Russian Diesel Tankers Head for North America as US Pushes to Revive Ukraine Peace Talks

Three tankers carrying Russian diesel are heading toward North America, Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak said on Friday. Quoted by Russian news agencies, Novak said the shipments belong to an arrangement under which Russian companies could supply 500,000 metric tonnes of fuel to US and global markets in October.

"The first three fuel tankers are already on their way to the eastern coast of the Atlantic Ocean, with significant support from the RDIF (Russian Direct Investment Fund)," Novak said. The arrangement was announced this month by US president Donald Trump. Under its terms, Russia agreed to supply diesel to world markets to help bring down fuel prices, and Trump agreed to temporarily lift US sanctions on Russian fuel in return.

Reuters reported that one of the vessels, the Malta-flagged medium-sized tanker Agioi Fanendes, is loaded with ultra-low sulphur diesel. It is expected to reach the United States on 7 November.

Separately, the White House said Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a ceasefire in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, where a worsening humanitarian crisis has left thousands of civilians struggling to survive. In a statement on Friday, it said both sides would halt all military operations in the city from 27 October, allowing aid to be delivered and preparations to be made for evacuating civilians. Russian and Ukrainian officials both said all sides were close to agreeing to a ceasefire.

Oleshky, in southern Ukraine, has been under Russian occupation since February 2022. Residents describe increasingly desperate conditions, with severe shortages of food, water and electricity. An estimated 2,000 people remain in the city, and some are reportedly surviving on weeds, boiled grass, bread and meagre rations.

The ceasefire comes as the United States works to organise fresh talks aimed at ending the war. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the US have agreed to hold technical-level meetings in the first half of November in Abu Dhabi. A US official later said the three countries might meet again in a couple of weeks, in either Abu Dhabi or Switzerland. Zelenskyy said he hoped a meeting of the countries' leaders would follow.

The diplomatic push follows a rift between Washington and Kyiv in recent weeks, along with a series of Trump moves seen as favouring Russia. These include limits placed on the Starlink communication system that Ukraine uses to defend against incoming attacks. Trump said on Friday that if Ukraine still had trouble accessing the system, he would straighten it out and, if necessary, raise it with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

In Europe, EU leaders pressed the UK's new prime minister, Andy Burnham, at a summit in Brussels to contribute more to Ukraine's defence. The UK government is due to present its first budget under Burnham's leadership next week. EU officials say Canada and Japan should also do more to support Ukraine.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, said on Friday that repairs to key power infrastructure near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have been completed under a temporary ceasefire it brokered. The work strengthened the plant's connection to its sole remaining external power line, known as Ferosplavna-1, lowering the risk of another loss of off-site electricity at Europe's largest nuclear power station.