(AFP) – US President Donald Trump said Monday that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to target each other’s energy facilities, a day after he chastised Kyiv for hitting Russian oil refineries.
“Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy targets. Russia has agreed to do, likewise!” Trump said on his Truth Social network. “The World’s Diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine War, not Iran.” The Ukrainian presidency declined to comment and there was no immediate reaction from Moscow.
Trump’s claim comes as oil prices continue to soar in the seventh month of the Iran war, raising American fuel costs and inflation just weeks before crunch US midterm elections. The US leader has insisted that the Iran war will finish immediately after the midterms and gas prices will drop — but has in the meantime apparently found a new target to blame for the cost at the pump.
Trump had lashed out at Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky during a trip to Ireland on Sunday, saying he had to do “one thing” and “stop knocking out diesel fuel” refineries in Russia due to growing shortages. “Let him go after targets, but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage of diesel,” Trump said, again insisting the Russia-Ukraine war — not the US-Israel conflict with Iran — was to blame.
Trump added he had spoken to Ukraine’s leader about the country’s stepped-up attacks on such sites over recent months. “There are plenty of other targets. Don’t hit diesel fuel because that’s hurting. That’s hurting the world. We don’t want him to hit diesel fuel… He’s hitting diesel refineries.”
Ukraine has hit numerous Russian oil refineries far from its border with Russia, while Moscow has also intensified its long-range attacks in recent months, leading to a jump in civilian deaths. Kyiv has been firing record numbers of drones at Russia, while Moscow has been launching all-time high missile attacks.
Trump said last week he had a “great conversation” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, insisting that Putin wanted to make a deal to end Moscow’s war on Ukraine. Putin “is wanting to make a deal, and if Zelensky is wanting to make a deal, that’d be very nice,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday. Zelensky said last week he would be willing to meet Putin at the G20 summit at Trump’s own Doral resort in Miami in December, but the Kremlin immediately ruled it out.
– Danny KEMP
© 2024 AFP
