President Trump stops to speak to members of the media as he leaves the White House on October 13, 2026.
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Win McNamee/Getty Images
A bipartisan group of senators is calling on President Trump to cancel his recent diesel deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling it a “betrayal of the Ukrainian people.”
Last week, Trump announced via social media that he had reached a deal with Putin, under which Russia would supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to the U.S. and global market, followed by another 500,000 tons in November and a million tons “immediately thereafter.”
“Additionally, depending on the condition of its diesel refineries, Russia will deliver, in a short period of time, 3,000,000 tons of diesel fuel,” Trump wrote.
His announcement stunned lawmakers, who passed a law this summer ordering the president to impose steep tariffs on major importers of Russian oil.
These sanctions target Russian officials, companies and financial institutions that help fuel Russia’s war in Ukraine. The legislation was named in memory of the late Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who helped negotiate Trump’s support for the package.
“This agreement is a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our allies; it should be canceled,” six Republican and six Democratic senators wrote in a letter to the president on Tuesday.
“The agreement you reached with President Vladimir Putin on October 9th will not achieve just goals nor will it benefit Americans,” it reads.
The senators said they recognized the need to reduce energy costs for Americans, but maintained that allowing Russian diesel into global markets would provide “limited, if any, relief to Americans.”
They added that the deal “only provides Putin with more fuel to finance his war machine and allows Russia to continue its brutal attacks on Ukrainian civilians.”
Asked about the letter, the White House referenced comments President Trump made to reporters Tuesday about concerns that Russia would use proceeds from the diesel deal to buy weapons.
“Nobody tells me anything,” Trump said. “It’s a diesel deal. Not for us. It’s being broadcast to the world. It’s not being broadcast to us. It’s a diesel deal that’s going to be broadcast to the world for the global market, because the global market has suffered from high prices.”
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.
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