The controversial deal initiated by Donald Trump—which involves temporarily lifting sanctions on Russian diesel while exerting heavy political and military pressure on Ukraine—has outraged most countries in the free world.
This unilateral decision, made without consulting Kyiv, is officially aimed at lowering fuel prices in the United States ahead of the midterm elections. In return, Washington reportedly halted intelligence sharing and cut off access to Starlink terminals to force the Ukrainians to cease their strikes against Russian refineries. This deal has sparked a wave of outrage among U.S. lawmakers and European allies, who view it as a major geopolitical betrayal that indirectly funds Moscow’s war effort. At the same time, investigations are raising questions about potential financial conflicts of interest involving transactions involving the foreign assets of the oil giant Lukoil and massive profits generated by cryptocurrencies.

After diesel, the information war
Russian diesel is allowed again, Kyiv was not consulted and the American consumer will gain almost nothing: that much is established. The rest, the threat over intelligence, the throttling of Starlink, the dealings around Lukoil, still belongs to suspicion. It is legitimate; it is not proven.
The coming days will tell what follows. On 18 October, the White House will say whether it applies the Graham Act or waives it.[01] On the 29th, the extension of restrictions on Lukoil’s assets expires.[13] Between those dates, the question raised by Eric Ciaramella remains open: an energy ceasefire makes sense only if Kyiv can threaten Russian military targets in return, which Washington has not yet authorised.[47] On 3 November, American voters will say what they think of this barter.
One front remains that this text has only touched on: information. London has announced a National Centre for Information Defence,[40] and Ed Miliband warned in Warsaw against Russian hybrid attacks across the whole continent.[39] Kyiv, for its part, claims credit for its strikes on Yandex’s data centres, though the specialists consulted see, at this stage, no demonstrated drop in Russian influence operations.[43][44] What do we know about Russian interference, what can be proved, and what does Ukraine have to offer Europe in that war? We will devote our next piece to it.