Trump Says Ukraine and Russia Both Agree to Halt Strikes on Energy Infrastructure as Diesel Tops $6 a Gallon

President Donald Trump announced on September 14 that both Ukraine and Russia have agreed to stop targeting each other's energy infrastructure, posting that "Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy targets. Russia has agreed to do, likewise." The announcement came hours after Trump said he had personally called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to demand a halt to drone and missile strikes on Russian oil refineries and diesel distribution facilities, arguing the attacks were "hurting the world."

The backdrop is a sharp global diesel supply crunch. U.S. diesel prices surpassed $6 a gallon for the first time ever in the days before Trump's intervention, driven by Ukraine's months-long campaign of long-range strikes on Russian refining capacity and by separate supply disruptions tied to the conflict with Iran. Russia had already extended a ban on diesel exports to stabilize its own domestic supply. Trump attributed the global diesel price surge specifically to the Russia-Ukraine war, not to Iran, directly contradicting a competing narrative.

The Kremlin welcomed Trump's call and praised what it described as his "flexibility." The mutual energy ceasefire, if it holds, would represent a significant shift in the character of the conflict, removing a major source of upward pressure on global fuel prices that has rippled through freight, agriculture and consumer costs worldwide.