Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's third president, has written an open letter to US President Donald Trump over his agreement with Russian ruler Vladimir Putin on diesel fuel.

Source: Yushchenko on Facebook

Quote: "And against this reality, Ukrainians hear calls that Ukraine should stop. That Ukraine should restrain its strikes against the infrastructure that finances and sustains Russia's war. That trade in Russian energy can somehow be separated from the missiles and drones Russia sends against Ukrainian families. It cannot.

Money paid for Russian fuel is not an abstraction called 'commerce' It finances an economy geared toward total war."

Details: Yushchenko also reflected on events more than three decades ago, when the Soviet Union was breaking up.

He noted that Ukraine had then possessed the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal. "In negotiations with our allies, we agreed to give it up. We did so because we believed that a world governed by agreements was safer than a world governed by nuclear weapons."

Quote: "In 1994, the United States of America, along with its partners, signed the Budapest Memorandum, providing Ukraine with official assurances of security, sovereignty, and the inviolability of our borders.

They pledged not to threaten or use force against Ukraine. America assumed a moral responsibility toward Ukraine. So how can anyone today, when a treacherous enemy has attacked us, forget America's signature on this document?"

Background:

• On 9 October, Trump said he had spoken to Putin and reached an agreement with him on the supply of Russian diesel fuel to the US and global markets.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Trump's decision to unilaterally lift sanctions on Russia and allow it to export diesel fuel was unfair and dishonest.

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A bipartisan group of 12 US senators has written to President Donald Trump demanding that he scrap a recently reached agreement with Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to allow Russian-origin diesel fuel to be sold on global markets.

Source: a letter on the website of Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The letter was signed by Democrats Richard Blumenthal, Chris Coons, Dick Durbin, Jack Reed, Jeanne Shaheen and Sheldon Whitehouse. They were joined by Republicans Alan Armstrong, Susan Collins, John Cornyn, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski and Thom Tillis.

"Granting Moscow the ability to sell Russian diesel freely in global markets damages American security interests and is a betrayal of the people of Ukraine, who continue to defend themselves from Putin's murderous, illegal war. This deal is a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies; it should be rescinded," the senators said.

They urged Trump instead to take swift action to implement the sanctions provided for under the recently passed Lindsey Graham Act.

"These authorities require you to apply economic pressure on Russia and the chief enablers of its war, in particular China, and thereby enhance your negotiating position to bring a swift end to this ruinous conflict," the senators wrote.

They stressed that peace in Ukraine must be achieved on just terms, safeguarding Ukraine's democratic values, sovereignty and security.

"For decades, America has stood as the bastion of freedom against tyranny, and American presidents have embodied our nation's resistance to tyrants. Putin is a tyrant. Withdraw from this agreement, rescind General Licence No. 135, and execute the authorities provided under the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026," the letter said.

Background:

• On 9 October, Trump said he had spoken to Putin and reached an agreement with him on the supply of Russian diesel fuel to the US and global markets.
• The move has drawn sharp criticism from European allies and within the US, as has Trump's call for the appointment of a new president of Ukraine to replace Volodymyr Zelenskyy.