WASHINGTON: Top Democrats accused President Donald Trump of betraying Ukraine, European allies and US national security after he announced a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to obtain diesel, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the move as a weak decision that could prolong Russia’s war against his country.
Zelensky said the agreement would benefit Moscow by enabling it to continue its military campaign, warning that Russia would repay the United States with “further terror and perfidy.”
“I believe our team is simply being used as a smokescreen. And that is certainly not fair. It is certainly not how partners should treat each other,” Zelensky said in remarks released by the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington.
His reaction came as Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner met Ukrainian officials in Miami to discuss a proposal to end the war.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, denounced Trump’s announcement as a betrayal of Ukraine, European allies and US national security.
“Enough is enough,” the senators said in a statement. “The President must end his war with Iran instead of funding Russia’s war machine.”
Sharp reversal
Trump announced the agreement on social media on Friday following a phone call with Putin, in which the two leaders were expected to discuss a suspected case of plague in Russia. Instead, Trump said Moscow would immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by another 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.” Russia would deliver an additional 3 million tons “within a short period of time,” he said.
The announcement marked a sharp reversal of years of US pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine and came just weeks before the US midterm elections, as rising energy costs put pressure on American consumers.
It also appeared to contradict a sweeping Russia sanctions law Trump signed last month, which seeks to restrict Moscow’s oil and gas revenues and directs the administration to target countries that continue purchasing Russian energy.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a co-sponsor of the sanctions legislation, said the decision made the United States complicit in Russia’s war.
“This agreement with a murdering dictator is a stain on our nation’s character, an insult to Lindsey Graham’s memory, and directly contrary to Congress’s intent in our bipartisan sanctions bill,” Blumenthal said.
Rep. Don Beyer, the senior House Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee, called the announcement “infuriating.”
“This is what we warned anyone who would listen: Trump isn’t the slightest bit trustworthy when it comes to Russia,” Beyer said in a statement on X.
Sanctions policy in question
The agreement has raised questions about whether the White House will enforce the new sanctions law as Congress intended. The legislation provides for sanctions on Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of tankers, bans new US investment in Russia and restricts dealings in Russian sovereign debt.
It also directs Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on the top five importers of Russian oil or natural gas, with an exception for countries that import less than 15 percent of Russia’s natural gas exports and have taken significant steps to reduce those imports.
The United States has not imported Russian oil or gas since 2022, when the Biden administration banned the purchases following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Shortly after Trump’s announcement, the Treasury Department issued a temporary license allowing Russian diesel shipments loaded onto tankers as of Friday to be delivered without facing US sanctions until April 2027.
The six-month relief is the latest in a series of US measures easing restrictions on Russian fuel shipments since the war in Iran began earlier this year. It is, however, the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that Washington has relaxed diesel sanctions for longer than the standard 30-day period.
The extensions underscore how the fallout from the Iran war has strengthened Moscow’s ability to profit from energy exports, even as Washington continues to publicly support Ukraine.
Impact on fuel prices uncertain
Trump defended the agreement as a way to lower domestic fuel costs, saying on social media that reducing prices for Americans, particularly farmers, ranchers and truckers, was his top priority.
Global fuel prices have surged as the war in Iran has disrupted energy markets. Although diesel futures prices fell following the announcement on Friday, the US national average remained high at $6.28 a gallon, according to AAA, after reaching a record $6.52 on Sept. 22.
Leaving the White House for a campaign rally later Friday, Trump thanked Putin for the deal.
“We have massive amounts of oil coming into our country, and it’s diesel, which is what we want. So, thank you,” Trump said. He did not respond to shouted questions about Zelensky’s criticism.
The White House did not immediately answer questions about who would pay for the Russian diesel or when the supplies would become available.
In a statement released by the Kremlin, Putin said the two leaders had devoted “significant attention to the prospects of resolving the Ukrainian crisis” and discussed the situation surrounding Iran and other aspects of bilateral relations.
Russia had “confirmed its readiness to supply oil and oil products to the American and global markets,” Putin said, adding that he was confident the move would benefit the global economy.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov declined to say whether Washington had offered concessions in exchange for the supplies or what, if anything, Moscow had been promised.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Moscow was immediately beginning to lift diesel export restrictions ahead of schedule and could start supplying the United States this month. He added that Russia’s domestic market would remain fully supplied.
Russia, once a major diesel exporter, had restricted exports since July as Ukrainian attacks on its oil refineries and strong domestic demand strained supplies. The International Energy Agency estimates that Russian diesel output has fallen by about 30 percent.
Energy analysts cautioned that the agreement might do little to reduce prices because additional Russian supplies could simply redirect fuel from existing customers rather than increase the amount available globally.
Clayton Seigle, an energy strategist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the deal was unlikely to have a significant effect on prices but would greatly benefit Russia and Putin, who are seeking to offload summer-grade diesel before switching to heavier winter and Arctic grades.
Michael Lynch of the Energy Policy Research Foundation, a nonpartisan research institution focused on energy and economics, said diverting Russian diesel to the United States would force existing customers to seek supplies elsewhere, potentially keeping prices largely unchanged.
Zelensky, meanwhile, warned that the arrangement would allow Russia to kill more people, prolong the war and inflict greater damage.
“It plays into Russia’s hands — allowing it to kill more, wage war for longer, have even less respect for America, and inflict even greater losses and damage on the world,” he said.
