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Page F115From§Eachthe evening edition — 10 October 2026
Trump blamed Kyiv for diesel prices, lifted the Russian sanctions, thanked Putin by name at the campaign rally.
As it ran on the front
Start with the September filing. On the fourth, the national average for a gallon of diesel came in at $5.85, an all-time high, and the Associated Press noted that because diesel moves freight, the number arrives later inside everything that gets delivered. Common Dreams entered the cause as the administration's war on Iran and what it did to global energy markets. The New York Post, filing from the other side of the aisle, would later book the same cause in softer language: the US war with Iran causing increased energy costs.
On September thirteenth, at his golf course in Doonbeg, the president entered a different cause. Zelensky, he said, has to do one thing, he has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia. Eight days later he wrote that Russia had lost control of its diesel industry because of the war it started. Those two entries do not add. The first says Ukraine raises the American price by destroying Russian refineries; the second says the destroyed refineries are Moscow's own loss. Both were posted, neither was withdrawn, and under both the debit landed in Kyiv's column.…
…(cont) September twenty-third, same ledger: the Washington Examiner's editorial board criticizing Emmanuel Macron for waiving EU sanctions on Alisher Usmanov, an ally of Vladimir Putin. France, the board wrote, kowtowing.
Sixteen days after that, on Friday, the president came off a phone call with Putin and announced sanctions relief on Russian diesel, with shipments bound for the United States and world markets. That is the second entry on that side of the column in sixteen days. The first was a foreign government's.
Now the amounts, since the amounts are the sales pitch. CBS: 300,000 tons immediately, millions of tons over coming months. NBC, same announcement, same day: hundreds of thousands of barrels. The New York Times, reconciling: small relative to global demand. So the quantity arrives in two units and one qualifier, the price relief is a projection, and the sanctions relief is a fact with a date on it.
Zelensky filed his own entry within the day. Gifts to Putin will not bring peace or any benefit to the civilized world. An investment in war that must be ended, not prolonged. American, Ukrainian and European officials were due in Miami to discuss ending that war.
Then the thank-you, by name, at the Syracuse rally, where the president is campaigning on cheaper energy for Bruce Blakeman, given a ten percent chance by Decision Desk HQ. Three explanations for one price, hon, and the diesel is Russian in all three. Only the sign in front of it changed.
“For three weeks the story was that your pump price was Kyiv's fault for blowing up Putin's refineries — now the cure is buying Putin's diesel, and every dollar of it goes back into the shells landing on Ukrainian apartment blocks. Sanctions you can lift on one phone call four weeks before an election were never sanctions, they were a price tag waiting for a bidder. And the trucking cost that put your groceries up doesn't come down because a man posted that it will.”
“Look — cheaper fuel for working families, that's not a favor to Moscow, that's a favor to anybody who drives a truck. Did he thank Putin? That doesn't sound like him, and anyway France pulled sanctions off an oligarch first, so let's talk about Macron. I'm not being defensive. You're the one who brought up the column.”
Earlier in this story
- Trump demanded Ukraine stop bombing Russian refineries over diesel costs, then agreed to import the diesel himself. By Ruth · the afternoon edition, 9 October 2026
- Election spending watchdog can't open a single case, weeks before the most expensive vote in history. By Mort · the breakfast edition, 7 October 2026
- Trump's offer to sacrifice San Diego to Iran gets rejected by San Diego's own Republican nominee. By Mort · the coffee break edition, 6 October 2026
- Trump calls gas prices a small price to pay; so, he says, are Los Angeles and San Diego. By Mort · the breakfast edition, 6 October 2026
- Administration reschedules Iran bombing for after midterms, meets at Camp David to plan it anyway By Mort · the milkman edition, 4 October 2026
- The unwritten rule that you do not schedule ordnance around a ballot died at no fixed age, survived by a bombing moved to after the midterms and by the chamber that went home for seven weeks without voting on the war. By Mort · the midnight edition, 4 October 2026
The receipts
Trump has promised a 24-hour fix before: he said he'd settle the Ukraine war within a day, one of 53 such promises CNN counted CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Trump: Russia will send diesel fuel to the U.S. to bring down pricesPresident Trump said he spoke to Vladimir Putin and Russia will send hundreds of thousands of barrels of diesel fuel to the U.S. aimed at bringing down prices at the pump. NBC News’ Garrett Haake reports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lambasted President Trump’s Friday deal allowing Russia to supply the U.S. and global market with diesel, arguing the move would give the Kremlin more money to fund its war in Ukraine and undermine peace efforts. “Gifts to Putin will not bring peace or any benefit to the civilized world,”
Trump has vacillated between tough economic penalties on Russia to halt continuing invasion of Ukraine and reprieves as the US war with Iran causes increased energy costs and inflation.
Trump says Putin agrees to major release of diesel to US, global markets CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Trump says Putin agrees to major release of diesel to US, global marketsTrump's announcement on Friday also came as US, Ukrainian and European officials were due to hold talks in Miami in a fresh diplomatic effort to end Russia's war in Ukraine. Moscow, which launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, occupies roughly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory.
Trump promised to settle the Ukraine war with Putin within 24 hours - on 53 separate occasions CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Trump announces Russia will release millions of tons of diesel to help with costsRussian President Vladimir Putin agreed to release 300,000 tons of diesel immediately and millions more over the coming months.
President Trump Later is holding a rally in upstate New York after focusing his crunch-time campaign blitz for GOP candidates in red states. He's speaking in Syracuse, N.Y., to give a last-minute boost to Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman — whom nonpartisan election forecaster Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) gave a 10 percent…
Ukraine's president sharply criticised the move, calling it an "investment in war that must be ended, not prolonged".
"I'll meet with Putin. I'll meet with Zelensky... And within 24 hours, that war will be settled" - Trump, CNN town hall, 10 May 2023. CNN counted 53 separate occasions he promised it CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Zelensky bashes Trump over diesel deal with RussiaUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky bashed President Donald Trump’s deal with Russia to supply millions of tons of diesel fuel to global markets, giving arguably his most direct and biting criticism of Trump so far. Trump announced the deal on Friday in a post on Truth Social after a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin…
Trump promised to settle the Ukraine war within 24 hours - 53 separate times, CNN counted CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Trump says Russia to supply diesel to US amid criticismPresident Donald Trump has said that Russia had agreed to supply diesel to global markets in an effort to lower fuel prices.
President Trump said Russia had agreed to ship potentially millions of tons of diesel fuel in the coming months. But the amounts would be small relative to global demand.
· Trump: Russia has ‘lost control’ of its diesel industry as prices soar from the morgue, 21 Sep 2026
· Trump blames Ukraine for diesel fuel price spike, urges Zelensky to stop hitting Russian refineries from the morgue, 13 Sep 2026
· 'Trump Did It!': At $5.85 a Gallon, Diesel Price Hits All-Time High in US Thanks to War on Iran from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· France kowtows to Putin and removes EU sanctions on Russian mobster from the morgue, 23 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.