WHEN FUEL PRICES RISE, THE ADMINISTRATION BLAMES UKRAINE—or BIDEN
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has linked record diesel prices to the damage Ukrainian strikes have inflicted on Russian oil refineries.
“The diesel situation has been challenging because Russian refineries have suffered significant damage,” Wright told CBS. “Russia used to be a meaningful exporter of diesel. Today, they don’t export any diesel, and in fact, they’ve become a meaningful importer of gasoline.”
Wright argued that reduced global refining capacity is placing more pressure on gasoline and diesel prices than the price of crude oil itself. He then shifted part of the blame toward Democratic energy policies and refinery closures under former President Joe Biden.
CBS host Margaret Brennan immediately supplied the missing context: Russia could still be exporting diesel if it had not invaded Ukraine.
Ukraine did not wake up one morning and decide to attack Russian refineries for economic entertainment. Those facilities supply fuel to Russia’s military and generate revenue for the war destroying Ukrainian cities. Kyiv is targeting the machinery sustaining an invasion it did not begin.
Ukrainian strikes are one factor tightening global fuel supplies, but they are not the entire explanation. The war involving Iran, disruption around the Strait of Hormuz, refinery closures and wider global supply constraints are also driving prices upward.
When fuel prices rise, the administration appears increasingly willing to point toward Ukraine or its domestic political opponents before placing responsibility on the man who invaded a neighboring country and turned Russia’s energy industry into part of his war machine.