From§Each

Page A220From§Eachthe afternoon edition — 22 October 2026

Diesel deal that got 'so close' to a ceasefire ends with missiles on Kyiv hours after talks resume.

By The Wrecking CrewThe Remedy Desk

“Russia bombards Kyiv with missiles hours after agreeing to resume talks with Ukraine”, 22 October 2026 (Photo via The Guardian — the original report)

As it ran on the front

The chief lays out the job again: a statute signed, then waived before it took effect, and tonight's missiles flew through the same gap the first ones did. On September 19, Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, named for the senator who pushed it before he died in July. The waiver landed the day before the statute took effect — the tool built, boxed, and set down before it ever touched the machine. Hours after the waiver, Russia hit Ukraine's power grid with more than 320 drones.

The planner walks the file forward a month to see where the unused tool sat while the war kept moving. On October 9, Putin phoned Trump to propose a three-way summit with Xi Jinping, the Wall Street Journal reported. The next day, a Saturday, Trump said Zelensky should be replaced over high U.S. diesel prices; by Sunday, Zelensky had shrugged off the call to quit, the Morning Star reported. Two days later, The Hill reported Zelensky calling Trump "weak" over the diesel deal, while allies inside Trump's own circle rallied around Kyiv. On October 16, Trump called Ukraine's renewed strikes on Russian refineries "a disgrace." On October 19, Zelensky said Washington gave no warning before a Russian strike on Kyiv's power plants, the same day the Guardian's own editorial warned Ukraine's future "is not theirs to bargain away."…

…(cont) The tinkerer lays the two tools on the bench side by side: a sanctions statute, waived, and a ceasefire the Czech president says had come within reach. On October 21, Putin released American detainee Stephen Hubbard without a swap; envoy Steve Witkoff called the release "humanitarian," and a former U.S. ambassador called the praise "fatuous." Putin agreed "in principle" to resume trilateral talks next month. The gap between the two tools is the gap between a law that would have bitten and a deal that never needed to.

The muscle wrecks the cover story first. Czech President Petr Pavel told the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network on Tuesday that Trump's diesel deal derailed talks between Kyiv and Moscow, saying both sides had been "so close" and "it will be much harder now." Pavel said Russia is using the momentum the deal handed it to walk back its own commitments.

The pilot lands the plane on the runway the chief built in September. Hours after Putin agreed to resume talks, Russia bombarded Kyiv with ballistic missiles anyway, killing at least two and wounding 22, including four children, and hitting a bridge, homes and a clinic. The statute that would have answered that attack is still sitting on the shelf where the waiver put it, five weeks and one hostage release later.

“Call it what it is: a law got waived so a hostage could come home on camera, and the same five weeks bought Russia the room to bomb Kyiv's grid again, right on schedule. The Czech president says the ceasefire was "so close" before that deal happened — so somebody in Washington traded a near-peace for a photo op, and twenty-two people in Kyiv paid the toll for it tonight.”
Sal
“Look, the president got an American hostage home without a single concession — that's not appeasement, that's dealmaking, and if Russia bombs a grid a few hours later, that's Moscow's call, not ours. Did I say "not ours"? That's not what I meant — the point is Hubbard is home, and that's a win, full stop.”
Chip

Earlier in this story

The receipts

Russia bombards Kyiv with missiles hours after agreeing to resume talks with Ukraine
The Guardianmainstream§

Experts say Russia is trying to destroy energy infrastructure before winter and US ‘appeasement and flattery’ will not achieve peace Russia has carried out a massive “demonstrative” attack on Ukraine, bombarding Kyiv with ballistic missiles just hours after Vladimir Putin said he had agreed to resume trilateral negotiations after talks…

Trump promised 53 separate times he'd settle the Ukraine war within 24 hours CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)

Trump’s diesel deal derailed Ukraine-Russia peace progress, says Czech president
The Hillmainstream§

Czech President Petr Pavel on Tuesday said President Trump's diesel deal with Russia derailed peace talks between the Kremlin and Ukraine, saying both sides were "so close" to a ceasefire. "It will be much harder now," Pavel told the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, which includes Politico. "Russia uses this momentum to get out…

· Zelensky unleashes on Trump as Russia diesel deal rallies Ukraine’s supporters from the morgue, 12 Oct 2026

· Zelensky unleashes on Trump over Russia diesel deal from the morgue, 13 Oct 2026

· Zelensky shrugs off Trump’s call for him to be replaced from the morgue, 11 Oct 2026

· US gave us no warning of Russian strikes on Kyiv power plants, Zelenskyy says from the morgue, 19 Oct 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.