Author, News Department
Place of work, BBC Russian Service
Published October 9, 2026
Updated a minute ago
Reading time: 6 min
After a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the head of the White House, Donald Trump, announced that he had agreed with him on the supply of Russian diesel fuel to the American and other markets. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky said that allowing Russia to sell diesel is an investment in war.
At the same time, analysts point out that the volumes of diesel supplies from Russia announced by Trump are “relatively small,” so this measure may not have a significant impact on prices at gas stations in the United States. Experts explain the very idea of such a deal as an attempt to influence public opinion ahead of the midterm elections to Congress, which will be held in early November.
“I have just had highly successful negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which it was agreed that Russia will immediately supply over 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to the US and world markets, another 500,000 tons during November, and 1,000,000 tons immediately thereafter,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
After this, according to the head of the White House, Moscow, “taking into account the production capabilities of Russian refineries,” will supply “3 million tons of diesel fuel.” Trump claims that thanks to this, "diesel prices for Americans and, in fact, for the whole world" will begin to "decline - rapidly and at a record pace."
At the same time, it became known that the US Treasury issued a temporary license (until April 7, 2027) allowing the supply of Russian diesel fuel to the market.
What did they say in the Kremlin?
After Donald Trump, the Kremlin also commented on the telephone conversation between the two presidents.
A short written statement from Vladimir Putin said that during the call the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, the situation around Iran and “various aspects of bilateral relations” were discussed.
“The Russian side confirmed its readiness to supply oil and petroleum products to the American and world markets,” the statement noted, without specifying the volumes and timing of such supplies.
After this, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that the authorities were beginning to lift restrictions on the export of diesel fuel earlier than planned.
Due to damage to Russian refineries from multiple Ukrainian strikes this summer and fall, Russia imposed a ban on diesel exports; it was once again extended by a month on 30 September.
According to Novak, Moscow is ready to supply additional volumes of diesel fuel to the American market in October and may increase supplies of diesel for export in November and December “as the refinery comes out of repair.”
At the same time, a couple of hours later, in a comment to reporters about the past conversation between Putin and Trump, assistant to the Russian President Yuri Ushakov spoke about “possible supplies of Russian petroleum products to the American and world markets.”
Ushakov also added that during the previous call between Putin and Trump (held on September 8), the possibility of resuming trilateral negotiations between Moscow, Washington and Kyiv immediately after the State Duma elections was discussed. However, now the Russian president has told the head of the White House that “the situation is different,” Ushakov said.
Kyiv launched a “super-massive drone strike” on Moscow and other Russian cities on the main voting day in the Duma elections, thereby trying to disrupt them, Yuri Ushakov retold the words of the Russian president to the American one. Thus, Putin’s aide said, Ukraine “essentially thwarted the possibility of immediately resuming the negotiation process”: “And now, as the president said, we will still think about when these negotiations can be resumed.”
In response to this, according to Ushakov, the US President promised that he would order the transfer of “appropriate signals to the Ukrainian delegation,” which these days arrived in Miami for negotiations with US representatives on ending the war.
Will the agreement between Trump and Putin help reduce diesel prices?
The average price of gasoline in the United States has jumped more than 46% to $4.37 per gallon since late February, while diesel fuel prices have soared 67% to $6.28 per gallon over the same period.
That sends prices of diesel used in agriculture, home heating and trucking near record levels and posing a threat to Trump's GOP allies ahead of the Nov. 3 congressional elections that will determine whether they retain their slim majority.
Earlier, Donald Trump tried to blame Kyiv and its attacks on Russian refineries for the sharp rise in fuel prices.
Ukraine insists that Russian oil refineries are legitimate targets because they help fuel the Russian army - and because oil revenues help Russia finance the war.
However, as the BBC Russian Service and other media have repeatedly written, the main factor destabilizing global energy supplies remains the war between the United States and Israel with Iran.
Reuters writes that after Trump announced an agreement with Putin, diesel prices fell, however, according to analysts, this measure may not be enough to curb price increases in the future.
For example, analyst Tim Armitage explains that the supply volumes cited by Trump are “relatively small.”
Russia's first promised supply of diesel is about 2.25 million barrels, and daily U.S. consumption is about 3.8 million barrels, he said, "so it won't have a significant impact on prices at the pump in the U.S."
“Of course, there are still two more deliveries to go, but this looks like a somewhat desperate move by President Trump to reduce inflation ahead of the midterm congressional elections,” Armitage said.
How Zelensky reacted
Commenting on Trump's statement, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that representatives of the US Congress, a bipartisan delegation, came to Kyiv on Friday. "They asked, 'What will it take to end the war?' The answer must be strong. There should be sanctions under the Lindsey Graham Act, there should be support for Ukraine in protecting life, and there should be pressure on Russia for the war. And today there was a conversation between the leaders of America and Russia. A conversation leading to another,” the President of Ukraine wrote on social networks.
He recalled the attacks by the Russian military on various cities of Ukraine, which took the lives of dozens of people this week alone.
According to Zelensky, the Kremlin is thus compensating for “the inability to achieve their goals at the front.” Therefore, the President of Ukraine said, Vladimir Putin has to rely “on attempts at behind-the-scenes agreements on this or that easing of pressure on Russia in order to buy time and opportunities for war.”
“Any easing of sanctions against Russia without a clear and lasting de-escalation agreement with Russia is an obvious weakness, it plays into Russia’s hands, that it will kill more, fight longer, respect America even less and cause even more losses and damage to the world,” the Ukrainian president added, emphasizing that “allowing Russia to sell petroleum products is an investment in war.”
After the announcement of the agreement with Putin on diesel, journalists asked Trump several times about Zelensky’s criticism of this decision, but he refused to comment on this, saying only that he was pleased with the deal with his Russian counterpart.
Meeting of representatives of the USA and Ukraine in Florida
A few days ago, the President of Ukraine spoke with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff on the phone, and he invited him to meet with the Ukrainian team in Florida to resume the negotiation track, Zelensky himself said in a 15-minute interview with Axios after Trump’s statements.
According to him, “The Americans said that they had some ideas, and we agreed to come to discuss them.”
The Ukrainian president said he understood from Witkoff's remarks that Trump's special envoys planned to convey the results of the negotiations in Florida to the Russian side, and then possibly go to Kyiv to try to broker a peace agreement. Zelensky stressed that during negotiations with Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the United States never made it clear that a deal with Russia on the supply of diesel fuel was on the agenda.
Judging by Witkoff’s post on social media X, the outcome of the meeting was an agreement to “continue diplomatic efforts” to end the war.
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