Trump says Putin will release millions of tonnes of Russian diesel

President Donald Trump said on Friday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had agreed to release diesel supplies into the global market⁷. Trump said Russia would supply millions of tons of diesel to help with what he called skyrocketing costs, and that the arrangement would “allow the supply of Russian diesel to the global market”³. The Washington Post reported Trump as saying Putin had agreed to supply diesel fuel to the global marketplace⁶. The agreement is so far described only by the US president; Moscow’s own account of what it has promised has not been set out^6,7.

The reported volume differs between accounts. France 24 reported Trump as saying Russia had agreed to supply immediately more than 300000 tonnes of diesel to US and global markets⁸. The Times put the figure at 4.8 million tonnes⁹.

Politico reported that Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel and suggested the US may buy it amid surging fuel prices, writing of “our TOTAL CONTROL of the Strait of Hormuz” alongside the announcement⁵. Reuters reported that three industry sources said Trump will issue a directive in coming days to some US department heads, under the Defense Production Act, to raise oil and fuel output⁴.

Why it matters to investors

France 24 described the step as reversing years of pressure on Russia over the war in Ukraine⁸. For distillate markets the question is supply: a sanctions carve-out plus a directive on domestic refining output would act on the same shortage from two directions^4,5. For sanctions risk more broadly, the precedent is that an energy restriction can be lifted unilaterally and quickly^1,8.

What to watch

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Axios the decision was “not fair and not honest”, adding: “You know, it looks like a happy birthday present for Putin. It looks absolutely terrible”¹. Axios reported that the announcement shocked the Ukrainian government and many European governments and created a new crisis between the US and its Western allies, and that Trump announced it while his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were meeting Ukrainian officials¹. The BBC reported Zelensky’s argument that allowing Russia to sell petroleum products would prolong a war that must be ended². Watch for the directive Reuters describes⁴, for European reaction¹, and for whether the volume settles nearer the lower or the higher figure^8,9.