Trump says Putin will release diesel fuel onto global market amid unprecedented price surge

BREAKING: Trump says Putin will release diesel fuel onto global market amid unprecedented price surge

IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.Skip to ContentEarlier this year, President Donald Trump temporarily eased sanctions on Russia in a bid to slow rising oil prices, but it largely failed. Andrew Harnik / Getty fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleOct. 9, 2026, 2:56 PM EDT / Updated Oct. 9, 2026, 3:00 PM EDTBy Steve KopackPresident Donald Trump said Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would “immediately” release hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel fuel onto the global market.

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social and said the action would will help bring diesel prices down.

It was not immediately clear how this would work, however, given wide-ranging sanctions that have been applied to Russia since its illegal invasion of Ukraine.

In recent weeks, sharp escalations in the Russia-Ukraine war have caused diesel to spike even further, and for multiple weeks the price of diesel set repeated all-time records.

Earlier this year, Trump temporarily eased sanctions on Russia in a bid to slow rising oil prices. That largely did not impact the trajectory of prices, which have continued rising for months.

ShareAdd NBC News to GoogleSteve KopackSteve Kopack is a senior reporter at NBC News covering business and the economy.