Politics
NewsOnScale Staff
October 9, 2026
In a sharp reversal of years of U.S. policy, President Trump announced today that the United States will obtain diesel from Russia, easing sanctions on Russian energy to combat rising fuel prices ahead of the November midterms.
The deal, confirmed by NBC News, AP, and the BBC, marks one of the most significant policy shifts of Trump's second term. The U.S. has maintained sanctions pressure on Russian energy since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Those sanctions are now being relaxed to bring down domestic diesel prices.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the deal immediately, calling it a "gift to Putin" that rewards Russia's war effort and undermines the economic pressure campaign that the U.S. and its allies have maintained for four years.
Gas prices nationally sit at $4.36 per gallon. Diesel prices have risen sharply this year as Ukraine struck Russian refineries — with U.S. military support — and as Iran has kept the Strait of Hormuz closed following U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. The administration's own policies contributed to the conditions that created the fuel crisis it is now resolving by buying Russian energy.
The timing is unambiguous. The midterm elections are November 4. Trump is buying Russian diesel to lower fuel prices before Americans go to the polls.
Critics on both sides of the aisle will note the irony: the administration that sanctioned Russia, supported Ukraine's strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, and launched airstrikes on Iran is now relaxing sanctions on Moscow to fix the fuel prices those decisions helped create.
Zelensky's "gift to Putin" framing is the one that will stick. Russia is at war with Ukraine. The United States just agreed to buy its energy.
The midterms are four weeks away.
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