President Trump on Sunday called on his Ukrainian counterpart to halt strikes on Russian refineries, saying the attacks are causing a shortage of diesel.
Mr. 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. The U.S. president responded by calling on Zelenskyy to halt strikes against Russia.
“Mr. Zelensky has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia,” Mr. Trump said. “Let him go after targets but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage of diesel fuel.”
AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson 
Ukraine’s recent long-range strikes have targeted Russia’s oil and gas industry, which Kyiv says both funds and directly fuels its war on Ukraine.
Mr. Trump’s remarks come as Russia and Ukraine continued overnight waves of drone attacks.
Two people were killed in Russia’s Tatarstan, according to local officials. At the same time, Ukrainian authorities reported Russian drone attacks on the Black Sea port of Odesa and a fire near a border crossing with Poland.
Russia has ramped up its air campaign in recent weeks, using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to pierce Ukraine’s defenses and capitalize on Kyiv’s dwindling stock of missile interceptors. Moscow’s attacks have targeted Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter in what officials say is meant to demoralize civilians.
Arthur Shvits/Anadolu via Getty Images 
Two people were killed and 14 more injured on Sunday as Ukrainian drones struck Nizhnekamsk, a city in Tatarstan, according to the office of regional head Rustam Minnikhanov. The two civilians died after a drone slammed into a tree near their parked car, the statement said.
Nizhnekamsk houses a key cluster of oil refineries and petrochemical, rubber and polymer plants, including some of Russia’s largest facilities of their kind. Mayor Radmir Belyaev said that a fire had broken out “at one of the city’s enterprises,” without giving details.
The Ukrainian drone campaign has caused fuel rationing across Russia, despite the country being a key oil and gas exporter. Other Ukrainian strikes targeted major Russian online retailers, bringing the war ever closer to the public.
Ukraine also claimed on Sunday to have hit a major oil refinery in Sloviansk-on-Kuban, in Russia’s Krasnodar region, across from Crimea. The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) agency said its drones struck a key oil processing unit and the refinery’s tank farm overnight, sparking a massive blaze visible from dozens of kilometers (miles) away.
Krasnodar authorities said the strike on “an enterprise” in Sloviansk-on-Kuban injured three people, damaged an oil pipeline and started a blaze. They did not directly respond to the Ukrainian claims.
Russian forces shot down 389 Ukrainian drones during the night, Russia’s defense ministry said Sunday, including over Tatarstan, other Russian regions, and Russian-occupied Crimea.
On Sunday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow is open to restarting peace talks in the autumn featuring Russia, Ukraine and the U.S.
“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, U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff held talks with Putin in Moscow, followed by a meeting with Zelenskyy in Kyiv. Despite the latest diplomatic push, Moscow and Kyiv’s core demands remain mutually exclusive, especially over territorial concessions.
