Trump delivers plot twist on Ukraine war, reveals 'one thing' Zelenskyy needs to do

DUBLIN, IRELAND: President Donald Trump, who has strongly supported Ukraine’s efforts against Russia, has often told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy what should not be done.

Trump has once again flipped the script on the Ukraine war, publicly telling Zelenskyy to stop striking Russian diesel facilities specifically, while continuing other strikes.

Trump tells Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop hitting diesel targets

President Donald Trump, who is in Ireland watching the Irish Open at one of his golf courses for the weekend, was asked by a reporter if he had spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following his recent conversation with Russia's Vladimir Putin.

Responding to a reporter on Sunday, September 13, the president called on Kyiv to stop striking Russian refineries.

"Mr Zelenskyy has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia," Trump said. "Let him go after targets but not diesel fuel, because he's causing a shortage of diesel fuel."

Ukraine has recently targeted Russia’s oil and gas industry by launching long-range strikes. Kyiv argued that oil and gas revenues both fund and directly fuel Russia's war effort.

Ukraine also said on Sunday that it had attacked a major oil refinery in Sloviansk-on-Kuban, in Russia’s Krasnodar region, across from Crimea.

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Agency said its drones hit an important oil processing unit and the refinery’s storage tanks overnight. The attack caused a large fire that could be seen from dozens of kilometers away.

This comes as both Kyiv and Moscow have ramped up hostilities against each other.

Kremlin says Moscow is open to peace talks

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow is open to restarting peace talks in the autumn featuring Russia, Ukraine, and the US.

"We are not ruling out that possibility. We are specifically talking about the foreseeable future. That is, October cannot be ruled out," Peskov told reporters.

Last weekend, US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff held talks with Putin in Moscow, followed by a meeting with Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

Despite peace efforts from the US, both parties remain firm over territorial concessions.

Kushner said on Sunday that "territory is going to be the main issue, and, you know, that's where the sides are still apart."

"Our job as the mediator is to figure out how we can come up with a creative solution that doesn't violate [Ukraine's] desires and that helps them achieve, you know, their objective and does it in a way that we can get Russia to end the conflict in a way that hopefully, you know, allows both parties to move forward in a framework where this doesn't happen again," Kushner said.