Il prezzo di diesel e benzina continua a rimanere sopra la media, con la benzina che tocca anche i 2,042 euro al litro e il diesel a 2,302 euro al litro in autostrada. Da mesi il prezzo riusciva a mantenersi sotto la soglia dei due euro o a superarla leggermente grazie agli interventi del governo Meloni, prima con il taglio delle accise, poi con il tetto ai prezzi.
Da febbraio, da quando è scoppiata la crisi di Hormuz, il prezzo del petrolio è aumentato di circa due terzi (66% circa) e, sebbene il valore del greggio non corrisponda esattamente a quello di benzina e diesel, ne influenza il prezzo. Parte del costo è condizionata da altri fattori, come le tasse. Quanto ci costerebbe il carburante senza di esse?
Secondo gli ultimi dati della Commissione Europea, in Italia si pagano tasse sul gasolio più alte che in tutto il resto d’Europa. La somma di accise e IVA fa spendere circa 1,08 euro al litro solo di imposte, ovvero il 48% del prezzo.
Guardando al prezzo medio del diesel in Italia, ovvero 2,261 euro al litro sulla rete nazionale, risulta essere il settimo prezzo più alto in assoluto.
Il prezzo italiano viene superato da quello (in ordine crescente) di:
Il risultato però cambia se si guarda ai prezzi senza le tasse. In questa ipotesi, anche se la testa della classifica rimane simile, il fondo cambia molto. In Italia il diesel costerebbe appena 1,166 euro al litro. Il prezzo più basso resterebbe solo a Malta, dove c’è un regime speciale di prezzi e il gasolio senza imposte costerebbe quindi appena 0,55 euro al litro.
Ricordiamo infatti che l’importo delle tasse sul diesel in Italia pesa per 1,077 euro per ogni litro. La media della zona euro è di 85,6 centesimi al litro di tasse. La media europea è quindi di circa 0,22 euro in meno rispetto all’Italia.
Secondo quanto registrato nell’Unione Europea, il livello più alto di tasse si registra in:
Tasse più basse si riscontrano invece in:
Al momento, per fare un confronto, in Spagna il diesel si paga 1,888 euro, mentre in Italia il prezzo medio oscilla in queste settimane sui 2,244 euro. In Spagna senza le tasse il gasolio costerebbe 1,382 euro al litro, mentre in Italia 1,166 euro al litro.
In Italia le tasse sul diesel valgono il 48% del prezzo finale, il secondo dato più alto in Europa (la media è del 39,1%).
In Italia esistono due tipi di tasse: le accise, ovvero l’imposta fissa, e l’IVA, ovvero l’imposta sul valore aggiunto.
Il prezzo esposto al distributore è formato però da tre componenti principali:
Si parla spesso delle 19 accise storiche, una serie di tasse su eventi come la guerra d’Etiopia, l’alluvione di Firenze e il terremoto dell’Irpinia. In realtà alcune sono state revocate già da quasi 100 anni, mentre altre sono state accorpate con il Testo Unico delle Accise.
È vero, però, che alcuni eventi hanno portato all’aumento dell’aliquota complessiva, che ad oggi non rappresenta più voci separate; tra questi risultano la ricostruzione post disastro del Vajont, l’alluvione di Firenze, il terremoto del Belice, ma anche la missione di pace in Libano, il decreto Salva Italia e l‘emergenza terremoti in Emilia-Romagna del 2012.
Q8 ha annunciato la proroga del price cap per benzina e gasolio fino al 31 dicembre 2026. La compagnia petrolifera ha deciso di proseguire l’iniziativa introdotta all’inizio di ottobre per contenere il costo dei carburanti e sostenere i consumatori. La decisione arriva dopo l’incontro tra la presidente del Consiglio Giorgia Meloni e l’emiro del Kuwait, Misha’al Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al Sabah, avvenuto a Kuwait City. Durante il colloquio era stata espressa la disponibilità della società a prolungare il meccanismo di contenimento dei prezzi. La proroga riguarda la rete di distribuzione Q8, ma le modalità di applicazione del limite potranno variare in base alle caratteristiche dei singoli impianti e all’andamento del mercato.
La compagnia ha confermato che il price cap sui carburanti resterà in vigore fino alla fine del 2026, prolungando la misura inizialmente prevista per un periodo di 30 giorni. Il tetto era stato introdotto il 1° ottobre 2026, con l’obiettivo di contenere i prezzi alla pompa in una fase caratterizzata dall’attenzione del Governo ai costi sostenuti da famiglie e imprese.
Con la nuova decisione, Q8 estende l’iniziativa anche ai mesi di novembre e dicembre. In una nota ufficiale, la società ha spiegato che intende fornire “un contributo concreto in risposta alle esigenze rappresentate dal governo, coniugando il sostegno ai consumatori con un approccio responsabile, attento all’evoluzione delle condizioni di mercato e alla sostenibilità economica dell’intera filiera”.
L’intervento si inserisce quindi tra le iniziative adottate dalle compagnie petrolifere per limitare l’impatto dei prezzi dei carburanti sui consumatori.
Il price cap è un meccanismo che prevede un limite massimo al prezzo di vendita di benzina e gasolio, secondo le condizioni stabilite dalla compagnia. Q8 ha precisato che la proroga seguirà un approccio modulare, tenendo conto delle diverse modalità di gestione presenti nella propria rete di distribuzione.
La società ha infatti dichiarato che l’iniziativa proseguirà “secondo un approccio modulare, che tenga conto dei diversi modelli operativi presenti nella rete di distribuzione dell’Azienda”.
Questo significa che le condizioni applicative potranno essere differenziate in base alle caratteristiche degli impianti e ai rapporti commerciali con i gestori. Q8 ha inoltre confermato il proprio impegno a fornire supporto ai partner commerciali, con l’obiettivo di mantenere la sostenibilità economica dell’attività di distribuzione.
Non è stato ancora comunicato un nuovo valore numerico del tetto massimo applicabile durante l’intero periodo di proroga. Per conoscere il prezzo effettivo di benzina e gasolio, gli automobilisti dovranno quindi fare riferimento agli importi esposti dai singoli distributori.
Nel comunicato, Q8 ha precisato di voler definire le modalità operative della proroga in relazione all’evoluzione del mercato. La compagnia terrà conto soprattutto delle condizioni di approvvigionamento dei carburanti e dei costi sostenuti dalla rete distributiva.
Il meccanismo non viene quindi presentato come un prezzo fisso e identico per tutti gli impianti fino al 31 dicembre. Le condizioni potranno essere adattate per garantire un equilibrio tra il contenimento dei prezzi al pubblico e la sostenibilità delle attività dei gestori.
La società ha spiegato che definirà “le modalità applicative” dell’intervento “tenendo conto dell’evoluzione del mercato e delle condizioni di approvvigionamento”.
L’annuncio della compagnia segue il confronto diplomatico tra Italia e Kuwait, durante il quale era stata affrontata anche la questione dei prezzi dei carburanti. Nel corso dell’incontro a Kuwait City tra Giorgia Meloni e l’emiro Misha’al Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al Sabah, era emersa la disponibilità a estendere l’iniziativa di Q8.
La compagnia, legata al gruppo petrolifero kuwaitiano, ha successivamente ufficializzato la proroga del price cap fino alla fine dell’anno. La misura risponde alla richiesta del Governo italiano di individuare strumenti per contenere i costi energetici e sostenere il potere d’acquisto dei consumatori.
Durante la call con gli azionisti, il Chief Transition & Financial Officer di Eni Francesco Gattei ha annunciato che la società manterrà fino a fine anno il tetto al prezzo dei carburanti, prolungandolo quindi di due mesi. La benzina costerà 1,99 euro al litro, il diesel 2,25 euro al litro.
Eni può permettersi un’iniziativa del genere anche alla luce degli ottimi risultati del terzo trimestre, in cui l’azienda ha registrato una crescita del 125% degli utili. Dall’inizio dell’anno i guadagni di Eni sono aumentati del 70%, soprattutto a causa della guerra in Iran e del conseguente aumento del prezzo del petrolio.
Eni aveva annunciato il tetto al prezzo del carburante dopo che il Governo aveva deciso di non rinnovare, a partire dall’inizio di ottobre, gli sconti sulle accise. Eni è una cosiddetta azienda partecipata, controllata dal Ministero dell’Economia. Il rinnovo del tetto bloccherà i prezzi massimi dei carburanti:
Gli sconti ammontano quindi in media a 2,5 centesimi sulla benzina e a 1,1 centesimi sul diesel. La nuova data di scadenza del tetto al prezzo del carburante di Eni è il 31 dicembre 2026. Non è chiaro se anche le altre società che avevano seguito Eni in questa iniziativa prolungheranno i propri sconti.
Ad annunciare il prolungamento dello sconto è stato il Cfo di Eni, Francesco Gattei, durante la call con gli azionisti che ha illustrato i risultati trimestrali della società. Gattei ha dichiarato:
Per noi fare impresa significa gestire una strategia volta a perseguire un valore sostenibile e a lungo termine. Crediamo che le aziende abbiano una responsabilità sociale, non possiamo vivere in una sorta di bolla al di fuori del mondo reale. Quindi vogliamo e dobbiamo essere realistici e pensare che sostenere i clienti sia una priorità per un’azienda che si occupa di un bisogno fondamentale com’è l’energia. Per questo abbiamo deciso di introdurre un tetto massimo alle nostre vendite di benzina e diesel.
Nella call non è stato illustrato con esattezza quanto questa iniziativa impatterà sui bilanci di Eni per i prossimi mesi, ma Gattei ha comunque proposto una stima:
In termini di stime, riteniamo che, nelle attuali condizioni di mercato e ipotizzando il livello osservato finora, l’impatto in un trimestre si attesterà nell’ordine di alcune centinaia di milioni.
Eni, però, non dovrebbe risentire troppo di questa spesa.
Venerdì 23 ottobre Eni ha presentato i risultati operativi del terzo trimestre del 2026:
L’azienda ha spiegato questi risultati con “condizioni di mercato favorevoli” vale a dire con l’aumento del prezzo del petrolio dovuto alla guerra in Iran. La dirigenza ha annunciato anche un dividendo straordinario per gli azionisti e il titolo è cresciuto in Borsa di oltre il 5%.
Investors who buy idle sanctioned tankers and refit them could put the ships back into legal oil trade, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on 19 October, Bloomberg reported. He laid out the plan five days after a US official described it to Reuters.
That official said the aim was to cut record tanker freight rates. The Energy Department added that any relief would not help Russia move its oil. The plan comes weeks before the 3 November midterms, with voters worried about fuel costs after gasoline and diesel prices surged in the Mideast conflict. Yet the shadow fleet is also how Russia sells oil past sanctions, and those sales fund its war against Ukraine. In December 2025, Ukraine’s foreign intelligence counted more than 1,100 tankers serving Russia alone, 226 of them under US sanctions.
Many sanctioned tankers sit idle, Wright told Bloomberg’s Annmarie Hordern, and buyers keep approaching the administration offering to fix them up and carry only legal oil.
“We’re going to move some of the ships from what I call the ‘bad-guy fleet’ to the ‘good-guy fleet,’” he said. “They will not carry sanctioned oil anymore.”
The ships must go through an approval process, Wright said, but he gave no criteria. He insisted “there is no removing of sanctions.”
He put the global dark fleet at about 1,600 ships, a count covering vessels that hauled Venezuelan, Iranian, and Russian oil. Dozens or even hundreds could turn legitimate, he said. The ships are no longer needed for Venezuelan oil, Wright said, and no Iranian oil is moving. Russian oil exports, he added, “are certainly not growing.”
Earlier, on 9 October, the Treasury issued General License 135, allowing some deals in Russian diesel until 7 April 2027. On 16 October, US President Donald Trump waived sanctions and tariffs under the Graham Act, leaving earlier sanctions intact. That law had directed him to review and sanction shadow-fleet vessels. Trump defended the waiver as a way to keep Moscow at the negotiating table.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News host Larry Kudlow on 18 October that he had asked the White House team to “carefully consider the unintended consequences,” The Hill reported. He added that he thought “the right decision will be made” in the end.
Russian diesel shipments are returning to Türkiye and Brazil after Moscow lifted its export ban and the US temporarily suspended sanctions on Russian fuel supplies, Reuters reported on 20 October, citing shipping data from Kpler and LSEG.
The resumption of exports gives Russia another source of revenue to support its war against Ukraine, allowing Moscow to profit from fuel sales despite the domestic shortages that prompted its export ban. The US sanctions relief is helping Russia restore access to international buyers while its full-scale invasion continues.
According to Reuters, at least two tankers carrying Russian diesel have departed the Baltic port of Primorsk for Türkiye and Brazil in recent days. Each vessel is carrying around 300,000 barrels, according to Kpler data cited by Reuters. Morocco has also resumed importing Russian diesel since the export ban was lifted.
Russia ended its self-imposed diesel export ban on 9 October after reaching a deal with US President Donald Trump to resume fuel supplies to global markets. Moscow had introduced the ban to address domestic shortages triggered by Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil refineries.
Those supply problems have not been resolved, but the US temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian fuel supplies as part of the deal, allowing Moscow to prioritize export opportunities despite domestic shortages. EU and UK embargoes on Russian fuel imports remain in force.
Russian diesel exports averaged around 345,000 barrels per day in 2026 so far, down 41% from the previous year, according to shipping data cited by Reuters. Exports had already fallen during the summer before Moscow imposed its ban.
Türkiye accounted for around 34% of Russian diesel loadings this year, followed by Brazil at 24% and Morocco at 10%, Kpler data showed.
Trump said Russia would initially export 300,000 metric tons of diesel, followed by 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons afterward. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Moscow could raise exports to as much as 3.5 million metric tons per month by the end of the year.
The deal comes as Trump seeks to present a picture of bringing down diesel prices ahead of the US midterm elections on 3 November. Fuel prices have risen amid disruptions to global energy supplies caused by Trump's war with Iran, which has shaken oil markets and raised concerns about supply routes.
Trump has blamed Ukraine's attacks on Russian oil infrastructure for driving up energy prices, despite the broader market disruption caused by his war with Iran. The Russian diesel deal offers a way to increase global fuel supplies, but also allows Moscow to earn revenue from exports while its war against Ukraine continues.
However, the volumes from Russia initially outlined by Trump would cover only a small share of the global supply shortfall.
US President Donald Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on 18 October that he did not want to “drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table.” He also wrote: “Signing that document at this time will do that, and I can sign it later, or any time that I want!”
Trump was referring to sanctions and tariffs under the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, which he waived in an executive order on 16 October, days before the measures were due to take effect. The waiver suspends additional economic penalties intended to pressure Moscow over its war against Ukraine, while leaving earlier US sanctions in place. The decision came weeks before the 3 November midterms, in which Republicans are defending slim majorities in both chambers, and analysts said the penalties could have pushed up oil prices for Americans already paying more, largely because of the US-Israeli war with Iran, Reuters reported.
A week before the waiver, Trump had announced a deal for Russia to increase diesel supplies to global markets. The Treasury also issued a license, valid until 7 April 2027, permitting certain transactions in Russian-origin diesel.
In the Truth Social post, Trump accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of targeting Russian diesel refineries, saying the strikes were “seriously hurting the world diesel markets, including those in the United States.” Kyiv had paused its refinery strikes for three days at Washington’s request after Trump declared an energy ceasefire on 11 October, which Russia never confirmed, then resumed them. Since then, Russia has struck Ukraine’s energy sector 76 times, Zelenskyy said on 18 October.
Trump wrote that Zelenskyy “doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did,” and that he “could have made a better deal two years ago than he can now.”
“His country is in shambles, a large portion of his land is lost, his oceans and seas are gone, and his male population is low, wounded, and/or dead,” Trump added.
He also said Russia was “doing very little, if anything, to help” Iran and that he wanted to keep it that way.
On 17 October, Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago that he had not announced his final decision. “A lot of you don’t know what my decision is yet, but we’ll figure it out, and you’ll figure it out,” he said, Reuters reported.
“I think the president wants to take the 60-day period of time to sort of analyze what imposing both sanctions and tariffs will mean to the global economy and even to the US economy,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters before departing for Uzbekistan the same day.
Zelenskyy called it a “pity” that Trump had waived sanctions under a law named for the late Senator Lindsey Graham, who “really believed in Ukraine.” He said he hoped Trump would change his decisions, NBC News reported.
Discussing the diesel deal on NBC’s Meet the Press, Zelenskyy said US oil prices had risen because shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was blocked, not because of Ukraine.
On 17 October, Zelenskyy told journalists that “the decision to undo all of this, to block all of it, seems wrong to me” and that it “definitely helps only the Russians.” His remarks appeared in Ukrainian on his official Telegram channel.
“Sanctions relief will continue. I think the diesel deal and the move regarding the Lindsey Graham Act are not the end of it. Unfortunately,” Zelenskyy said.
On 19 October, Zelenskyy wrote that partners had again given no warning of Russia’s overnight ballistic attack and that blocking missiles for Ukraine’s air defense while Russia gets sanctions eased or postponed amounts to partners denying reality.
Republican Senator James Lankford defended Trump’s decision on NBC’s Meet the Press, saying the president was “choosing the American people first.”
Senator Darline Graham, Lindsey Graham’s sister, whom Trump has endorsed for a full term, said at a campaign stop on 17 October that she would “choose to keep the pressure on Russia.”
“I don’t trust Putin and I don’t trust Russia,” Darline Graham said.
She did not directly criticize Trump but said she would not have made that choice, Reuters reported.
During their visit to Kyiv in September, US President Donald Trump’s envoys urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to consider restarting the pipelines that once carried Russian gas to Europe, The New York Times reported on 17 October. They presented it as part of a peace deal with Russia. In the weeks that followed, they pressed the idea with European officials, while Washington freed Russian diesel and spared Russia’s oil buyers from new US penalties.
Energy sales fund Russia’s war, and Ukraine’s halt of transit in January 2025 left TurkStream as Gazprom’s only pipeline route into the EU. Meanwhile, Russia has kept bombing Ukraine’s grid through the energy truce Washington declared on 11 October.
Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner put the idea to Zelenskyy when they met him in Kyiv, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the talks. Trump officials argued that transit fees, which Ukraine gave up at about $1 billion a year, would benefit Kyiv, and that European voters would eventually want cheaper energy. Russia’s share of EU gas imports had fallen from 45% in 2021 to 13% last year.
The envoys presented renewed Russian gas sales as one of the economic incentives in a wider settlement covering Russia’s relationship with NATO, security guarantees for Ukraine, and territorial control. Some European and Ukrainian officials suspected Washington would seek a cut of the profits. The White House denied that the Nord Stream pipeline had been a subject of recent discussions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that resuming energy cooperation is in Russia’s interest and, right now, even more in Europe’s.
At Ukraine talks the envoys hosted in Florida last week, Günter Sautter, security adviser to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, forcefully opposed the idea. German lawmakers have called a return to Russian deliveries a disaster for European security, even treason, as the far-right AfD courts Gazprom to bring the gas back. Former Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who steered Germany off Russian gas after 2022, said Trump “seems to have more sympathies with Vladimir Putin than he has with the Ukrainians.”
Rather than pressure Putin or strengthen Ukraine, the administration has spent much of its peace effort on economic incentives for Russia, the newspaper wrote. The US Treasury cleared imports of Russian diesel on 9 October. On 16 October, Trump waived the penalties on Russia’s oil buyers that Congress had passed in the Graham Act. Washington is also weighing relief for sanctioned shadow fleet tankers. And the White House ordered limits on the military satellite service Ukraine’s forces rely on, Reuters reported.
Putin’s economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev claimed the ice had broken and more joint initiatives would follow, including data centers powered by Russian nuclear energy. The talks also cover the sale of Lukoil’s foreign assets to a group that includes the US government, the newspaper reported earlier this month. Zelenskyy, who had heard the pitch in Kyiv, alluded to it in a Financial Times interview this week.
“The question will be when will the next deal be? Maybe it will be gas. Definitely it will be gas,” he said.
Reopening the pipelines could hand Moscow back significant revenue and strengthen its sway over Europe’s energy market, Liga noted. Each new concession lowers the price Russia pays for continuing the war.
The single most predictable action of the Trump second presidency happened just a few hours ago. Trump signed an executive order that exempted Russia from all of the key possible sanctions that could have been placed on it by the Graham-Blumenthal bill. Here is a link to the order and here is how it opens. The […]
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A bipartisan group of 22 House lawmakers is urging President Donald Trump to fully implement the new Russia sanctions law and revoke a license allowing certain Russian diesel transactions. In a letter sent on 15 October, they copied Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and requested details on planned sanctions, tariffs and waivers.
Their request comes as the law’s first requirements fall due on 18 October, while lawmakers from both parties challengethe administration’s decision to allow certain Russian diesel transactions. Some restrictions take effect automatically, while others require presidential action. The law does not specify a penalty for the president missing the deadline.
Congress passed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 by votes of 86–11 in the Senate and 262–159 in the House. Trump signed it on 18 September. Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, died in July.
Restrictions taking effect automatically on 18 October include a ban on US banks and broker-dealers processing transfers to or from the Russian government, a ban on new US investment in Russia, a ban on new US investment in Russia’s energy sector, and a ban on US energy exports to Russia.
Other measures require presidential action by the same date. The law directs Trump to review and sanction Russian officials, oligarchs and shadow-fleet vessels, sanction the Bank of Russia, specified Russian banks and state-owned companies, and impose tariffs of up to 500% on Russian goods. Tariffs of up to 100% can apply to goods from countries among the five largest importers of Russian oil or gas, or among the top five countries facilitating Russian oil sanctions evasion.
Trump may waive sanctions, restrictions and tariffs under the law if he first certifies in writing to Congress that a waiver is in the US national interest and submits a report explaining its basis.
House members also urged Trump to revoke General License 135, which the Treasury Department issued on 9 October and that is valid until 7 April 2027. It permits certain transactions involving Russian-origin diesel, including imports into the United States. Trump said Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to US and global markets and predicted prices would fall sharply, according to a 9 October Truth Social post.
On 13 October, a bipartisan group of 12 senators also urged Trump to rescind the deal and revoke the license. Seven senators said the deal conflicted with a 2022 law banning Russian energy imports.
The Graham Act says nothing in its provisions affects the Treasury secretary’s existing authority to issue general licenses. That provision does not resolve whether the diesel license complies with the separate 2022 law.
A White House official told Newsweek the administration would comply with the Graham Act. Bessent said the administration would use “all the legal authorities we have” and called the deal “good for the American people,” Fox News reported on 11 October.
Separately, the law sets a process for terminating sanctions, restrictions or duties against Russia. Trump must report to Congress that Russia has signed a peace agreement accepted by Ukraine’s government and ceased military hostilities against Ukraine, as well as activities to overthrow, dismantle or subvert its government. Congress has 30 days to block termination through a joint resolution of disapproval, or 60 days for reports submitted between 10 July and 7 September.
When Rudolph Diesel disappeared in 1913, many suspected foul play. The prime suspects were Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II and US oil man John D. Rockefeller. Both would have had reason to want the inventor of the diesel engine dead. The militaristic kaiser was building a diesel-powered submarine fleet. He had no interest in other countries […]
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A spike in diesel prices is hammering broad sectors of the US economy – especially agriculture and shipping – and becoming a flash point ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections. This squeeze has prompted Republicans from hard-hit farm states to call for a ban on US diesel exports, with President Donald Trump reportedly weighing […]
The post Is the world pricing the risk of a US diesel export ban? appeared first on Asia Times.
Ukrainian officials contacted the White House, CIA, and Pentagon after the restrictions, which Ukraine says affected both Starlink and Starshield, Axios reported on 14 October. A senior US official told Axios the Trump administration had nothing to do with the restrictions. On the same day, Elon Musk said on X that Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government, and that any speed or usage limits are decided by the US military and ultimately the president.
The restrictions could affect Ukraine’s ability to intercept Russian attack drones and carry out mid-range strikes against Russian forces and military targets in occupied Ukrainian territories. A speed cap of 160 km/h was insufficient to intercept some jet-powered drones, an unnamed Ukrainian official told Axios. Ukrainian officials told Axios they suspect SpaceX imposed the restrictions to pressure Kyiv to accept US President Donald Trump’s demand to stop striking Russian oil refineries, though the motive remains unconfirmed. But Starlink does not work inside Russia, and the drones attacking Russian oil facilities use other communications systems, according to Reuters.
Musk did not directly address the throttling, Axios noted. Starlink, he wrote, “is a commercial service owned and controlled by SpaceX,” limited to civilian or defensive use.
White House officials told the Ukrainians they don’t have control over SpaceX, two sources told Axios. One said the administration would reach out to SpaceX to figure out what happened. The White House did not immediately respond to Axios’s request for comment.
Presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov said on 14 October that SpaceX had imposed a 160 km/h limit on Starshield’s “military package” overnight without warning. Ukraine’s 7th Rapid Reaction Corps said mid-range strike drones must reach high speed quickly and that an unstable connection “will make it impossible to launch such aircraft or use them as intended.” One unit on the Huliaipole front had to cancel some missions, the corps told Novynarnia.
Ukrainian officials told Axios the system turned off when drones exceeded 160 km/h, and sometimes 80 km/h, before service was partially restored on 14 October. The Defense Ministry said SpaceX continues to restrict Starlink to 160 km/h and that it remains in communication “with partners and SpaceX regarding stable service conditions and the prevention of sudden restrictions,” Axios reported.
The restrictions followed Trump’s 9 October deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin easing sanctions on Russian diesel. A day later, Trump told reporters: “We said you could do whatever you want to Russia, don’t hit the refineries,” the Kyiv Independent reported.
The Trump administration is weighing looser sanctions on shadow fleet tankers that have hauled oil from Russia, Iran, and Venezuela, a US official said on 14 October, Reuters reported. An industry research group expects the change to do little for freight rates.
With Reuters calling high fuel prices a risk for Trump before the 3 November midterms, Washington has already eased sanctions on Russian oil and diesel this year and is now looking at the ships blacklisted for hauling sanctioned cargoes. In March, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a waiver on Russian oil at sea would bring Moscow no significant financial benefit, yet Russia’s seaborne oil income jumped by $890 million in the week to 15 March, Bloomberg data showed.
The talks center on letting “legal oil” sail on previously sanctioned vessels, the official said. Only crude or fuel free of US sanctions would qualify, not Russian or Iranian oil. Washington wants more crude and refined products moving out of the Gulf, the official added. Companies would need US Treasury approval to use the ships.
Research group Energy Aspects said US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, in a video to the World Petroleum Congress in Riyadh, tied the easing to record freight rates. Those rates hit records after the Iran and Ukraine wars drove up inflation and left US crude too costly for Asian refiners, Reuters said. Energy Aspects itself expects the easing to do little for freight rates, since most tankers sanctioned over Russian or Venezuelan links have kept trading for the past three months.
The Energy Department said any relief would do nothing to help Russia ship its oil or refined products. Treasury referred questions to the Energy Department. Yet Reuters noted that both departments could face pressure to let these vessels carry Russian diesel, given Trump’s push to get it onto world markets fast.
Britain is pushing the other way. UK finance minister John Healey urged counterparts at International Monetary Fund meetings in Bangkok on 15 October to keep tough sanctions on Russia, “especially a tighter ban on shipping services” that keep Putin’s shadow fleet operating.
On 9 October, the US Treasury issued a license clearing Russian-origin diesel trade until 7 April 2027. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters it was a weak decision unworthy of Ukraine’s partners. Democratic Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Chuck Schumer, and Elizabeth Warren called it a “total betrayal of Ukraine.” Republican Senator Thom Tillis said there is “a legitimate case for saying the president’s not following the law.”
Trump then pressed Kyiv to spare Russian refineries and declared an “energy ceasefire” on 11 October. A White House official told Axios it covers only oil refineries. Neither side confirmed a similar announcement Trump made in mid-September, AAP reported.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on 13 October that contacts on the ceasefire were continuing and referred further questions to Trump, Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported. He claimed the diesel deal was “a very mutually beneficial item of Russian-American cooperation” that serves the interests of Russia, the US, and world energy markets, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported.
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