Donald Trump defends Russia diesel deal as White House hopes pact can 'soften' Moscow on peace talks

Donald Trump has defended a diesel deal he made with Russia as the White House hopes the negotiation will "soften" Moscow going into future peace talks.

The President announced on Friday that Russia had agreed to supply diesel to global markets, adding his administration temporarily lifted US sanctions on Russian fuel designed to deprive Moscow of revenue for its war in Ukraine.

However, a group of Republican and Democratic US senators called on the President to "reverse course" on the deal with Russia, adding it may violate a 2022 law designed to support Ukraine in its bid to repel Russian forces.

Republican Senator Jerry Moran said: "We should be tightening sanctions further, not undercutting them by allowing the import of Russian diesel and risking erasing our leverage, damaging our credibility with allies, and emboldening our adversaries."

Responding to criticism from figures within his own party, President Trump said: "Well, I think these are Republicans that can't really be serious.

"We can do a restriction on oil, but the rest of the world would be greatly, greatly affected if we do that."

Tensions between the US and Ukraine spiked since the announcement of the deal, with President Trump saying it is "time for Ukraine to get a new President”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the deal a "weak decision" by the US and a "gift to Putin."

President Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner reportedly told the Ukrainians in a meeting in Miami that the Kremlin was not prepared to negotiate an end to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Sources said the deal announced last week could help restart trilateral talks, with one saying the US relayed to the Ukrainians that the diesel deal could help "soften" Moscow's position in part because it "sends a signal that Trump is open to do things" with Russia.

One person familiar with the meeting said the diesel agreement is just one part of a larger conversation about how to bring Ukraine and Russia back to the negotiating table and end the war.

The meeting also touched on security guarantees for Ukraine, the person said, without elaborating further.

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President Trump has repeatedly said his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin wants to reach a settlement to end the war, a claim he repeated on Saturday.

Ukrainian and European officials have expressed doubts that the Russian leader is willing to end the military campaign soon.

The envoys' comment that President Putin is not prepared to end his war suggests that President Trump's view is not uniformly held within the administration.

Some experts have said the diesel agreement will do little to lower prices in the US, with the additional amount provided to the market being less than a day's supply for the US transport sector alone.

Ukrainian officials attending the Miami meeting were sceptical of the US approach, which they see as using business deals to appease Russia, two people briefed and one person at the meeting said.

The Trump administration has previously tried to entice the Kremlin, including through sanctions-relief proposals and potential mineral deals.

Neither has substantially changed Russia’s core demands or persuaded it to accept a comprehensive ceasefire agreement.

A person close to the Kremlin said Putin will return to the table only when "he gets the remaining 11 per cent of Donbas, which he can present domestically as victory."

Ukraine has said it will not hand Russia any more territory, but that freezing the conflict along the existing battle lines could form the basis for a peace deal.

President Zelensky said Kyiv favoured a ceasefire, but both sides had to observe it, adding it was "increasingly clear" that Russia was unwilling to accept it as Moscow hit six Ukrainian energy facilities on Monday

He told Fox News that Ukraine's attacks on Russian refineries were not the leading cause of rising fuel prices.

The Ukrainian President added: "Everybody understands that the prices of diesel don't depend on our attacks on diesel in Russia. Everybody understands that it depends on the blocking... the Strait of Hormuz."