President Trump says Ukrainian strikes on Russian diesel refineries drive U.S. energy costs more than Middle East fighting, and he is weighing a diesel export ban.

Just the News reported that President Donald Trump on Monday insisted the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia was more to blame for rising energy costs than the conflict with Iran.

He framed the squeeze on American drivers and shippers as a refining problem rooted in Europe’s war, not a Middle Eastern one. That message lands as voters watch prices and as the midterm elections approach.

Trump told reporters the core issue is damage to Russian refining capacity.

"The big problem is the refineries in Russia are being blown up,"

He went further, drawing a bright line between the two theaters of conflict.

"This isn't really a Middle Eastern problem, this is more of a Russia problem, that Ukraine and Russia are going at it and Ukraine is blowing up diesel refineries in Russia because they do a lot of refining."

In plain terms, Trump argued that Ukrainian attacks on Russian diesel plants are disrupting a major refining system. He said that disruption matters more for energy costs than the Iran fight that has dominated headlines.

Diesel export ban under review to steady prices

Trump also confirmed he is considering a diesel export ban. The stated aim is simple: keep more fuel at home and stabilize prices for Americans who buy it.

No final order, scope, or start date was announced. The White House has not laid out the legal mechanism in the reporting. What is clear is the direction, use executive leverage on exports if global war damage keeps tightening supply.

That kind of hard economic tool fits a broader pattern of Trump using trade and energy pressure abroad, including when Trump enacted a Russia sanctions package with steep tariffs.

Energy costs are not an abstract chart for working families. Diesel moves groceries, farm equipment, and freight. When refining capacity overseas gets hit, the bill shows up at the pump and the loading dock.

Trump pressed Zelensky to ease refinery strikes

Trump stated he had spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He said he encouraged Zelensky to scale back attacks on Russian refineries.

Zelensky’s response was not reported. No Ukrainian confirmation appeared in the account. The point Trump made public was that endless hits on refining gear feed the price problem he wants contained.

Congress has already shown it can move in the same strategic lane. Lawmakers recently backed tough measures when the Senate passed Lindsey Graham’s Russia and Iran sanctions bill in a lopsided bipartisan vote.

Trump’s public case treats Ukrainian refinery strikes as a direct input into U.S. fuel pain. He is asking an embattled partner to weigh that cost, not only the tactical gain of hitting Russian energy infrastructure.

Midterms and an unpopular Iran war frame the pitch

The Just the News account noted that Trump’s effort to shift blame for higher energy prices from the Iran war to the Ukraine war comes ahead of the midterm elections. It also cited polling data showing the Iran war to be decidedly unpopular, without publishing the poll numbers, pollster, or dates.

Voters hear “war” and feel “prices.” Trump is separating the two conflicts in public and assigning the heavier share of the energy hit to the Russia-Ukraine fight and the refinery campaign inside it.

He has made other high-profile economic claims in this same season of political combat, including when Trump hailed historic financial numbers while battling over White House access and media coverage.

Specific U.S. price levels were not listed in the report. Neither were gallon figures, diesel futures, or a month-over-month change. The verified record is the president’s diagnosis, the export-ban review, and the appeal to Zelensky.

Allies and critics in Congress will test those choices the same way they have tested other Trump moves on money and enforcement, from funding fights to pressure campaigns that followed mass arrests and calls to lock policies into statute.

For now the administration’s line is blunt: Russian diesel plants under Ukrainian fire are the bigger energy story, a domestic export brake is on the table, and Kyiv has been told to ease off the refinery hits.

Americans paying more to fill tanks and move goods deserve a president who names the real supply shock, and uses every lawful lever to defend their paychecks before foreign wars draft the bill.