The trigger for this turmoil was Trump’s announcement on Friday (October 9) to reach a diesel supply agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin to lift U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel exports. The Russian government confirmed on Saturday that it had partially lifted a ban on diesel exports, Reuters reported.
Since the outbreak of the war with Iran in February, global diesel prices have risen sharply and have become a political burden for Trump's Republican Party ahead of next month's midterm elections, when the opposition Democrats are likely to seize control of one or both houses of Congress. Trump has spent the past few weeks trying to blame rising oil prices on Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil facilities.
On Saturday, Trump publicly launched an attack at the White House. "I think it's time for Ukraine to get a new president," he told reporters, suggesting that Ukraine "get a new leader who can reach an agreement." He claimed that Zelensky "wanted to use diesel to cause trouble for our farmers, our ranchers."
Trump also warned Ukraine about its attack on Russian oil refineries. "I said to him, 'You can do whatever you want. Don't hit the refinery...' and he went out and hit it," Trump said. "He better stop it."
Trump's remarks were welcomed in Moscow. Kirill Dimitriev, the Kremlin's special envoy for economic affairs, said on X that Trump joins "many people" who believe Ukraine needs a leadership truly focused on peace.
Some of Trump's statements about the war situation differ from independent estimates. He claimed that Ukraine "lost 30% of its territory" and "more than 2 million people were killed"; independent estimates put the proportion of Ukrainian territory controlled by Russia at 20%. British defense officials recently stated that about 500,000 Russian soldiers were killed, but there is no reliable latest estimate of the number of Ukrainian deaths.
Zelensky delivered one of his harshest criticisms of the White House yet. He directly linked the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel to Russia’s deadly attack on Zaporozhye on Saturday.
"Today, Russia expressed its gratitude for the lifting of sanctions on diesel exports by dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporozhye," Zelensky said. "Last night proved once again that Russia takes any relaxation of pressure as a signal - thinking that it can continue to fight... What we need is a different signal."
Kyiv has urged Washington to pressure Moscow and push for serious talks to end the four-and-a-half-year-old war. There are also members of the U.S. Congress who have criticized the agreement, including Trump's fellow Republican, Representative Don Bacon. He said it was time to impose more sanctions rather than lift them. Analysts also pointed out that the agreement is unlikely to bring about continued low oil prices, because related export volumes are still well below the usual levels when Russian refineries are not attacked.
On Sunday (October 11), Zelensky issued a formal response. He said on social media that Ukraine was willing to stop long-range attacks on Russian refineries if Russia stopped attacking Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
"The attacks on energy facilities could be stopped today, but Putin doesn't want to do that," Zelensky said. "Any de-escalation measures must be mutual and accompanied by real guarantees." He reiterated that a moratorium on in-depth strikes would only be possible within the framework of an enforceable bilateral agreement to protect Ukraine's domestic electricity and heating grid before the onset of winter.
The issue of refinery attacks has become a core point of friction between Kyiv and Washington. U.S. officials have been urging Ukraine to unilaterally stop its strikes to ease pressure on international oil prices; Ukrainian officials have consistently refused to exercise unilateral restraint on the grounds that weakening Russian oil refining facilities would directly limit fuel supplies to Russian troops on the front lines and reduce state income that supports their wars.
When Zelensky proposed a reciprocal ceasefire, Ukraine was stepping up its actions to block downstream petrochemical logistics throughout Russia. According to the Kyiv Post, on the night of October 10, the Ukrainian Defense Forces once again attacked the Samara Linear Production Dispatch Station (LVDS) located in Samara Oblast, Russia. This petrochemical hub is responsible for formulating export-grade Urals crude oil and supplying refined oil products to the Russian army. Previously on October 7, a precision strike had destroyed four large-capacity crude oil storage tanks at the facility.
The asymmetric operation also hit deep logistics facilities, including the Yug Rusi oil terminal in Rostov-on-Don, as well as corporate data centers in multiple states.
While policy debates raged, Russia's bombing campaign continued. Zelensky confirmed that the search and rescue operation ended on Sunday morning after a guided bomb attacked a residential apartment building in Zaporizhia. The final death toll rose to 23 people, including four children. Rescue workers cleared 320 tons of rubble. Among the victims was a 6-year-old girl. Her grandfather Anatoliy Chumniy said with tears beside the body: "Her birthday should be at the end of the month."
This is the third mass casualty attack in Ukraine this week. On Wednesday and Thursday, Russian attacks killed nearly 80 civilians, including at least 30 in the eastern garrison city of Kramatorsk and 22 killed by missiles in the town of Pryluky.
Zelensky reported that in the past seven days, the Russian military launched about 1,450 guided air bombs, 75 missiles of various types, and more than 1,640 attack drones against Ukraine, about 60% of which were high-speed turbojet drones specifically designed to challenge the low-altitude air defense network.
Zelensky said contacts with European leaders were scheduled throughout Sunday to coordinate additional air defense equipment. According to Reuters, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham had a phone call with Zelensky on Saturday, saying that the United Kingdom would strengthen sanctions against Russia and that the two would meet in the next few days.
Separately, ahead of the latest attack, Ukrainian and European officials held talks with U.S. negotiators in Miami on Friday aimed at developing a joint proposal to end the war. But Putin said after his phone call with Trump that an immediate resumption of peace talks was unlikely in light of Ukraine's drone attack on Moscow. According to the Russian news agency TASS, US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner may visit Moscow in the next two weeks.
