The House speaker stood before Donald Trump during his first term at the White House and pointed a finger, declaring that with this President, “All roads lead to Putin .”
The stark assessment years ago from Nancy Pelosi echoed anew after Mr. Trump’s surprise announcement last week that he struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to import tons of Russian diesel to the U.S. as a way to ease sky-high prices at the pumps for Americans ahead of the midterm elections. Mr. Trump’s diesel deal with Mr. Putin has been criticized by both Republicans and Democrats as fueling Russia’s war against Ukraine , violating existing U.S. laws and drawing the U.S. closer to Russia. It joins a growing list of instances where the President has sided with Mr. Putin, often at the expense of Ukraine — and America’s own standing. It’s not at all clear the Trump-Putin deal will deliver the supply boost the President is seeking to bring down prices. But the agreement underlines a message at home and abroad that Trump is an unreliable ally as Ukraine battles Russia. A bipartisan group of six senators urged Mr. Trump over the weekend to reverse course, saying the U.S. “should not provide Putin with a financial lifeline. Mr. Trump, however, held fast to his deal with Mr. Putin and lashed out, blaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for America’s high diesel costs and asserting he should step aside — something Ukraine’s leader has no intention of doing.
Energy experts have said the flow of Russian diesel is unlikely to lower prices in the U.S., which have escalated largely due to disruptions from the U.S. war against Iran.
“The harm to the Ukrainians is real,” said William Taylor, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, in an interview on Monday (October 12, 2026).
Such a proposal would need to be reviewed by Congress and to have been “accepted by the free and independent government of Ukraine. Almost seven years ago this week, Ms. Pelosi stood before Mr. Trump and a roomful of U.S. officials during a heated White House meeting and leveled her accusation, suggesting the President’s policy favored Mr. Putin.
The bill passed the House on an overwhelming 414-17 vote and the Senate without a single senator opposed.
The law says the president can seek to lift the prohibition if an agreement had been reached to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine and cease military activity.
