President Trump announced a deal to purchase Russian diesel fuel and temporarily suspended sanctions in an effort to lower domestic fuel prices amid rising costs from the war in Iran and in anticipation of the upcoming midterms. This abrupt foreign policy shift stunned European allies and drew sharp criticism from Ukraine, which viewed the move as a weakening of Western leverage against Russia. Today, Anton Troianovski, a global affairs correspondent for The New York Times, discusses what the deal reveals about the Trump administration’s strategy with Russia, and how much it could actually lower prices at the pump. Guest: Anton Troianovski (https://www.nytimes.com/by/anton-troianovski) , a global affairs correspondent for The New York Times who writes about foreign policy, national security and America’s place in the world. Background reading: Trump faces a new crisis over Ukraine following the Russian diesel deal (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/12/world/europe/russia-ukraine-war-us-diesel-deal-negotiations.html?searchResultPosition=1) . Photo: Igor Grussak/picture alliance via Getty Images For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily (http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily) . Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily (http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily) . Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts (http://nytimes.com/podcasts) or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.