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US President Donald Trump has said Russia and Ukraine have agreed to stop attacking each other’s energy facilities, a day after he criticised Kyiv over its strikes on Russian oil refineries.
Trump made the claim in a post on his Truth Social platform, saying both sides had agreed to refrain from targeting energy infrastructure.
“Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy targets. Russia has agreed to do, likewise!” Trump wrote.
He also attributed the recent rise in global diesel prices to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, rather than the conflict involving Iran.
“The World’s Diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine War, not Iran,” Trump added.
However, Ukraine’s presidency declined to comment on Trump’s claim, while there was no immediate response from Moscow.
The statement comes as oil prices continue to rise amid the seventh month of the Iran war, increasing pressure on fuel prices and inflation in the United States ahead of the November midterm elections.
Trump has maintained that the Iran war will end immediately after the midterms, after which gas prices would fall. In the meantime, he has increasingly blamed the Russia-Ukraine conflict for pressure on global fuel supplies.
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The US president had on Sunday criticised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a visit to Ireland, urging him to stop targeting Russian diesel refineries because of the impact on fuel supplies.
“Let him go after targets, but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage of diesel,” Trump said.
“There are plenty of other targets. Don’t hit diesel fuel because that’s hurting. That’s hurting the world. We don’t want him to hit diesel fuel… He’s hitting diesel refineries,” he added.
Ukraine has targeted several Russian oil refineries located far from its border as part of its campaign against Moscow’s energy infrastructure. Russia has also intensified its long-range attacks on Ukraine, contributing to a rise in civilian casualties.
Kyiv has been launching record numbers of drones into Russia, while Moscow has increased its missile strikes against Ukraine.
Trump said last week that he had a “great conversation” with Russian President Vladimir Putin and claimed that the Kremlin leader was interested in reaching an agreement to end the war.
Putin “is wanting to make a deal, and if Zelensky is wanting to make a deal, that’d be very nice,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday.
Zelenskyy had also said he was willing to meet Putin at the G20 summit scheduled to take place at Trump’s Doral resort in Miami in December. The Kremlin, however, immediately rejected the possibility of such a meeting.
