Representative James Clyburn said just days ago Trump eased sanctions on Russian diesel and claimed Russia agreed to stop attacking energy infrastructure. After Russia’s massive attacks on Ukraine’s energy facilities last night, he said, it is clear they took Trump’s money and ran. He called Trump a weak, weak president. The South Carolina Democrat posted the statement on Thursday and linked a report on the strikes. No matching release appeared on his congressional site.
“Just days ago, Trump eased sanctions on Russian diesel and claimed Russia agreed to stop attacking energy infrastructure,” Clyburn wrote Thursday. “After Russia’s massive attacks on Ukraine’s energy facilities last night, it’s clear they took Trump’s money and ran. What a weak, weak President.” The post does not cite a specific volume of diesel or a revenue figure. The characterizations are his.
The diesel license is the recent energy document. The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License No. 135 on Oct. 9. The license text authorizes defined transactions related to Russian-origin diesel fuel through April 7, 2027. Trump’s Oct. 11 Truth Social post announced an energy ceasefire. No White House release defines its terms or confirms Russian acceptance. Clyburn’s post treats the license and the claimed agreement as the context for the subsequent attacks.
Ukrainian officials described the strikes. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said overnight the Russians used 39 ballistic missiles and more than 120 attack drones and loitering munitions against energy and critical infrastructure in Kyiv, the Kyiv region, and Kharkiv. He wrote that it was a targeted Russian ballistic missile strike specifically against energy infrastructure — the very infrastructure covered by the ceasefire announced by the American President — and that at least 600,000 people were now without power, with significant damage to 26 power facilities and four in the oil and gas sector. Zelenskyy wrote Wednesday. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it carried out a massive strike by ground-launched high-precision weapons and long-range drones against communication and energy infrastructure facilities in Kyiv and Kharkiv. No White House release posted this week confirms or denies a violation of any ceasefire terms.
Zelenskyy has addressed the sequence. He wrote that Russia has squandered the opportunity for de-escalation and has clearly chosen to continue its war, and he asked President Trump to impose strong sanctions under the Lindsey Graham bill that was recently passed and signed into law. Those statements are on his account. Clyburn’s post treats the diesel license and the claimed agreement as the context for the subsequent attacks. The license authorizes defined transactions. It does not state an effect on Russian revenue or a condition on energy strikes.
The strikes followed the diesel license by days. Clyburn’s post says Russia took Trump’s money and ran. The license authorizes defined transactions. It does not state an effect on Russian revenue or a condition on energy strikes. Clyburn’s post does not cite the license text. It addresses the sequence of the license, the claimed agreement, and the subsequent attacks.
No White House or Treasury release posted this week responds to Clyburn’s statement or addresses the attacks in connection with the diesel license. Zelenskyy’s statements on the strikes and the ceasefire claim are on his account. Clyburn’s post links the attacks to the license and the claimed agreement. Those characterizations are his.
“Took Trump’s money and ran,” “weak, weak President,” and the sequence of the diesel license and the attacks are Clyburn’s. The Oct. 9 license, the Oct. 11 Truth Social post, Zelenskyy’s statements, and the absence of a same-day White House confirmation of ceasefire terms are the records. The gap is between a representative describing the attacks as Russia taking the money and running and the absence of an official document confirming a ceasefire violation or a revenue effect from the license on a government page.