Washington DC: United States President Donald Trump has renewed pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to cease military strikes against Russian oil refineries, linking the ongoing attacks to a tightening global diesel supply and rising fuel costs.

In a statement published on Truth Social on Monday, Trump asserted that Russia had “lost control” over its diesel sector as a consequence of the conflict, pointing out that several processing facilities had suffered damage and remained temporarily inactive.

“Russia has unfortunately lost control of its Diesel Oil Industry due to its War with Ukraine. A large number of their Diesel refineries have been blown up and are, at least temporarily, out of commission,” Trump wrote on the social media platform.

He added, “This ridiculous and never ending War with Ukraine must be ended. The whole World suffers as 25,000 people, mostly soldiers, are being killed each month. What a shame! President DJT.”

The statement came ahead of a scheduled bilateral meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Following a telephone conversation between the two leaders on Sunday, Zelenskyy characterised the dialogue as significant and suggested their upcoming in-person talks could yield substantial developments, with his office confirming a Tuesday meeting.

ALSO READ: Russia Strikes Kyiv and Odesa as Ukraine Hits Yaroslavl Refinery

According to the Financial Times, Trump's primary focus during the telephone call centred on global diesel supply strains. A senior Ukrainian official present during the exchange stated that Trump urged Zelenskyy to direct Ukrainian forces to halt drone and missile strikes targeting Russian refining infrastructure. A second senior Ukrainian official familiar with the discussion told the FT that Trump voiced severe concern over rising diesel prices and requested the stabilisation of Russian exports to international markets.

Trump previously issued a similar public request on 13 September, declaring, “Mr Zelenskiy has to do one thing: He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia.” He added at the time, “There are plenty of other targets. Don't hit diesel fuel. That's hurting the world.”

The Kremlin responded favourably to Trump's public stance. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that Moscow welcomed any initiative calling on Kyiv to refrain from targeting civilian economic infrastructure, while maintaining that global energy market volatility stems primarily from renewed escalation and instability in the Gulf region.

Conversely, Ukrainian officials have maintained that operations against Russian oil facilities represent legitimate military actions, as ongoing drone strikes continue to curtail Russian refining capacity and trigger domestic fuel shortages.

The developments follow what Russian authorities described as the largest drone attack directed at Moscow to date, which reportedly sparked a fire at a major oil refinery.

ANI