A few hours after Donald Trump eased sanctions on Russian diesel, Ukraine set a major Russian fuel export terminal on fire.
Ukrainian drones hit the NZNP Rostovsky oil export terminal in Rostov-on-Don overnight, “setting the facility ablaze just hours after the U.S. eased sanctions on Russian fuel exports,” according to the markets account First Squawk. Al Jazeera also reported the strike came hours after what it called a “Trump-Putin diesel deal.”
The Hormuz Letter, an X account that covers oil markets, posted video of the fire lighting up the night sky.
“This is a products export terminal, exactly where the diesel would leave Russia under the deal,” the account wrote.
It also said Ukrainian military sources had warned earlier in the day that the Trump administration’s effort to use Russian diesel to bring down U.S. prices before the midterms “will bear no fruit.”
The deal comes as Republicans struggle to contain voter anger over fuel costs three weeks before Election Day. The New York Times reported on Friday that record diesel prices are hitting farm states just as harvest season starts. Fuel prices have soared nationwide since Trump launched his war against Iran, the Times reported, and Republicans are now “triaging the map” as their internal polling gets worse.
Trump’s turn to Moscow for relief puts the United States on the opposite side of Ukraine’s long campaign against Russia’s energy infrastructure. Kyiv has spent the past year striking refineries and export terminals to choke off the oil money that funds Moscow’s war.
MAGA pundit Brian Glenn said early Saturday, "Trump strikes a diesel deal with Russia. (To help soaring fuel prices, a good thing) Ukraine then bombs terminal to which the diesel would flow from. There you go."