WASHINGTON, October 10 (HS/RIA Novosti) - US President Donald Trump decided to move ahead with a diesel fuel deal with Russia after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ignored repeated American requests to stop attacking Russian oil refineries, a US official with direct knowledge of the matter told Axios. The decision has triggered fresh tensions between Washington and Kyiv and threatens to complicate the Trump administration's renewed efforts to negotiate an end to the Ukraine conflict.

According to the US official, Trump wanted Ukraine to halt its refinery strikes because they were contributing to higher fuel prices in the United States. Ukraine's attacks had caused significant disruption to Russia's energy sector, prompting Moscow to impose a ban on diesel exports and adding pressure to global diesel markets already affected by the war in Iran.

Zelensky told Trump and his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner that Kyiv was prepared to stop targeting Russian oil refineries if Moscow halted attacks on Ukrainian power plants. However, the US administration did not consider the two sets of attacks equivalent.

The disagreement came to the fore during eight hours of talks in Miami on Friday, where US mediators met Ukrainian and European officials to discuss security guarantees, territorial proposals and a broader framework for ending the war. Witkoff and Kushner reportedly informed the Ukrainian delegation that Trump was expected to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin and lift sanctions on Russian diesel exports. A Ukrainian official claimed that the US envoys warned Washington could cut off intelligence support if Kyiv continued ignoring American requests, but the US official denied that such a threat had been made.

The discussions also covered Ukraine's postwar reconstruction, military funding, budget deficits, its potential accession to the European Union and its future relationship with NATO. The US official said Witkoff and Kushner were considering visits to Moscow and Kyiv next week to discuss peace proposals, although the latest dispute could affect those plans.

Meanwhile, Putin did not commit to resuming peace talks during a 90-minute telephone conversation with Trump, according to Russian presidential foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, who said Ukrainian strikes on Moscow and other cities during Russia's parliamentary elections had undermined the possibility of an immediate resumption of negotiations.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar