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Ongoing26 earlier updates49 days

This story has run 27 times over 49 days, starting Aug 26.

  1. CIA chief Ratcliffe makes rare Moscow visit
  2. CIA chief reportedly warned Moscow against a limited Russian attack on NATO
  3. CIA chief secretly met Russian intelligence officials in Moscow
  4. UpdateCIA chief told Moscow to end the Ukraine war before Russia’s military and economy worsen
  5. Russian drone hits ammunition depot near Kyiv, killing 38; four remain missing
  6. Russia's finance minister returned to the G20 in person for the first time since the Ukraine invasion
  7. Witkoff and Kushner meet Putin in Moscow Sept. 5, Zelensky in Kyiv Sept. 6, carrying a U.S. proposal to end the war
  8. UpdatePutin orders 72-hour halt to strikes on Kyiv while Witkoff and Kushner visit, after a three-hour Kremlin meeting
  9. UpdateWitkoff and Kushner hold first Kyiv talks of the war, agreeing on next steps but no terms; announcement promised in weeks
  10. UpdateWitkoff says Moscow-Kyiv trip produced 'substantive progress' on scheduling more talks, with no date set and no terms disclosed
  11. UpdateRussia resumed strikes on Kyiv after the truce, killing 7; Trump and Putin then talked for an hour
  12. UpdateTrump says Russia's president wants a Ukraine peace deal after their phone call
  13. House schedules vote next week on authorizing 100% tariffs on Russian oil buyers
  14. UpdateVladimir Putin warned that sending European troops into Ukraine means war with Russia.
  15. Trump announced a Russia-Ukraine energy truce Kyiv calls conditional
  16. UpdateThe House voted 214-211 to advance 100% tariffs on buyers of Russian oil
  17. UpdateCongress sends Trump a bill letting him impose 100% tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil
  18. UpdateTrump signs the bill authorizing 100% tariffs on buyers of Russian oil
  19. Trump and Zelensky agree to New York talks, expected Sept. 22
  20. UpdateZelensky asks Trump for a mutual halt on energy and port strikes
  21. Zelensky (President, Ukraine) urges countries to limit trade with Russia to cut war funding
  22. UpdatePutin added a sale of Lukoil's foreign oil assets to US-Russia Ukraine talks; the buyers include Witkoff and Kushner business partners
  23. UpdateTreasury lifts U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel until April 7, 2027, after Trump says Russia will send 4.8 million tons
  24. UpdateRussian glide bombs kill 20 in Zaporizhzhia a day after the U.S. suspended Russian diesel sanctions; Putin tells Trump talks won't resume soon
  25. UpdateFour Republican senators join Democrats in demanding Trump reverse his Russian diesel deal, saying he skipped steps the law requires
  26. UpdateTrump defends letting Russian diesel into the U.S. as analysts say the 300,000-ton first shipment is too small to lower prices
  27. Update12 senators, six from each party, ask Trump to rescind his deal lifting U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel — this issue
TIMEUpdate

12 senators, six from each party, ask Trump to rescind his deal lifting U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel

Russia diesel deal
Political Guyentist · October 14, 20263 min read

TIME

U.S. diesel futures rose 5% by midday Tuesday, Oct. 13, to their highest in weeks, as doubts mounted that the deal would bring prices down, per NBC News.

Twelve senators sent Donald Trump a letter on Tuesday, Oct. 13, demanding he rescind the deal that lifted U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel. They called it "a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies."

The signers. Richard Blumenthal (Sen-D Connecticut) led the letter. The six Republicans are Thom Tillis (Sen-R North Carolina), Susan Collins (Sen-R Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Sen-R Alaska), Mitch McConnell (Sen-R Kentucky), John Cornyn (Sen-R Texas) and Alan Armstrong (Sen-R Oklahoma).

The law. Tillis and Lloyd Doggett (Rep-D Texas) say the waiver breaks the 2022 Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act, the law that banned Russian oil imports after the invasion of Ukraine. Doggett sponsored it and says Trump is "directly violating that law."

Trump's answer. He now says: "It's not a deal with me. It's a deal for the world. That's not a USA deal." ([TS]Treasury's own license lets Russian diesel be imported into the U.S. until April 7, 2027.)

The supply. Trump promised 300,000 tons of Russian diesel at once and 500,000 tons in November. Analysts put the best case at less than two weeks of U.S. diesel demand.

Catch upwhat happened before · 26 earlier issues
  • Sept. 15 — Trump announced a Russia-Ukraine energy truce; Kyiv called it conditional.
  • Sept. 16–19 — Congress passed and Trump signed a law allowing steep tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil; the House vote was 262-159.
  • Sept. 21–23 — Trump pressed Ukraine to stop hitting Russian refineries, citing diesel prices; Zelensky proposed a mutual halt on energy strikes.
  • Oct. 4 — Putin added a sale of Lukoil's foreign oil assets to peace talks; buyers include business partners of envoys Witkoff and Kushner.
  • Oct. 10 — Treasury lifted sanctions on Russian diesel until April 7, 2027, after Trump said Russia would send diesel to the U.S.
  • Oct. 11 — Russian glide bombs killed 20 in Zaporizhzhia; Putin told Trump talks would not resume soon.
  • Oct. 12 — Four Republican senators joined Democrats demanding a reversal; Thomas Massie (Rep-R Kentucky) backed the deal. AAA put diesel at $6.27 a gallon, against $3.67 a year earlier.
  • ClearView Energy's Kevin Book estimates 5 to 20 cents a gallon of pump relief by the end of 2026, per Bloomberg.
25 earlier issues
Currently showing U.S. retail diesel, dollars per gallon, since January 2022
U.S. retail diesel, dollars per gallon, since January 2022
Diesel was already past its 2022 high before the dealLine chart of the U.S. average retail diesel price in nominal dollars per gallon, from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. It plots the last weekly reading of each month from January 2022 to September 2026, plus Oct. 5, 2026, on a true time axis. The y-axis starts at $3.00 and has a break mark. A dashed horizontal line marks the $5.81 record from the week of June 20, 2022. Prices rose above $5 in 2022, then held a plateau of roughly $3.50 to $4 from mid-2023 to February 2026. They jumped from $3.81 on Feb. 23 to $5.40 on Mar. 30, 2026, then climbed above the 2022 line to $6.38 on Sept. 28 and $6.20 on Oct. 5. A dashed vertical marker at Oct. 10, 2026 shows when Treasury lifted sanctions on Russian diesel. No EIA reading after that date exists yet. The points are month-end samples, so the June 2022 point ($5.78) sits just below the weekly record, and Sept. 28 is not necessarily the highest weekly reading of 2026. Values are not adjusted for inflation.Diesel was already past its2022 high before the dealU.S. retail diesel, $ per gallon, nominalLast weekly reading of each month$6$5$4$320222023202420252026June 2022 high: $5.81Mar. 30: $5.40up from $3.81Sept. 28: $6.38$6.20Oct. 5Oct. 10:sanctionsliftedSource: U.S. Energy Information Admin.
U.S. retail diesel, dollars per gallon, since January 2022

What we’re less sure of2 of 6 claims