes up to 12 million tonnes of oil annually; it had already been struck in June, had been shut down, had been brought back into operation in August and is now out of action once again. On Sunday, Trump telephoned Zelensky and, according to reports leaked on Axios and confirmed by the Financial Times, told him to stop striking Russian refineries and energy sites, because there is a shortage of diesel and prices are rising: they agreed to discuss this today in New York at a meeting on ‘de-escalation’. On Monday, Trump posted on Truth again about diesel, but this time in slightly stronger terms: “Unfortunately, Russia has lost control of its diesel industry because of its war with Ukraine”, and he called for an end to this “stupid war”. Zelensky, who just a year ago met Trump hoping to secure Tomahawk missiles and presenting him with an offer to co-produce the valuable drones (an offer that was rejected), chooses his words carefully but does not miss the opportunity: “Of course, this Russian war against Ukraine and against common sense must end,” he wrote on X, emphasising that this Russian war “creates new problems every month”. “Solutions are possible,” Zelensky said, adding that Ukraine “has sought peace from the very first minute” of the Russian invasion.