MOSCOW, Sept 14 (Reuters) – The Kremlin on Monday welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump calling on Ukraine to halt strikes on Russia’s diesel-producing facilities, while adding that the upheaval in global energy markets was mainly due to the conflict in the Gulf region.
Trump on Sunday called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to stop targeting Russian diesel infrastructure, saying the attacks were causing a shortage of the fuel that is “hurting the world”.
A wave of long-distance Ukrainian drone attacks on oil refineries in recent months has reduced Russia’s fuel production, triggering fuel shortages including gasoline across the country.
Ukraine says that by attacking Russian refineries it is trying to push up the cost to Moscow of continuing its invasion of Ukraine.
“Any call on the Kyiv regime to stop attacks on civilian economic infrastructure can only be welcomed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a daily conference call with reporters.
Numerous Russian regions have faced shortages of gasoline, and the fuel shortages are weighing on national morale prior to the parliamentary elections set for September 18 to 20.
Peskov also said that the situation in global energy markets was worsening mainly due to “instability and new rounds of escalation in the Persian Gulf region” and that an export ban on diesel should help boost the domestic market in Russia.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Lucy Papachristou and Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Gleb Bryanski and Hugh Lawson)
