• US Energy Secretary Chris Wright defended Trump's decision to buy Russian diesel.
• Wright said the relief is actually an "incentive" for Russia to end its war with Ukraine.
• Ukraine's President Zelenskyy and several US lawmakers have criticized the move.

President Donald Trump is still playing hardball with Russia, according to US Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

Wright defended Trump's decision to waive sanctions on Russia during a Sunday interview on CNN's "State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash."

In September, Trump signed into law a sanctions package targeting Russian officials and parts of its economy in an effort to pressure Russia amid its war on Ukraine. Last week, Trump issued an executive order waiving those new sanctions, other restrictions, and some duties on Russia.

In early October, Trump also announced an agreement with President Vladimir Putin under which Russia would supply over 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to America and the global market.

"President Trump waived sanctions just on diesel exports, and what's the one thing Russia has not been able to export over the last month or so? Diesel, because they're short of diesel," Wright said.

The Energy Secretary said waiving the sanctions solves two problems: the diesel oil shortage and Russia's ongoing war with Ukraine.

"This is pressuring Russia. Russia does not have diesel to export," Wright said. "The only way they can get additional diesel to export is if they turn down the conflict with Ukraine."

Wright said Russia would have to enter into an energy ceasefire or reduce its war efforts to have enough additional diesel to export.

"This is not going soft on Russia. This is an incentive to end the war," Wright added.

Trump elaborated on his reasoning further on Sunday in a Truth Social post.

"I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don't want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table," he wrote.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said waiving sanctions on Russia "seems wrong" to him. US lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle also criticized the move, including Republican Sen. Thom Tillis.

"Beyond irresponsible. What part of enforcing a law passed 86-11 by the Senate does the President and his advisors not understand? It's unconscionable that this administration is capitulating to a Russian dictator who illegally invaded Ukraine and butchers innocent civilians every single day," Tillis wrote on X.

He added, "If the President wants to actually bring down energy prices, he can do it by solving the Iran problem, not by doing a solid for Vladimir Putin."

Diesel and regular gas prices have skyrocketed globally as the US war on Iran drags on. Following surprise attacks by the US and Israel on Iran in February, Iran effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, which is a major waterway through which much of the world's diesel and oil is shipped. Last week, the International Energy Agency ‌said the diesel shortage could run into 2027.

That's a problem for Trump, who is hoping voters overlook high gas prices and concerns over the cost of living when they head to the polls this November for the midterm elections. Higher diesel prices mean higher shipping costs, which trickle down to consumers as inflated prices for everyday goods.

Wright also appeared on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, during which he said Trump was trying to find "innovative" ways to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

"This is a motivation for Russia to figure out how they can actually export some diesel," he said.

During their visit to Kyiv in September, US President Donald Trump’s envoys urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to consider restarting the pipelines that once carried Russian gas to Europe, The New York Times reported on 17 October. They presented it as part of a peace deal with Russia. In the weeks that followed, they pressed the idea with European officials, while Washington freed Russian diesel and spared Russia’s oil buyers from new US penalties.

Energy sales fund Russia’s war, and Ukraine’s halt of transit in January 2025 left TurkStream as Gazprom’s only pipeline route into the EU. Meanwhile, Russia has kept bombing Ukraine’s grid through the energy truce Washington declared on 11 October.

The pitch in Kyiv

Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner put the idea to Zelenskyy when they met him in Kyiv, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the talks. Trump officials argued that transit fees, which Ukraine gave up at about $1 billion a year, would benefit Kyiv, and that European voters would eventually want cheaper energy. Russia’s share of EU gas imports had fallen from 45% in 2021 to 13% last year.

The envoys presented renewed Russian gas sales as one of the economic incentives in a wider settlement covering Russia’s relationship with NATO, security guarantees for Ukraine, and territorial control. Some European and Ukrainian officials suspected Washington would seek a cut of the profits. The White House denied that the Nord Stream pipeline had been a subject of recent discussions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that resuming energy cooperation is in Russia’s interest and, right now, even more in Europe’s.

Germany pushes back

At Ukraine talks the envoys hosted in Florida last week, Günter Sautter, security adviser to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, forcefully opposed the idea. German lawmakers have called a return to Russian deliveries a disaster for European security, even treason, as the far-right AfD courts Gazprom to bring the gas back. Former Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who steered Germany off Russian gas after 2022, said Trump “seems to have more sympathies with Vladimir Putin than he has with the Ukrainians.”

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One concession after another

Rather than pressure Putin or strengthen Ukraine, the administration has spent much of its peace effort on economic incentives for Russia, the newspaper wrote. The US Treasury cleared imports of Russian diesel on 9 October. On 16 October, Trump waived the penalties on Russia’s oil buyers that Congress had passed in the Graham Act. Washington is also weighing relief for sanctioned shadow fleet tankers. And the White House ordered limits on the military satellite service Ukraine’s forces rely on, Reuters reported.

Putin’s economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev claimed the ice had broken and more joint initiatives would follow, including data centers powered by Russian nuclear energy. The talks also cover the sale of Lukoil’s foreign assets to a group that includes the US government, the newspaper reported earlier this month. Zelenskyy, who had heard the pitch in Kyiv, alluded to it in a Financial Times interview this week.

“The question will be when will the next deal be? Maybe it will be gas. Definitely it will be gas,” he said.

Reopening the pipelines could hand Moscow back significant revenue and strengthen its sway over Europe’s energy market, Liga noted. Each new concession lowers the price Russia pays for continuing the war.

Crisi carburanti: i dati Facile.it e Mimit mostrano forti differenze tra regioni. Ecco dove benzina e gasolio costano meno.

La crisi dei carburanti in Italia si riflette nei prezzi alla pompa e nelle differenze sempre più evidenti tra un territorio e l’altro. Dopo lo stop allo sconto sulle accise, la ricerca di un distributore conveniente è diventata una priorità per automobilisti e pendolari. Secondo un’analisi di Facile.it sui dati pubblicati dal Mimit, al 14 ottobre 2026 appena il 26% delle stazioni stradali esaminate vendeva gasolio sotto 2,20 euro al litro. Per la benzina sotto 2 euro, invece, la quota arrivava al 52%. Il costo del pieno può cambiare anche a pochi chilometri di distanza.

Diesel più caro della benzina: i prezzi medi

La fotografia dei prezzi medi nazionali, basata sui dati ministeriali aggiornati al 16 ottobre 2026, chiarisce l’entità del rincaro: sulla rete stradale in modalità self la benzina costa in media 2,034 euro al litro, mentre il diesel raggiunge 2,256 euro al litro. In autostrada le medie salgono rispettivamente a 2,048 e 2,278 euro al litro. Il divario pesa soprattutto su pendolari e lavoratori. Questi valori sono medie rilevate in una data precisa, non tariffe identiche in ogni impianto né quotazioni valide automaticamente nei giorni successivi.

Solo 5.030 distributori diesel sotto 2,20 euro

L’indagine considera più di 19.500 distributori censiti dal ministero che avevano aggiornato almeno un prezzo dal 5 ottobre, escludendo la rete autostradale. Di questi, 5.030 impianti, pari al 26%, avevano un prezzo self del gasolio inferiore a 2,20 euro. Il quadro è meno severo per la verde: 10.223 distributori, il 52% del campione, erano sotto i 2 euro al litro. Le percentuali non descrivono tutti gli impianti esistenti, ma esclusivamente il perimetro analizzato da Facile.it. Serve quindi confrontare i prezzi locali.

Marche e Abruzzo: dove il diesel resiste

Guardando al prezzo del diesel regione per regione, sono le Marche a guidare la classifica: il 38% dei distributori osservati resta sotto 2,20 euro al litro. Segue l’Abruzzo con il 36%, mentre Lazio e Umbria condividono il 31%. Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Valle d’Aosta e Liguria raggiungono il 30%. In valori assoluti, gli impianti sono 568 nel Lazio, 250 nelle Marche e 197 in Abruzzo. È dunque utile distinguere tra percentuale di distributori sotto soglia e disponibilità effettiva di stazioni in una determinata zona.

Campania, Basilicata e Calabria più penalizzate

All’estremo opposto della graduatoria del gasolio compaiono la Campania, dove soltanto il 14% degli impianti esaminati scende sotto 2,20 euro, la Basilicata con il 16% e la Calabria con il 19%. Anche per la benzina queste tre regioni sono nelle ultime posizioni: rispettivamente 37%, 36% e 42% dei distributori sotto 2 euro al litro. I prezzi possono comunque variare da una pompa all’altra. Le differenze regionali rendono evidente come il caro pieno non colpisca tutti allo stesso modo.

Benzina sotto 2 euro: spiccano Valle d’Aosta e Sicilia

Per la benzina self la mappa cambia. La quota più alta di stazioni sotto i 2 euro si registra in Valle d’Aosta (62%), seguita da Sicilia e Marche (60%); il Lazio si colloca al 58%. Interessante anche il dato della Lombardia, dove il 56% degli impianti monitorati rientra nella soglia, per un totale di 1.450 distributori. Seguono per numerosità il Lazio con 1.078 impianti e la Sicilia con 945. La quota percentuale non indica, da sola, quanti impianti convenienti siano disponibili.

Quanto incide sul portafoglio il caro pieno

L’effetto dei prezzi dei carburanti è concreto. Applicando le medie stradali del 16 ottobre a un rifornimento ipotetico di 50 litri, la spesa sarebbe di circa 101,70 euro per la benzina e 112,80 euro per il diesel: una differenza di 11,10 euro a pieno. È un semplice esempio di calcolo, non una stima del consumo delle vetture. Per chi rifornisce spesso il veicolo, persino pochi centesimi al litro possono incidere sul bilancio mensile. Il confronto va comunque fatto tenendo conto del percorso necessario per raggiungere una pompa meno cara: risparmiare sul prezzo unitario non conviene se richiede una deviazione troppo lunga.

Come scegliere il distributore senza perdere tempo

Nella fase attuale, il consiglio pratico è verificare i prezzi aggiornati di benzina e diesel prima di partire, confrontando impianti vicini, modalità self e servito e costo del carburante realmente disponibile. La rilevazione di Facile.it segnala inoltre che alcuni operatori hanno riproposto sconti, i cui effetti potranno emergere soltanto in successivi aggiornamenti. Anche le notizie su possibili difficoltà di approvvigionamento in alcune regioni non consentono di generalizzare una carenza nazionale: il comunicato non quantifica l’estensione delle criticità. La fotografia di ottobre mostra soprattutto una certezza: nella crisi dei carburanti, informarsi sui prezzi locali è uno dei pochi strumenti immediati a disposizione di chi guida.

Fonte: Facile.it su dati Mimit del 14 e 16 ottobre 2026.

L'articolo Benzina sopra 2 euro: la mappa delle regioni con i prezzi più bassi proviene da Affaritaliani.it.