Trump Presses Zelensky to Halt Refinery Strikes as Diesel Prices Hit Record

During a telephone conversation on Sunday, September 20, President Donald Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to cease strikes on Russian oil refineries, according to an Axios report citing an informed source. The call came as U.S. diesel prices hit an all‑time high, with the American Automobile Association recording a national average of $6.49 per gallon — nearly double the level from a year earlier.

The source said the word "diesel" surfaced repeatedly during the discussion. White House officials have connected Ukrainian attacks on Russian refining capacity to tighter global fuel supplies and rising diesel costs. Trump had already made a similar appeal publicly in a Fox News interview, warning that strikes on Russian energy infrastructure worsen a "diesel shortage." "Do not strike diesel fuel, because it hurts, it hurts the whole world," he told Kyiv, adding that supply problems stem primarily from the Russia‑Ukraine war rather than U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Trump later claimed that Ukraine had agreed to refrain from attacking Russian energy facilities and that Russia would reciprocate by halting strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. However, mutual attacks on energy targets have continued since those assertions. Earlier reports have noted Trump's consistent argument that the global diesel shortage is driven by the conflict and his repeated calls for restraint on fuel infrastructure.