Ukraine war briefing: Russian diesel exports could return to past levels after Trump deal, Moscow claims
Exports could reach 3.5m metric tons a month, deputy PM says, after collapsing amid Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries. What we know on day 1,693
Russia will be able to return its diesel exports to levels not seen since Ukraine started to target the country’s oil refineries, deputy prime minister Alexander Novak has claimed, after the Trump administration temporarily lifted US sanctions on Russian fuel. Russia has seen diesel exports collapse due to Ukraine’s attacks on oil refineries and it self-imposed overseas sales restrictions. Trump announced on Friday that Russia had agreed to supply diesel to global markets in order to ease supply concerns, in a deal that has drawn condemnation from Ukraine and other US allies. Novak said on the Rossiya-24 state TV channel on Monday: “We will see how the situation develops further, but Russia has the capacity to increase diesel fuel exports. By the end of the year, exports could reach 3-3.5m metric tons per month, returning to the levels seen before the crisis.”
The diesel deal, under which Russia will supply more than 2.25m barrels of diesel to US and global markets, has triggered a bipartisan backlash from some US lawmakers, who say it will give Moscow cash to pursue its war without forcing Putin to make concessions to end the conflict. A group of Republican and Democratic US senators called on Trump to “reverse course” on the deal, saying it might violate a 2022 law designed to support Ukraine in its bid to repel Russian invaders. “We should be tightening sanctions further, not undercutting them…,” Republican senator Jerry Moran said on social media. But Trump defended the deal on Monday, calling it “the right choice for the American people”.
Trump’s envoys have told Ukrainian officials that the deal to allow Russian diesel exports is part of a bid to draw Moscow back to negotiations, Reuters has quoted three people familiar with the meeting as saying. Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner told the Ukrainians in a meeting in Miami on Friday that Russian president Vladimir Putin was not prepared to negotiate an end to his war in Ukraine and that the diesel deal announced last week could help restart trilateral talks, said two of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The third person said the US relayed to the Ukrainians that the deal could help “soften” Moscow’s position in part because it “sends a signal that Trump is open to do things” with Russia. The report has not been officially confirmed.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to respond to Russia’s continuing attacks on the Ukrainian power grid as European leaders rallied around Kyiv amid a feud with Trump over Ukraine’s strikes on oil refineries. The Ukrainian president told a gathering of European security officials in Warsaw on Monday that Kyiv would retaliate if strikes on its power grid continued. “If Russia does not agree to an energy ceasefire this winter, we will respond.” Zelenskyy later told Fox News his government had refrained from striking Russian energy sites since Trump’s truce announcement on Sunday, and was ready to honour an energy ceasefire as “a good first step” toward closing the war.
A Russian strike on a high-rise residential building in a suburb of Kyiv killed two people and injured at least nine, while attacks in other Ukrainian regions killed at least six people, officials said on Monday. Two people died in the evening strike on the 25-storey residence in the Ukrainian capital’s Darnitskyi district, Zelenskyy said on Telegram. In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, mayor Ihor Terekhov reported serious shelling of city districts, with five people injured in the collapse of an entrance to an apartment building. Residents of the north-eastern city could still be trapped beneath rubble, he said.
The EU will on Tuesday open new negotiations with Ukraine, an essential step in Kyiv’s long path to join the bloc. Ukrainian legislators on Monday passed legislation protecting the rights of national minorities, which removes a major hurdle in Kyiv’s bid for membership. European Council president António Costa said he welcomed “today’s decision by EU member states to open two further negotiation clusters with Ukraine and Moldova”. “Your future lies in the EU,” he said. “Let’s keep up the momentum!”