The Diesel Diversion: Trump’s Faulty Attempt to Blame Inflation on Ukraine

President Donald Trump is blaming Ukraine for high diesel prices days before the midterms, but a Time commentary co-written by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld argues the claim gets the cause backward. Trump said on September 30 that Ukraine's fight with Russia was the biggest diesel problem and accused Volodymyr Zelenskyy of wanting to hurt American farmers and ranchers. The authors tie the record $6.53 price in September to the Iran war and disruption around the Strait of Hormuz, and note that prices fell $1.06 a gallon while Ukrainian drones hit Russian refineries from May to July.

After an October 9 call with Vladimir Putin, Trump ordered Treasury to admit Russian diesel through April 2027, a volume equal to about 10 days of American demand. Within a week, an executive order neutralized the 100 and 500% tariffs in the Graham sanctions act before they could take effect.

Kyiv faced new pressure: Russia struck Ukrainian energy infrastructure 76 times in the week after a short American-announced energy ceasefire, and Starshield drone datalinks were capped at 160 km/h until Zelenskyy said October 24 that service was restored.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Time’s reporting. Read the full story at Time →