Russia, Ukraine agree to not hit energy targets, says Trump
Ukraine and Russia have agreed not to strike each other's energy targets. US President Donald Trump announced this agreement on Monday. He stated the Russia-Ukraine war is the primary cause of rising diesel prices. This comes after recent drone...
By ET Online | Updated:
AP
Russia Ukraine war: Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out a fire following a Russian air attack in Kramatorsk, Ukraine
Ukraine and Russia have agreed not to hit energy targets in each other's nation, US President Donald Trump announced on Monday.
Trump added that the rise in global diesel prices is largely due to the Russia-Ukraine war rather than the conflict involving Iran.
"Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy targets. Russia has agreed to do, likewise! The World’s Diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine War, not Iran," he said in a post on Truth Social.
Ukraine is ready to halt strikes on Russia if its partners ensure that Moscow will refrain from hitting Ukrainian energy facilities, infrastructure and food supply routes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said .
Posting his comments after Trump's latest announcement, Zelenskiy said Ukraine was not convinced that Russia was willing to abide by any agreement.
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"The war must be brought to an end. And a de-escalatory step regarding critical infrastructure could be the first step toward peace. We expect specifics from our partners," he said on Telegram, as quoted by Reuters.
Trump's comments came a day after waves of drone strikes killed and injured civilians, hitting key energy and infrastructure sites on both sides.
Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s Tatarstan region, home to major oil and petrochemical facilities, while Russian drones targeted Odesa and western Ukraine near the Polish border.
The escalation came as Moscow and Kyiv continued long-range attacks on each other’s critical infrastructure, even as the Kremlin said peace talks involving Russia, Ukraine and the US could resume as early as October.
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According to a Reuters report, Russia has ramped up its air campaign in recent weeks, using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to damage Ukraine's defenses and capitalize on Kyiv’s stock of missile interceptors. Moscow’s attacks have targeted Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter in what officials say is meant to demoralize citizens.
“This is Putin’s terror ‘knocking’ directly on the doors of the EU and NATO. Russian barbarians are at your gate, dear partners,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote in a post on X, after Russian strikes pounded western Ukraine throughout the night.
The surge in US diesel prices is adding to the financial strain on farmers just as they enter the harvest season for corn and soybeans. Higher fuel costs are affecting not only combines and tractors used in the fields but also the transportation of crops from farms to storage facilities and buyers.
Diesel prices reached a record $5.85 a gallon on September 4 and climbed further to an average $6.05 a gallon on Friday, according to AAA, as qupted by AP. The national average is now about 60% higher than the roughly $3.76 a gallon recorded before the US and Israel launched their war against Iran in late February.
For farmers already facing higher costs for fertiliser, seeds, chemicals and equipment, the jump in fuel prices is putting further pressure on margins. “Those prices hurt,” Paul Mitchell, a professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison told AP, noting that diesel is needed not only for harvesting but also for hauling grain and silage from fields and farms to buyers.
Jason Kurtz, a corn and soybean farmer near Forest City, Missouri, also said he was paying twice as much for diesel this year. “We have to harvest,” Kurtz said. “We have to run the machines. We have to use the diesel, so it cuts into our bottom line.”
With farm finances already under pressure, some farmers are being forced to delay work in the hope that fuel prices will ease. Mitchell said cash-strapped farms are having to decide what expenses they can cut, while Kurtz said he planned to postpone some farm work until later. “That's one good thing about farming,” he said. “Tomorrow will be different.”
The Russia-Ukraine war has also intensified attacks on energy infrastructure, with both sides targeting facilities linked to fuel supplies. Ukrainian long-range strikes have increasingly targeted Russia’s oil and gas industry, while Moscow has stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter.
Ukrainian authorities said drones struck a major oil refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kuban in Russia’s Krasnodar region, damaging an oil pipeline and triggering a fire. The refinery is among the energy facilities targeted by Kyiv as it seeks to disrupt infrastructure that helps finance and support Russia’s war effort. Russian authorities also reported that hundreds of Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight.
Russia, meanwhile, has intensified its aerial campaign against Ukraine, using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones. Russian strikes have repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, with Ukrainian officials saying the campaign is aimed at weakening the power grid and demoralising civilians ahead of winter.
The latest escalation comes alongside continued attacks on Odesa and western Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said Russian drones struck Odesa and an area near the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing with Poland, while Ukraine’s air force said it had shot down or suppressed hundreds of Russian drones overnight.
