Europe Rebukes Trump's Russian Diesel Deal as Ministers Vow to Keep the Pressure on Moscow

European governments have rebuked President Trump's plan to import hundreds of thousands of tonnes of Russian diesel, vowing to keep isolating Moscow and to support Ukraine through what the European Commission calls a "new, grimmer phase" of the war.

Arriving at a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers on Monday morning, Lithuania's foreign minister Kestutis Budrys delivered the sharpest verdict on the proposed deal. "This deal doesn't help neither the price of oil products nor the unity of the transatlantic community," he said. "It is not the European way."

Kallas calls on Washington

The EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, reminded Washington of the fundamentals. "Russia has started this war. We should not forget this," she said, calling on the United States to join Brussels and London in imposing harsh sanctions on Moscow. "Of course the US is our biggest ally, but our message is clear: if we want to end this war, the only way we can do this is putting more pressure on Russia."

Latvia's foreign minister, Baiba Braze, struck the same note on her way into the meeting. "Obviously our position has not changed: pressure on Russia, sanctions, support to Ukraine, Russia's isolation is the way to peace," she said.

Ukraine front and centre

After a phone call with President Zelensky on Sunday night, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Ukraine's funding needs for the year ahead, and how to mobilise fresh global support, would lead Thursday's summit. "This week, the EU will also provide further funding for drones and missiles to strengthen Ukraine's defences and protect its skies," she said, adding that two further clusters of chapters in the accession negotiations are due to open. "The momentum is real."

The money is already moving. A 3.3 billion euro tranche of the bloc's 90 billion euro support loan, of which 14.9 billion has been disbursed so far, will cover drones and missiles, while the Commission has released a further 6.1 billion euros for air and missile defence, ammunition, drones and electronic warfare. With Russia escalating attacks on critical infrastructure ahead of winter, energy cooperation and cross-border electricity interconnections will also feature when President Zelensky addresses leaders on Thursday. The IMF estimates Kyiv faces a financing gap of 30 to 35 billion dollars next year, a hole that has renewed calls to put Russia's frozen assets to work.

Budget nerves

Behind the unity on Ukraine lies a more familiar anxiety. The summit must also make progress on the Union's next long-term budget, where divisions over spending priorities remain severe a week after Chancellor Merz rejected the Irish presidency's opening proposal within hours. Siegfried Muresan, for the European People's Party, warned that member states "must look beyond narrow national interests", insisting the Irish Presidency should ensure that "unjustified cuts to the EU's long-term budget don't amputate Europe's future".

For now, though, the message from Brussels to Washington is unanimous. Diesel or no diesel, Europe intends to tighten the vice on Moscow this winter, not loosen it.