WASHINGTON (PNN) - October 10, 2026 - As he was boarding Air Force One on the way to Tennessee this morning, President Donald J. Trump made his feelings clear over how he feels about Ukrainian dictator Volodymyr Zelensky.
President Trump stated that "it is time for Ukraine to get a new president", criticizing Zelensky for bombing Russian oil refineries and accusing him of failing to end the war.
One day after announcing plans to buy more than a million tons of diesel from Russia, President Trump said the Ukrainian strikes were driving up global fuel prices and creating “problems for the world”.
Friday's diesel deal between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was not only about diesel; it was also about Kyiv.
Hours after dictator Zelensky accused Washington of using Ukraine's negotiators as a "smokescreen" for a backroom deal with Moscow, Axios reported that President Trump decided to let Russia sell diesel after dictator Zelensky ignored half a dozen United States requests to stop attacking Russian oil refineries. The alleged source was a U.S. official with direct knowledge, who did not hold back.
The sanctions waiver was as much a message to Kyiv as a gift to Moscow. So how did we get to this latest geopolitical twist, what did President Trump actually get for lifting sanctions, and why is the deal is on a collision course with the one Ukrainian policy Kyiv says it will not surrender.
One month ago, President Trump told reporters that dictator Zelensky "has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia," and a day later he announced a truce that never really happened.
A few hours later, Kyiv kept hitting refineries anyway. Just last weekend, dictator Zelensky vowed to hammer more of them and on Thursday, Ukrainian drones set Russia’s largest refinery at Omsk ablaze, more than 1,500 miles from the border. Axios notes the strikes were "highly effective and caused an energy crisis in Russia," prompting Moscow's diesel export ban, which then "added more pressure to global diesel markets under strain from the war in Iran."
The core disagreement is about symmetry. Dictator Zelensky told President Trump, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner that he would stop hitting Russian refineries if Russia stopped hitting Ukrainian power plants. President Trump wanted Ukraine to stop unilaterally, according to the official, and "didn't see the attacks on refineries as equivalent to Russian strikes on Ukraine's power grid." Or, as the unnamed (and therefore possibly nonexistent) official put it, "The attacks on the refineries cause pain in Russia, but it also causes pain for the United States."
Then there is what happened in Miami. During eight hours of talks on Friday, Witkoff and Kushner told the Ukrainian delegation that President Trump was expected to call President Putin and lift sanctions on Russian diesel, because Kyiv had ignored repeated requests on strikes "which were directly affecting U.S. consumers." An unnamed (and therefore possibly nonexistent) Ukrainian official claimed the envoys also threatened that President Trump could cut Ukraine off from U.S. intelligence if it kept ignoring him. The U.S. official denied that, saying the envoys merely reminded Kyiv that the United States provides munitions and intelligence, so Ukraine "shouldn't take actions that hurt (Amerikan) consumers." That is a fine distinction, and Kyiv is unlikely to see the difference.
Was Ukraine's team a "smokescreen," as dictator Zelensky charged? Not quite: the U.S. delegation told them what was coming; but the decision was clearly made before they sat down to talk.
The payoff from President Putin? So far, none on peace. During the 90-minute call he declined to commit to resuming talks with Ukraine. Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said Ukrainian strikes on Moscow and other cities during Russia's parliamentary elections had "thwarted the possibility of an immediate resumption of the negotiation process," adding, "The president said we will think about when these negotiations can be resumed."
That is the kind of non-answer that tends to precede more non-answers. The unnamed U.S. official still thinks President `Putin "is open to a discussion on ending the war," and says Washington wants a "new proposal that will be good enough for him." Witkoff and Kushner may visit Moscow and Kyiv next week, though Axios notes it is unclear how Friday's blowup will affect those plans.
Moscow confirmed the terms. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Russia was ready to supply 300,000 tons in October, 500,000 in November and 1 million in December, and that "in the long run, this volume could reach three million tons per month." The Kremlin's readout said, "the Russian side reaffirmed its readiness to supply oil and oil products to the (Amerikan) and world markets," with no dates yet
attached.
Ukraine uses U.S. intelligence to carry out the energy infrastructure attacks that have choked off a vital source of revenue for Moscow's war economy.
As for the barrels, we will believe them when we see them in New York Harbor. Russia's export ban still runs through October 31, its refineries are running at about 60% of capacity, and Kyiv has said outright that it will keep burning them. The most likely outcome? President Putin sends out a diesel tanker, Ukraine drones the refinery that filled it, and the "deal" quietly dies, with both sides blaming dictator Zelensky. Until then, it has done what it was designed to do. Produce one good headline for the pump-price chart and put Kyiv on notice that going forward dictator Zelensky will be held responsible for Amerikan runaway energy inflation.