U.S. official: Trump decides to import Russian diesel after dispute over Ukraine targeting Russian refineries

A U.S. official told Axios the behind-the-scenes story of President Donald Trump’s decision to import urgent shipments of Russian diesel, attributing the move to Ukraine’s ignoring of Washington’s calls to stop targeting Russian oil refineries.

The official said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "does not read the political mood correctly," saying that continued attacks on Russian refineries undermine the goodwill Zelensky built with Trump over the past six months.

He added that Trump wanted Ukraine to unilaterally stop targeting Russian refineries because those strikes contribute to higher gasoline prices inside the United States, noting that the U.S. president does not see Ukrainian attacks on refineries as equivalent to Russian strikes that target Ukraine’s power sector.

The official said: "Attacks on refineries cause pain to Russia, but they also cause pain to the United States."

He explained that the U.S. side told the Ukrainian negotiating team, during eight-hour talks in Miami on Friday, that Trump had decided to proceed with importing Russian diesel after Kyiv ignored repeated American requests to stop targeting Russian oil refineries — attacks the official said directly affect American consumers.

In that context, Trump announced he had a phone call he described as "extremely successful" with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, and said it resulted in an agreement to supply shipments of Russian diesel on an urgent basis.

Trump said the agreement includes supplying 300,000 tons of diesel to the U.S. and global markets, 500,000 more tons in next November, followed by an additional shipment of one million tons.