Zelenskyy should not get into arguments right now or repeat ’Oval Office 2’ scenario, - Ariev

Dispute with Trump: Ariev gave Zelenskyy some advice

The "diesel deal" between the U.S. and Russia is more of a political story than a purely business or business-corruption one.

This was stated by Volodymyr Ariev, a member of parliament from the "European Solidarity" party, according to a Censor.NET article titled "Trump, Russian diesel, and ‘energy truce’: what is behind Washington’s latest decisions?"

What is known?

"Most likely, we are witnessing a political game and an attempt to shift the blame onto Ukraine. After all, someone has to be found to pin the blame on. Trump isn’t particularly concerned that Ukraine is striking Russian oil refineries in self-defense.

He doesn’t want to view the situation at all from the perspective of who is the aggressor and who is the victim. He looks at who is stronger and who is weaker, and on whom he can shift the blame with the least consequences for himself and in the way that is most convenient for him," the lawmaker believes.

What should Ukraine do?

"Zelenskyy needs strong diplomacy—which, unfortunately, I haven’t seen from him yet—as well as a sufficiently measured policy. In the battle for reputation, Trump will clearly have the upper hand, since he can do whatever he wants, whereas Zelenskyy doesn’t have that leeway.

He needs to act in the interests of the state right now, but avoid getting into any disputes, not repeat the ‘Oval Office 2’ scenario, and understand to some extent that Trump takes accusations of weak decisions very personally," Ariev believes.

Read politicians’ views on the "diesel deal" between the U.S. and Russia at the link.

The US-Russia diesel deal and threats to Ukraine

On 9 October, US President Donald Trump stated that he had held talks with Russian dictator Putin, with whom he had agreed on the supply of diesel fuel from Russia to US and global markets.
According to him, Russia will "immediately" supply over 300,000 tonnes of diesel to the US and global markets, a further 500,000 tonnes in November, and another million tonnes "immediately afterwards".
The US Treasury Department announced that, on Trump’s instructions, the Office of Foreign Assets Control is immediately issuing a temporary general licence to permit the supply of Russian diesel fuel to the global market.
In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described Russia’s authorisation to sell petroleum products as an "investment in war" and called on the US to hold firm talks with Moscow and impose sanctions under the Lindsey Graham Act.
Axios reported that during talks in Miami, US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner allegedly warned the Ukrainian side that access to US intelligence might be cut off if Ukraine continued to strike Russian oil refineries.
On 11 October, President Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine would be prepared to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries if Russia ceased its attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
On the same day, US President Donald Trump announced the start of an energy truce between Ukraine and Russia.
In comments to Axios, Zelenskyy said that US President Donald Trump’s announcement of the start of an ‘energy truce’ came as a surprise to the Ukrainian side.
Later, the president stated that Ukraine was prepared to refrain from striking at Russian energy infrastructure, provided that Russia took similar steps.