Trump urges Ukraine to halt strikes on Russian diesel facilities
Qwenews.com – President Donald Trump has called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to stop directing aerial attacks at Russia’s diesel fuel infrastructure, arguing that the campaign is contributing to a worldwide supply shortage as energy markets face pressure from the conflict involving Iran, Israel and the United States.
Ukraine has carried out a series of long-range drone operations against Russian fuel assets, including major refining sites. The strikes have reduced Russia’s refining capacity, placing one of the world’s largest diesel exporters under added strain during a period of rising global demand and disrupted shipping routes.
“Mr Zelensky has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia. Let him go after targets, but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage of diesel,” Trump said during an official visit to Ireland on Sunday.
Trump said the pressure on diesel supplies was tied to the war between Russia and Ukraine rather than events in the Middle East.
“This isn’t done by the Middle East. This is done by what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine,” he said.
His comments came as the Middle East conflict has pushed energy prices sharply higher and raised fears that supply disruptions could last. Concerns have focused in particular on the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial maritime chokepoint through which substantial volumes of oil and related products move.
Global oil prices climbed to $108 this week amid worries that the fighting could interfere with supplies for an extended period. US diesel prices also reached record levels, exceeding $6 a barrel on Friday for the first time. Russia ranks as the world’s second-largest diesel exporter after the United States, figures from marine intelligence firm Kpler show.
Drone war reaches border infrastructure
While diplomacy and energy concerns drew attention abroad, Russia and Ukraine continued to intensify their aerial campaigns. A Russian drone attack overnight into Sunday struck a gas station in Yahodyn, a northwestern Ukrainian town close to the Polish border, Ukrainian authorities said.
Fuel stations have become recurring targets during the war. In Kyiv, one Ukrainian fuel network has begun putting mesh cages around its sites in an effort to limit the area affected when drones or other weapons hit nearby.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the Yahodyn strike as a direct warning to European partners. The crossing is part of an important route linking Ukraine with Poland, through which military equipment and humanitarian assistance enter the country.
“Russia’s barbaric strikes at the Ukraine-Poland border crossing point in Yahodyn are not just a continuation of its attacks on our state borders. This is Putin’s terror ‘knocking’ directly on the doors of the EU and NATO,” Sybiha wrote on X.
The border point was temporarily closed following the attack, but resumed normal operations by 10 a.m. local time on Sunday. Its location gives it strategic importance: several crossings along the Ukrainian-Polish frontier serve as major channels for aid and logistics during the conflict.
Carl Bildt, Sweden’s former prime minister, said he had been traveling by train near the Polish frontier when a train behind his was hit by a Russian drone. Bildt had been in Kyiv for the Yalta European Strategy security conference.
“This wasn’t our train, but the one just minutes after us by the Polish border crossing,” Bildt wrote on X, sharing video that appeared to show a drone striking a nearby train as passengers evacuated.
Ukraine reports refinery strike in Tatarstan
Ukraine also said its forces struck the TANECO oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk, in Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan, during the night leading into Sunday. The operation involved Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, the Security Service of Ukraine and the Main Intelligence Directorate, the military said.
Officials in Tatarstan said a Ukrainian attack on Nizhnekamsk killed two civilians and injured others. The competing strikes highlight the expanding reach of both sides’ drone capabilities, with infrastructure far from the immediate front increasingly exposed to attack.
Zelensky said Russia launched more than 2,000 drones against Ukraine during the previous week. Many were jet-powered versions, which move more quickly and are harder to intercept than conventional drones. The scale of those attacks has added pressure to Ukraine’s air defenses while putting civilian infrastructure and transportation networks at continuing risk.
NATO neighbors remain alert
Countries bordering Ukraine are closely monitoring possible incursions into their airspace, particularly as drones can cross borders accidentally or be misidentified during periods of heightened military activity.
Lithuania briefly shut Vilnius airport on Sunday after a suspected drone sighting and NATO scrambled at least one fighter jet. The country’s National Crisis Management Center later lifted the alert after the aircraft identified birds rather than a drone.
Poland experienced a similar episode the previous week, when an alert was also ultimately traced to birds. Even so, the incidents underline the level of concern among NATO members near the war zone, where reports of unidentified airborne objects can rapidly affect civilian aviation and trigger a military response.
The developments leave Ukraine facing a difficult balance. Its attacks on Russian fuel infrastructure are intended to weaken the resources supporting Moscow’s war effort, while the resulting impact on diesel supplies has become part of a wider debate over energy costs, global markets and the risks created by a conflict extending well beyond the battlefield.
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