{"id":373764,"date":"2026-10-15T10:38:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T10:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/373764\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T10:38:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T10:38:26","slug":"us-expects-russian-diesel-to-start-flowing-before-midterms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/373764\/","title":{"rendered":"US expects Russian diesel to start flowing before midterms"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 Russian diesel is expected to reach the American market before the Nov. 3 midterm election, sources told The Post \u2014 as fuel costs hit a record $6.53 per gallon last month.<\/a><\/p>\n

The fuel \u201cshould be here in the next two weeks if we get everything done,\u201d one American source told The Post, noting Russia agreed to send \u201ca pretty substantial\u201d amount.<\/p>\n

Trump announced Friday that he was suspending US sanctions on Russian diesel <\/a>exports \u2014 with Russian President Vladimir Putin also lifting a diesel export ban imposed last year.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump boards Air Force One on Wednesday in Las Vegas. AP Photo\/Alex Brandon<\/p>\n

The sources did not specify the exact plans to ship Russian diesel to the US and Trump had previously framed the deal as easing global price pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not being released to us,\u201d Trump told reporters Tuesday. \u201cThat\u2019s a diesel deal that\u2019s going to be released into the world for the world market, because the world market suffered with high prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump reached the deal with Putin after growing frustrated with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky\u2019s ambitious campaign to blow up far-away Russian oil refineries, damaging all major hubs and putting upward pressure on prices.<\/p>\n

The US repeatedly asked Zelensky not to hit Russian refineries, but Ukraine \u201cignored\u201d the requests, prompting Trump to make the diesel deal. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you hit refineries, that hurts American consumers, and that\u2019s not acceptable,\u201d a US source told The Post. <\/p>\n

Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to lift a diesel export ban in exchange for Trump lifting sanctions. POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Zelensky fumed about the fuel arrangement<\/a> with Russia \u2014 calling it a \u201cweak\u201d decision that would fund Russia\u2019s ongoing invasion. Still, he belatedly agreed to the US president\u2019s demand not to strike refineries. <\/p>\n

Experts have estimated the diesel deal could generate $4 billion in new revenue for Moscow.<\/p>\n

Trump on Sunday announced a limited \u201cenergy cease-fire\u201d between Russia and Ukraine.<\/a><\/p>\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ripped Trump\u2019s diesel deal as \u201cweak.\u201d Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n

A US official said that Russia \u2014 which Zelensky accused of violating the pact<\/a> by immediately striking natural gas facilities \u2014 only agreed not to hit Ukraine\u2019s oil refineries and gas stations if Kyiv stops its drone assault on Russian refineries.<\/p>\n

Ukraine has no operating oil refineries, but in theory could rebuild them during the pause.<\/p>\n

Putin did not agree to cease attacks on other targets in Ukraine<\/a>, including its electricity grid.<\/p>\n

Footage provided by Moscow residents shows the Moscow Oil Refinery burning following Ukrainian drone strikes on Sept. 20. EyePress News\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Trump has taken other actions to address high diesel costs, but they have had little impact, including allowing untaxed \u201cred dye\u201d diesel<\/a> to be more broadly purchased by drivers.<\/p>\n

The national average cost of diesel is currently $6.30 per gallon, nearly double the $3.66 of one year ago and down only slightly from an all-time high of $6.53 in late September, according to AAA data.<\/a><\/p>\n

Those costs are passed on to consumers, with inflation rising again in September to an annual rate of 3.7%.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s efforts to tamp down costs come as Republicans face a potentially bleak midterm election<\/a> with polling showing broad disenchantment, despite the president\u2019s coast-to-coast barnstorming to advertise accomplishments such as new tax breaks and more promising data on job gains and foreign investment.<\/p>\n

Fuel costs have risen dramatically over the past year, largely as a result of Trump\u2019s nearly eight-month war with Iran that throttled shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 Russian diesel is expected to reach the American market before the Nov. 3 midterm election, sources…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[137440,46937,9,11,10,87,9045,9047,58],"class_list":["post-373764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-diesel","tag-midterm-elections-2026","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-politics","tag-russia","tag-ukraine-war","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}