Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at last month's United Nations General Assembly.

Art of Russia’s Deal -- President Trump’s claim of an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, coming after his announcement that the US is freeing up its sanction on Russian diesel fuel, was news to Kyiv.

“Ukraine has no information about an energy ceasefire” as announced by Trump Sunday, a senior Ukrainian official told The Kyiv Independent.

[UPDATE: Six senators called on President Trump to “immediately reverse course” on his administration’s plan to purchase diesel from Russia to lower prices, The Associated Press reports. Four are Republicans; Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Curtis of Utah. Two are Democrats; Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.]

Speaking to reporters at the White House Saturday, Trump had again blamed Ukraine for high global diesel fuel prices – which of course inflate prices on anything shipped by diesel truck or train – and said he will lift sanctions on Russian diesel in order to quickly lower the fuel’s global price, according to The New York Times.

The president said the US has told Ukraine; “You can do whatever you want to Russia. Don’t hit the refineries because that’s a world problem that’s caused.”

Trump’s statement thus scapegoats Ukraine, which has been fighting Russia’s jet-drone strikes on its civilians with drone strikes of its own on Russian oil refineries in the country’s effort to bring dictator Vladimir Putin’s economy to its knees. 

Global diesel prices have, in fact, skyrocketed since the beginning of the US-Israeli war on Iran. According to AAA’s survey of national average prices at the pump, diesel jumped from $3.757 per gallon on March 5, shortly after the war began, to $4.33 on March 6. It hit an all-time high in the US of $6.5276 per gallon on September 22 and has since eased just a bit to $6.2771 per gallon.

While the White House has negotiated an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine largely by meeting with the Kremlin, Trump blames Ukraine for refusing to reach a deal. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “wants to make problems for the world,” Trump told reporters Saturday. “I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president.”

Trump’s relationship with Putin remains much warmer. NPR’s Charles Mayne told host Scott Simon on Weekend Edition Saturdaythat Trump had a “highly successful” discussion with the Russian dictator in which he agreed to “immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to the US and global markets, with more to follow.” 

This will bring down diesel prices worldwide “IN RECORD NUMBERS, AND FAST,” Maynes said of Trump’s TS, though no oil industry analyst believes it will be fast enough to come in time for the November 3 midterm elections. But Trump immediately issued a six-month wavier, Maynes reported, of the sanctions on Russian oil that were imposed shortly after Putin attacked Ukraine in February 2022. 

Is this just Trump being The Art of the Deal Trump, as his supporters would say --  negotiating agreements between Moscow and Kyiv without consulting Kyiv, for leverage?

It doesn’t look that way. Rather, Trump appears to be ‘negotiating’ in Moscow’s favor, as he has done since blowing his deadline of ending the war on Day One of his second term.

Behind the deal …. Even before Trump’s latest attack on Zelenskyy, a New York Times report last Thursday detailed the White House’s proposed multibillion-dollar deal involving a partial acquisition of Russia’s Lukoil that the president claims will advance our foreign policy interests and lower energy prices.

Under this deal, the US government, via the US International Development Finance Corporation would acquire about 15% of Lukoil’s interests, including oil fields, refineries and gas stations. Todd Boehly, an American billionaire who has donated about $2 million to pro-Trump causes in the last two years, and the federal government, would receive a small minority stake in the deal, but would control a majority of its board, people close to the deal told the NYT. 

More than half the equity of this Lukoil entity is currently held by investors in the Middle East, including ties to the royal family in Abu Dhabi as well as two billionaires partnered with White House son-in-law Jared Kushner and the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump, the NYT reports, again citing participants in the negotiations. Kushner and fellow special envoy Steve Witkoff have been key negotiators trying to get a ceasefire deal with the Kremlin.

If Putin, who is said to have final say, approves the deal, Boehly’s group would acquire Lukoil stock from non-Russian owners at a face value of about $10 billion. Once the deal is complete and the Treasury Department approves, Lukoil’s assets no longer would be subject to the US sanctions, the NYT reports, and that $10 billion worth of stock would see an immediate increase in value. 

One can see why President Trump and his kleptocratic peace negotiators would find it unacceptable for Zelenskyy’s Ukraine to continue drone-bombing Russian oil fields. 

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And the Price Is – Diesel in the US averages $6.2665 per gallon nationally, AAA reports, which is 1.06 cents cheaper than on Sunday but $2.5095 more than on March 5. Unleaded regular, meanwhile, fell 0.29 cents from Sunday to $4.3556 Monday, or $1.3756 costlier than on February 27.

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Guilfoyle’d? – Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson has joined former Fox News Vice President Ken La Corte in criticizing the conservative television outlet for failing to report on a scandal involving another of its former hosts, current US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle, Mediaite reports. 

Last week The Wall Street Journal reported that Guilfoyle (who also is a former wife of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom!) was preparing for her Senate hearing for her ambassadorship when she reached out to Trump donor Eric Deters seeking $100,000 to pay her American Express bill and offering access to administration officials. 

Former corporate veep La Corte accused Fox News of “journalistic malpractice” prompting former host Carlson to respond that the decision not to cover the scandal was made “from the top.”

Meanwhile, top Democrats on the House and Senate Foreign Affairs Committees have asked the State Department to investigate the WSJ’s reporting that Guilfoyle allegedly used her position to promote gas deals with a Greek company across southern Europe. 

Michael Costa, host of The Daily Show except on Mondays said; “Wow, if the Justice Department still existed, Kimberly Guilfoyle would be in soooo much trouble.” –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa