Kremlin rules out quick Ukraine talks – Zelensky says diesel deal is a gift to Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin considers an immediate resumption of peace talks with Ukraine unlikely. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said so after Putin's 90-minute phone call with US President Donald Trump on Friday. Moscow cited Ukrainian drone attacks on the Moscow region during last month's parliamentary elections. Kyiv had “interrupted the possibility of an immediate resumption of the negotiation process”, Ushakov said. Moscow would now assess when trilateral talks with the US and Ukraine could resume.

After the call, Trump announced that Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel to the US and global markets, another 500,000 tonnes in November and one million tonnes after that. The US Treasury issued a temporary sanctions waiver for the purpose. The move follows a rise of around 70 percent in US diesel prices since the start of the Iran war, with midterm elections due on 3 November. Analysts doubt it will have a lasting effect on prices; Australia's Energy Minister Chris Bowen said his country does not want Russian fuel.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted sharply. The decision would only give Putin more money for the war, “at the very moment when we are talking about peace”, he said. His negotiating team, in Florida for two days of talks with US officials, was “simply being used as a smokescreen”. According to Zelensky, Kyiv has proposed to Washington that Ukraine would halt strikes on Russian refineries if Russia in turn spares Ukraine's energy infrastructure.