“Taking capacity out of the global energy markets – like is what happened as Ukrainians strike Russia – has put pressure on diesel and oil generally. And that war needs to end.” That was US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker, speaking on Fox News in September 2026.
His remark fits a line the Trump administration has pushed. RBC-Ukraine reported that President Donald Trump again claimed fuel prices are rising because of Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, and said he had asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop them. Trump argued the strikes contribute to a global diesel shortage and that Zelenskyy should change his tactics.
The Kremlin gave its own account of Trump’s September 8 phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It said Trump held out “impressive and far-reaching” prospects for trade between the two countries in exchange for a swift end to the war.
What the export data shows
The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) published its August 2026 analysis of Russian fossil fuel exports on September 10. Its headline finding was that Ukrainian refinery strikes pushed Russia’s oil product exports to record lows and drove Moscow to import fuel.
Russia’s fossil fuel export revenues fell 8% month-on-month to EUR 604 mn per day, while export volumes fell 7%. Revenue from seaborne oil product exports unloaded at their destination ports dropped 32% to EUR 78 mn per day, the lowest since the full-scale invasion began. Volumes fell 21%.
Loadings of oil products at Russian ports have now declined for three months in a row, and in August they were less than half the August 2025 level. Tuapse, Russia’s fourth-largest oil product export port before the invasion, has faced sustained drone attacks since May. It loaded no oil product cargo for the third consecutive month. CREA noted that jet fuel, diesel and gasoline remain under an export ban, and that the continued slide points to a further fall in September.
Fuel imports reached a record 172,000 tonnes in August, more than seven times the previous monthly high. CREA said Russia imported fuel from South Korea and bought back gasoline refined from its own crude in India.
Crude and the ports
Seaborne crude oil export revenues fell 13%. Mid-August drone attacks disrupted the Sheskharis terminal at the port of Novorossiysk, and crude loadings there fell 58% from July. They stopped altogether for nine consecutive days, the longest such stretch since the invasion. Pipeline crude earnings, though, rose 14%.
China was the largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels in August, and its seaborne crude imports were up 16% on the month and 62% above August 2025. India ranked second at EUR 4.8 bn, though its crude imports fell 24% after two record months.
CREA also estimated that the Hormuz energy crisis lifted Russia’s seaborne oil and gas export revenues by EUR 31 bn in the six months after the US-Israel strikes on Iran, because of inflated energy prices.
Sources
- Trump administration blames Ukraine’s strikes on Russia for problems in energy markets
- August 2026 — Monthly analysis of Russian fossil fuel exports and sanctions – Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air
