Original Coverage & Source Attribution: www.kyivpost.com
European governments have pushed back against US President Donald Trump’s diesel agreement with Russia, pledging to maintain sanctions as Germany opposed following Washington’s lead and EU ministers warned against rewarding Moscow while its attacks on Ukraine continue.
The clearest responses emerged on Oct. 12, three days after Trump announced the arrangement with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The EU also approved its largest single expansion of sanctions listings against Russia’s military-industrial complex, underscoring the divergence between Brussels and Washington.
Trump presented the diesel deal as a way to ease fuel prices. As Kyiv Post reported, the arrangement envisages Russian supplies to US and global markets, backed by a temporary US sanctions authorization through April 2027.
European officials instead emphasized the risk of giving Russia economic relief before it changes its conduct in Ukraine.
Germany rejects following Washington
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Berlin would maintain sanctions and argued that Russia’s continued attacks justified stronger restrictions.
“For Germany and for Europe, such a decision is out of the question,” he said at a Berlin news conference, according to Anadolu.
Merz said pressure was necessary to bring Moscow to the table for serious negotiations. He pointed to Russian strikes on civilian energy infrastructure following Trump’s announcement of an energy ceasefire over the weekend.
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He also accused Moscow of ignoring a US-backed energy ceasefire appeal, saying 19 regions came under attack in two days.
The chancellor nevertheless said European governments remained in contact with Washington on a common approach to ending the war, acknowledging disagreements over strategy.
Ministers criticize the deal but keep US channels open
At the EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg, Ireland’s Helen McEntee described the diesel agreement as concerning and urged renewed pressure on Russia, while stressing that cooperation with the US remained essential.
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard was more direct.
“I very much regret this [deal]. I hope it will not go into force,” she said, as reported by Euronews.
She called on European countries to increase support for Ukraine, including through the use of frozen Russian assets.
Lithuania’s Kęstutis Budrys argued that the arrangement would help neither fuel prices nor transatlantic unity. Estonia’s Margus Tsahkna linked it to US domestic politics ahead of November’s midterm elections and questioned its practical impact.
EU adds sanctions as US eases diesel restrictions
On Oct. 12, the European Council adopted sanctions against 1,569 individuals and entities, comprising 826 Russian companies and 743 executives.
The measures target suppliers of components for weapons including missiles, drones and aircraft. More than half of the listings concern the ballistic-missile production chain, according to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
The council attributed the measures to Russia’s escalating aggression and attacks on civilian infrastructure. The decision followed earlier council calls for increased pressure, rather than being presented as a package devised in response to Trump’s announcement.
Energy truce must apply to both sides
European ministers supported a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure only if Russia also complied, according to the council’s account of the meeting.
“But a ceasefire cannot work if only one party honors it,” Kallas said.
She also warned that an arrangement focused solely on refineries would disproportionately benefit Russia, whose refining network is much larger than Ukraine’s.
Zelensky said Russian attacks on Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure continued after Trump’s Oct. 11 announcement, while Kyiv had temporarily refrained from strikes on Russian energy facilities.
Trump defends diesel deal as his truce claim unravels
Trump defended the agreement on Oct. 12, despite continued Russian attacks after his announcement that an energy ceasefire had taken effect.
“I made the right choice for the American People,” he wrote on Truth Social. He also accused the EU of buying $250 billion in Russian energy, without identifying the period covered or the source of that figure.
A day earlier, Trump had declared that both Ukraine and Russia had agreed to stop attacks on energy infrastructure immediately. His announcement caught Zelensky by surprise: The Ukrainian president said Kyiv was still awaiting details from Washington.
By Oct. 12, the Kremlin had still not confirmed an agreement. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said contacts were continuing, while Zelensky said Ukraine had temporarily held off striking Russian energy facilities, but Moscow continued attacking Ukraine’s power grid.
The diesel concession also came before the first major deadline under the sanctions legislation Trump signed on Sept. 18.
As Kyiv Post’s analysis of the Graham sanctions law explains, Oct. 18 is the deadline for many initial measures under the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. The law targets Russian financial institutions, foreign military suppliers and shipping networks, but gives the president substantial discretion through waivers and tariff decisions.
Signing the law does not itself establish how much additional pressure Moscow will face. With that deadline still five days away, Washington has already granted relief for Russian diesel, while the scale of its implementation of the new penalties remains to be seen.
Ukrainian strikes have already cut Russian fuel output
The dispute comes after Ukrainian attacks forced major Russian refineries to reduce production, with effects visible in both plant operations and export figures.
Reuters reported on Sept. 15 that three of Russia’s six largest diesel-producing refineries had significantly reduced or halted output following drone strikes. Kirishi was shut, while Volgograd and NORSI were operating at roughly a quarter of their designed capacity, according to market sources. Together, the six plants normally account for about half of Russian diesel production.
September’s seaborne diesel and gasoil shipments subsequently fell 28% from August to 144,000 barrels a day, their lowest level in more than a decade of Vortexa records,
That decline, however, reflects both refinery damage and Moscow’s restrictions on exports to preserve domestic supplies. It does not represent an equivalent collapse in all Russian petroleum exports: higher fuel oil and naphtha shipments pushed total seaborne oil-product exports to a three-month high.
Nonetheless, Russia is now promising a recovery. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Oct. 12 that diesel exports could return to 3 million to 3.5 million metric tons a month by year-end, as Reuters reported. That remains a forecast, with deliveries dependent on available fuel and the recovery of a refining network Ukraine has repeatedly struck.
