# Trump tells Zelensky to lay off Russia's diesel

> A record $6.20 a gallon at US pumps has turned Ukraine's refinery strikes into a White House problem.
- Title: Trump tells Zelensky to lay off Russia's diesel · Newsweek
- Summary: A record $6.20 a gallon at US pumps has turned Ukraine's refinery strikes into a White House problem. Ukraine's most effective weapon against Russia's war…
- Keywords: ukraine, russia, trump, oil prices, diplomacy, tells, Zelensky, lay, Russia's, diesel, Newsweek
- Source: Newsweek — https://newsweek.com/trump-issues-warning-to-zelensky-over-strikes-on-russia-12436449
- Published: 2026-09-13T13:47:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: ukraine, russia, trump, oil prices, diplomacy
## Hit anything but diesel
Speaking at his golf resort in Doonbeg, Ireland, Trump told reporters Zelensky can go after other Russian targets but has to stop hitting fuel supplies.

> knocking out diesel fuel
## Six dollars a gallon
AAA put the US diesel average at a record $6.20 a gallon, about 68 percent higher than a year ago, as Ukrainian drones kept hitting Russian oil sites.
## Why Kyiv keeps striking
Ukraine says Russia's oil and gas industry pays for the war and fuels it directly. The campaign has disrupted refineries and forced fuel rationing inside Russia.
## Refineries on fire
A strike on Nizhnekamsk in Tatarstan killed two people and injured 14, local officials said. Ukraine also claimed a hit on a Slavyansk-on-Kuban refinery, setting its tank farm ablaze.
## Donbas is the sticking point
Jared Kushner said Putin wants Ukraine to hand over Donbas land Russia does not even hold. Kyiv will not pull its forces back to that line, so the deal sits unfinished.

> creative solution
## Terror at NATO's door
Russian drones struck western Ukraine, hitting a train locomotive 1.2 miles from Poland. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called it Russian terror knocking on the EU and NATO's doors.

> knocking" on the doors of the European Union and NATO
## Key takeaway

Ukraine's most effective weapon against Russia's war chest is also driving up fuel prices in the countries backing Kyiv, and Trump wants it stopped.