PARIS, Oct 23: A tanker filled with Russian diesel is headed for New York, maritime trackers and the Kremlin confirmed Friday, after the United States eased sanctions in a deal that shocked Ukraine and its European allies.
US President Donald Trump struck the deal with President Vladmir Putin this month as Russia's war against Ukraine -- Europe's worst since World War II -- dragged on and as his relations with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky plummeted.
The agreement is widely seen as an attempt by Trump to lower US fuel prices ahead of mid-term elections next month, with his Republican party facing mounting voter frustration.
Russia has been under massive Western sanctions since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Trump's decision to waive some sanctions to allow more Russian diesel into global markets came as Moscow's forces scaled up attacks on Kyiv.
Trump has blamed Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries for soaring fuel prices.
Zelensky blasts diesel deal after Russian strikes kill 15
But analysts have said the war Trump launched in Iran in February was the main driver for the rising prices.
The tanker Agioi Fanendes, sailing under the Maltese flag, was located off Helsinki on Friday and indicated "New York" as its destination on its AIS transponder signal, according to data from the maritime tracking firm Kpler.
The ship left Russia's Baltic port of Primorsk overnight, after loading nearly 300,000 barrels of diesel at the oil terminal there, Kpler said. It was due to reach New York around November 7.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the "first tanker set sail for its intended recipients, its buyers".
"Further shipments will continue at a steady pace," he told reporters.
- 'Betrayal' -
Following a telephone call with Putin this month, Trump said Russia would supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel to US and global markets, with another 500,000 tonnes to follow in November and another one million tonnes after that.
Primorsk -- which has been hit by Ukrainian drones this year -- is Russia's main oil loading port in the Baltic Sea, in the Leningrad region near Finland.
The tanker is travelling through European waters as Russia has expressed increasing confident it will win the war, and as Putin continues insisting Moscow will seize all of Ukraine.
Trump has faced criticism at home for the diesel deal, with some Republican and Democratic senators joining forces to urge the US president to drop the accord, calling it a "betrayal" that will do little to ease fuel prices.
Ukraine's Zelensky slammed the deal as "not honest", warning it would mean "extra money for the Russian war", as he pleaded with Washington not to side with the Kremlin
But with energy prices soaring, Trump has stood by the deal, saying: "Lower prices for Americans, especially our Great Farmers, Ranchers, and Truckers, is my Greatest Priority."
The tanker headed for New York shortly after US special envoy Steve Witkoff held separate talks with Zelensky and Putin this week, with both agreeing to resume Ukraine-Russia-US talks.
The Kremlin said Friday that the talks are "planned" to resume in November in Abu Dhabi.
Putin said Thursday that the talks should build towards a final peace agreement, not a "short pause in fighting" in Ukraine.
Zelensky has insisted a ceasefire is necessary for real talks to go ahead, and accused Moscow of showing "no change" in its position on the war since the Witkoff meeting.
Trump, Putin and China's President Xi Jinping were expected to hold talks on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit next month, hiking European and Ukrainian fears a deal could be struck over their heads.
