Axios: Trump and Zelensky agree to meet in New York as U.S. president again asks Ukraine to halt strikes on Russian refineries

Filed 50m ago · Via Meduza · The Buffoon Desk

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News of Sorrow

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Diplomatic Security Service from Washington, D.C., United St · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Volodymyr Zelensky says he and Donald Trump agreed by phone to meet in New York on September 22, the same day Trump addresses the UN General Assembly, according to Ukrainian intelligence chief Rustem Umerov. Zelensky thanked Trump for signing sanctions legislation targeting Russia, but a source told Axios the call largely centered on Trump repeatedly pressing Ukraine to stop striking Russian oil refineries, with the word 'diesel' coming up 'many times.'

Trump has argued the refinery strikes are driving up global diesel prices and shortages, urging Ukraine to hit other targets instead. Trump had announced on September 14 that Russia and Ukraine agreed not to strike each other's energy infrastructure, but both sides resumed trading strikes within hours of that announcement.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

An announced ceasefire that both sides ignore within hours is not diplomacy, it's a press conference with extra steps. If the American president's main ask in a call about a war is to protect the price of diesel, that tells you plenty about which numbers he's actually tracking. Ukraine can thank him for the sanctions law and still notice which topic he brought up 'many times.'

Source: Read the original at Meduza → Scored: News of Sorrow · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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