The US president used a golf-focused trip to Ireland to warn Ukraine to stop targeting Russian diesel refineries, as record US diesel prices and midterm election pressures reshape Washington’s posture on the war.

DOONBEG, Ireland — US President Donald Trump lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday over Kyiv’s attacks on Russian oil refineries, using a two-day visit to Ireland that was ostensibly focused on golf to deliver a pointed public rebuke of a wartime ally.

Speaking to reporters from his Doonbeg golf resort on Ireland’s west coast, Trump said Zelenskyy had to do “one thing” and “stop knocking out diesel fuel” refineries in Russia because the strikes were causing global shortages.

“Let him go after targets, but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage of diesel,” Trump said, insisting that the Russia-Ukraine war—not his own conflict with Iran and the subsequent blockade of the Strait of Hormuz—was to blame for surging fuel costs.

“We spoke to Mr. Zelenskyy about it,” Trump added. “There are plenty of other targets. Don’t hit diesel fuel, because that’s hurting. That’s hurting the world”.

Record Diesel Prices and Midterm Pressures

Trump’s intervention came just days after US diesel prices hit a record average of more than $6 a gallon for the first time in history on Friday. Oil prices have soared in recent weeks as attacks in the Middle East intensified, raising American fuel costs and inflation, and stoking speculation that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates just weeks before crunch US midterm elections.

The timing has placed the White House under intense political pressure. A senior European official familiar with US-brokered mediation talks told POLITICO that the Trump administration was “searching for scapegoats ahead of crucial Nov. 3 midterm elections”.

“This administration is blaming Ukraine because they do not know what to do with their war [in Iran],” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Russian exports of diesel and oil have never been significant for U.S. consumption. The very idea is absurd. Moreover, we have all heard President Trump say that America itself can supply as much oil as anyone wants”.

Ukraine’s Deep-Strike Strategy Under Fire

Ukraine’s increasingly deep-range strikes on Russian energy infrastructure are seen as a key part of its strategy to make Russia’s four-year full-scale invasion prohibitively costly for Moscow. In recent days alone, Ukrainian forces have struck the Slavyansky oil refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kuban, Krasnodar Krai, and the Taneco oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk, Republic of Tatarstan, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The Slavyansk refinery is one of the largest independent oil refineries in southern Russia, with a refining capacity of approximately 5.2 million metric tons of crude oil per year. It produces automotive gasoline, crude oil, fuel oil, vacuum gas oil, and jet fuel, and is involved in meeting the needs of the Russian Armed Forces. The strikes have caused fuel rationing across Russia, despite the country being a key oil and gas exporter.

Russia has responded by importing record volumes of fuel from India. In August, Russia imported 172,000 tonnes of oil products, including gasoline refined from Russian crude at a refinery in India partly owned by Rosneft, as Ukrainian drone strikes disrupted Moscow’s domestic refining capacity.

Sanctions Escalation and the Hungary Exception

Trump’s public criticism of Ukraine comes amid a broader, and somewhat contradictory, US posture toward Russia. In October, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil—Russia’s two largest oil companies—and 34 of their subsidiaries, marking the first major economic strike by the Trump administration against Moscow during his second term.

Together, Rosneft and Lukoil produce 5 million barrels of oil a day, half of Russia’s total output, and account for over 2 million barrels in exports. The sanctions threaten secondary measures against any bank, anywhere, facilitating purchases of oil from these firms—a move that sent global oil prices soaring by 5% and prompted Chinese and Indian refiners to pause purchases.

Yet the administration has simultaneously carved out exceptions. The US granted Hungary a one-year exemption from sanctions on Russian oil and gas following a meeting between Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Hungary committed to purchasing US liquefied natural gas worth approximately $600 million as part of the arrangement.

A Stalled Diplomatic Track

The Budapest summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin—announced with much fanfare—has been repeatedly delayed. Trump said in late August that he did not want a “wasted” meeting with Putin, telling reporters: “I don’t want to have a waste of time, so I’ll see what happens”. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also called off an expected planning meeting.

During a tense White House meeting last week, Trump pressured Zelenskyy to give up the eastern Donbas region in exchange for peace, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP. Zelensky left the meeting empty-handed after Trump denied his request for long-range Tomahawk missiles. European leaders have rejected the idea of Ukraine ceding land, instead backing a proposal that fighting should be frozen on current front lines.

A Controversial Visit

Trump’s Ireland trip was not without its own controversies. On Saturday, he caught his Irish hosts and the UK off-guard by announcing he would “love to see” a united Ireland, breaking with Washington’s traditional neutrality on the historically charged topic. “It may as well happen now,” he said during a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin in Dublin, prompting pushback from pro-UK loyalists in Northern Ireland and some leading politicians in mainland Britain.

About 30 people protested his visit in neighbouring Doonbeg village on Sunday. “Donald Trump is not welcome in Ireland,” demonstrator William Hederman, 53, told AFP, accusing him of helping Israel commit genocide in Gaza.

Trump’s attendance at the Irish Open added an extra layer of complexity to a security effort reportedly costing Ireland €20 million (US$23 million). The former real estate magnate was joined by his two sons, Eric and Don Jr., who have managed the family business since their father returned to the White House. The golf course has twice been targeted by pro-Palestinian activists in the past 18 months.