Trump Claims Russia and Ukraine Agreed to Spare Energy Targets; Zelensky Says No Deal Is Confirmed

Since diesel prices crossed $6 a gallon for the first time on Friday, September 11, the politics of the fuel shortage have moved fast. On Monday, September 14, President Trump posted on Truth Social that Russia and Ukraine had struck a deal to leave each other's energy infrastructure alone.

"Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy targets. Russia has agreed to do likewise!" Trump wrote, adding that "the World's Diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine War, not Iran."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted roughly an hour later with a different account, according to CNBC. Zelensky said Ukraine is willing to halt strikes on Russian energy sites, but only "if our partners are ready to ensure that Russia genuinely refrains" from hitting Ukraine's electric grid, other energy facilities, critical infrastructure, and food supply routes.

"Ukraine is not convinced that Russia is willing to abide by any agreement," Zelensky wrote, according to both CNBC and The Hill. He said any truce needs to be "reliable, long-term" and not something that "falls apart after the Russians hold their 'elections' and get an easing of pressure on gasoline and diesel precisely for that period." He said Ukraine is waiting on "specifics from our partners."

Crypto Briefing described the situation plainly: this is "a preliminary gesture rather than a formal peace agreement," not a signed truce. No source in this reporting shows Moscow issuing its own statement confirming a reciprocal halt. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov's comment Monday, reported by ZeroHedge via the Associated Press, was that Russia "can only welcome any call on the Kiev regime to stop strikes on civilian economic infrastructure." That was Peskov welcoming Trump's request, not Russia agreeing to anything itself.

The Hill's headline and ZeroHedge's headline both stated Trump's claim as settled fact. Euronews and CNBC were more careful, framing it explicitly as a claim undercut by Zelensky's own words. As of Monday there is no joint statement, ceasefire document, or third-party confirmation that Russia has agreed to spare Ukrainian energy targets in return.

Where the diesel price spike is actually coming from

Trump's framing puts the blame for expensive diesel almost entirely on the Ukraine war. That's a real factor. Ukraine has for months targeted Russian refineries as part of what Zelensky calls "long-range sanctions," and Russia responded by banning diesel exports in July, according to The Guardian. Zelensky said Ukraine struck two more Russian refineries just last week, accusing Moscow of using oil revenue "to finance the war and the killing of Ukrainians." Ukraine considers those refineries legitimate military targets, a position that has real strategic logic behind it: choking off the fuel that supplies Russia's war machine.

But Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, offered a broader picture in comments cited by The Hill. He said gas and diesel prices rose in every U.S. state over the past week because of overlapping crises: friction between the U.S. and Iran, new hostilities in the Red Sea, the shutdown of Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, and fresh weekend drone strikes that knocked two more Russian refineries offline. Euronews similarly noted that the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about a quarter of the world's seaborne oil trade, has been effectively throttled since the U.S. and Israel struck Iran in late February, and that disruption has driven considerably larger global supply shocks than the Ukraine war alone.

The politics behind the post

The Hill noted the obvious: soaring fuel prices are a political liability for the White House heading into the midterms, and Trump's Sunday comments in Ireland asking Zelensky to leave Russian diesel infrastructure alone came right before this. "Let him go after targets but not diesel fuel because he's causing a shortage of diesel," Trump told reporters at his Doonbeg golf club, according to Euronews and Times of India.

Trump's underlying concern, that a global diesel shortage is hurting ordinary people and businesses far beyond the battlefield, is grounded in real numbers. AAA put the national diesel average at $6.23 a gallon on Monday, with gasoline at $4.32. Diesel futures dipped slightly after Trump's post, trading near $5.04 a gallon, according to ZeroHedge, though that's a futures move, not proof the underlying truce is real or holding.

What remains unresolved: whether Russia will make any public commitment matching what Trump described, whether Ukraine's strikes on Russian refineries actually stop, and whether either side's forces observe a halt on the ground in the days ahead. Zelensky's post makes clear Kyiv is waiting for Washington to produce something concrete from Moscow before it commits to anything beyond a proposal.