Behind Trump's war of words on Ukraine is a worrying threat

US President Donald Trump's comments on Ukraine have raised concerns about a shift in US policy.

The full report

Recent comments by Donald Trump have put distance between him and Ukraine, according to ABC News. Trump's statements on Ukraine have been erratic and contradictory, with the US making threats to Europe about cutting intelligence and military procurements to Ukraine.

Analyst Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at International Institute for Strategic Studies, described the US policy as 'sinking under the weight of its own contradictions'. This shift in US policy appears to be driven by the looming US mid-term elections and soaring fuel prices.

John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, stated that Trump's comments on Ukraine are 'not about Ukraine and Russia, but about the American election'. The US House of Representatives passed new sanction laws on Russia and Iran, which required tariffs of up to 100 per cent on the biggest buyers of Russian crude and gas.

Trump has been pressuring Europe to release its diesel reserves, threatening a ban on US diesel exports. However, the G7 agreed to release up to 100 million barrels from strategic reserves over four months, and Trump asserted that a US export ban was 'never really on the table'.

This month, there has been an executive order to let tax-free, red-dyed off-road diesel be used on public roads. Trump told a rally he wasn't sure what that meant. Then on Friday, after a phone call with Vladimir Putin, Trump announced Russia would supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel immediately, 500,000 tons in November, then 1 million tons, then another 3 million tons, but said nothing about how this would happen given the sanctions regime, or the war.

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