Trump Envoys Reveal Diesel Deal With Russia Is Designed to Restart Ukraine Peace Talks

U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff told Ukrainian officials at a meeting at an exclusive golf club near Miami on Friday that a recently announced deal allowing Russia to export more than 2.25 million barrels of diesel, enabled by a U.S. Treasury sanctions waiver, is designed to soften Moscow's position and bring Russia back to the negotiating table. The envoys were candid that Putin is currently unwilling to negotiate an end to the 4.5-year-old war, and that the deal signals Trump is open to doing business with Russia as a way to coax the Kremlin toward trilateral talks. A source close to the Kremlin said Putin will only come to the table once Russia controls the remaining 11 percent of Donbas it does not yet hold. Washington separately pressed Kyiv to halt strikes on Russian refineries.

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said government-level supply talks are underway and projected that Russia could reach 3 to 3.5 million tons of diesel exports by year-end, with Moscow saying it could ship 500,000 tons to foreign markets in the near term. Novak also noted that Russia has supplied energy worth $21.3 billion to the European Union so far this year and that Russian companies are in active discussions with buyers. OPEC+ ministers, meeting on the sidelines of the Riyadh conference, separately warned that the current interruption in energy flows has pushed shipping and insurance costs to unprecedented levels.

The deal has drawn sharp criticism from Ukraine, European officials, and members of both U.S. parties. Republican lawmaker Mike Lawler said the U.S. should not do a diesel deal with Russia, and the arrangement is creating significant unease within the GOP just weeks before midterm elections that experts project could yield Democratic gains of nine to nineteen House seats. Former Vice President Kamala Harris said Trump's Russian fuel plan "reeks of weakness." Oil prices fell after Trump declared an energy ceasefire, and Oxford Economics expects Brent crude to average above $100 a barrel through the second quarter of 2027, citing persistent geopolitical risks.