US President Donald Trump has gone full pro-Vladimir Putin after his phone call with him on Friday.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday at the White House, Trump said that the US doesn’t want Ukraine to hit Russian oil refineries and shifted the blame unto Ukraine for high oil prices. He also said that the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shouldn’t be President because “he doesn’t want to make a deal with Russia”.
Donald Trump came to power with the pledge to pressure Ukraine to capitulate to Russia. Despite insisting with Ukraine to halt its attacks on Russian oil refineries, oil prices jumped above $100 earlier this year in March only after Trump started his war on Iran. Since comin to power, Trump has been pressuring Ukraine to capitulate to Russia by offering to give up the Donbas region while Ukraine has reiterated that it will not be giving up any of its territory. Russia has also escalated its attacks on Ukrainian civilians.
Trump’s comments came following a day in which he announced a diesel purchase from Russia and President Zelensky called Trump weak for the decision.
Unconfirmed reports from Russia state that the US will also be providing the US with spare parts for oil refineries which have been damaged by Ukrainian attacks.
Attacks on Russian oil refineries and infrastructure have continued this week, and President Zelensky has repeatedly asserted that these attacks, which form part of a crucial campaign to deplete Russia of its war revenues, will continue to put pressure on Russia to halt its war in Ukraine.
Previous US Vice-President Mike Pence, who served under Trump under his previous administration, said that the US diesel oil purchase from Russia is a betrayal of the legacy and leadership of the late Senator Lindsey Graham. Congress and the US President have recently approved a sanctions bill against Russia prohibiting Russian energy imports and imposes sanctions on Russian oil purchases.
Several bipartisan members of Congress, including Republicans Don Bacon and Michael McCaul and Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Steny Hoyer, have publicly denounced President Trump’s temporary authorisation of Russian diesel purchases as contrary to the recently enacted Lindsey Graham sanctions law and are calling for it to be reversed or blocked to avoid funding Russia’s war in Ukraine.
EU High Representative Kaja Kallas said that suspending sanctions to purchase Russian diesel will add revenues to Russia’s war on Ukraine and on Monday EU Ministers are set to approve the biggest set of sanctions listing targeting Russia’s war machine since the start of the war.
Newsroom
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