US President Donald Trump on Sunday hit out at his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy for targeting Russian oil refineries, as it is “hurting” other countries and causing shortages of crude. This marks one of the rare occasions when Trump has openly criticised Zelenskyy, while the war in Europe has entered its fifth year.
Trump, who is in on a two-day visit to Ireland, said Zelenskyy needs to “stop knocking out diesel fuel” in Russia because that has caused a shortage across the world. Although Trump also justified his actions against Iran and said the Ukraine war is also responsible for a fuel crisis across the globe.
“Let him go after targets, but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage of diesel. This isn’t done by the Middle East, this is done by what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine,” he told reporters at his golf club in Doonbeg. “There are plenty of other targets. Don’t hit diesel fuel because that’s hurting. That’s hurting the world. We don’t want him to hit diesel fuel… He’s hitting diesel refineries.”
Oil prices remain inflated across the globe since the start of the war in the Middle East after Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz through which nearly 20 per cent of the world’s crude transits. And in the same time, Ukraine has intensified its attacks on Russian refineries, while Moscow has also retaliated strongly.
Both sides have continued trading strikes and blamed each other for the situation, even as they continue reiterating that they are ready for talks. Recently, US envoys visited both Moscow and Kyiv in an attempt to revive talks, but no breakthrough has been achieved as of now.
As the conflict continues to drag on, India and China have also offered to mediate between two sides. On Sunday, Kremlin said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s Xi Jinping, during their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, have said New Delhi and Beijing are ready to mediate and help in ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov has said Putin has welcomed Modi and Xi’s offer and briefed them about the current situation. He also said the Russians have not completely ruled out the possibility of talks and said negotiations are possible in the “foreseeable future, presumably October”.
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