Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has put forward a Zelenskyy energy ceasefire offer, saying Kyiv would halt strikes on Russian energy infrastructure if Moscow agreed to stop attacking Ukraine’s own power grid, energy facilities, critical infrastructure and food supply routes. The proposal, posted on Monday, came after Donald Trump publicly urged Zelenskyy to stop targeting diesel fuel during Trump’s visit to Ireland.
Trump said on Sunday that Zelenskyy should ‘let him go after targets but not diesel fuel because he’s causing a shortage of diesel.’ The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Zelenskyy’s subsequent post.
Ukraine has maintained throughout the conflict that Russian energy sites are legitimate military targets. Zelenskyy announced last week that Ukraine had struck two Russian oil refineries, accusing Moscow of using oil revenues ‘to finance the war and the killing of Ukrainians.’ Russia invaded Ukraine more than four years ago.
What Zelenskyy’s offer actually says
The Zelenskyy energy ceasefire offer is explicitly conditional. ‘If our partners are ready to ensure that Russia genuinely refrains from striking our electricity system, other energy facilities, critical infrastructure, and food supply routes, then, of course, we are ready to ensure a corresponding halt to our strikes,’ he wrote.
Zelenskyy also set out a test of durability, warning that any arrangement must be ‘reliable, long-term’ and have ‘a real impact on people’s lives,’ and must ‘not fall apart after the Russians hold their elections and get an easing of pressure on gasoline and diesel precisely for that period.’ He called on partners to provide ‘specifics,’ framing a mutual halt on energy strikes as a potential ‘first step toward peace.’
Diesel prices at record highs as supply shrinks
The backdrop to this Zelenskyy energy ceasefire offer is a global diesel market under severe strain. The average US price of diesel hit $6 per gallon for the first time on Friday, according to data in the original reports, before climbing further. The Hill reported that the average price had reached $6.27 by Tuesday, the highest on record.
Supply has been squeezed from multiple directions. Ukraine says its strikes have targeted Russian refining capacity deliberately, and the effect on output has been severe. According to PBS News, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says diesel output has fallen by about 30%, with drivers in some areas waiting up to 40 hours to fill up at petrol stations.
Russia compounded the tightening market by banning its own diesel exports, a move that removed further supplies from an already strained global market, AP News reported. That export ban, which came into force in July, has left less diesel available to buyers who had previously sourced supplies from Russia.
Beyond the Ukraine conflict, price rises have also been driven by an escalation involving Iran. A drone attack struck Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline, which had been used to route oil around the Strait of Hormuz. That shipping lane has seen highly throttled commercial traffic since the US and Israel attacked Iran in late February, pushing energy markets further into uncertainty.
Trump’s remarks attributed diesel price rises primarily to the Russia-Ukraine war rather than to Iran, a framing that Zelenskyy’s conditional offer now puts to a direct test: whether Western partners are willing to press Russia on its own energy strikes as the price of persuading Kyiv to hold back.
Zelenskyy said plainly: ‘The war must be brought to an end. And a de-escalatory step regarding critical infrastructure could be the first step toward peace. We expect specifics from our partners.’
