Zelensky-s diesel burnout, Nord Stream on trial, Russiagate revived: RT stories that shaped the week

Zelensky-s diesel burnout, Nord Stream on trial, Russiagate revived: RT stories that shaped the week

This week, we also covered Ukraine’s escalating refinery strikes and the spread of student unrest beyond France
Zelensky’s diesel-fueled burnoutThis week did not start well for Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, who was apparently blindsided by US President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend sanctions on Russian diesel supplies after talks with the Kremlin. The deal won’t alleviate the global diesel shortage, but it’s and easing pressure on Trump ahead of next month’s midterm elections.
For Zelensky, it’s a diplomatic nightmare, as . Trump rubbed salt in the wound on Saturday when he openly suggested that Ukrainians and halt attacks on Russian oil refineries. Russian President Vladimir Putin, , wants to make a deal more than Zelensky.
Backed into a corner, Zelensky . Accusing the American president of empathizing with dictators, Zelensky demanded air defense missiles from the US before vowing to continue his drone campaign against Russia’s refineries – with or without American support. 
The US apparently sent a warning signal to Zelensky by to SpaceX’s high-speed Starlink and Starshield satellite communications services, which are vital tools in guiding attack drones used against Russia, and in detecting incoming retaliatory strikes. would take responsibility for the communications drop-off, but even if they had, their message would likely have fallen of deaf ears.
Zelensky escalates the energy warThe Ukrainian leader followed through on his promise to keep hitting Russian refineries, despite Trump’s announcement of an energy ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev (which neither side confirmed). Ukrainian forces on Wednesday, before and 69 fixed-wing kamikaze drones at the Ryazan refinery again on Thursday.
Debris from an intercepted UAV triggered , according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Read more Retaliation was swift, from both Moscow and Washington. Russian forces used missiles and drones to , Kharkov, and the surrounding regions, as well as military logistics hubs and data centers. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that it shot down four missiles out of 39, confirming reports that Zelensky launched the refinery strikes knowing Ukraine to repel the retaliation. 
Trump went on to on Thursday. I’m not a big fan of Zelensky. They’ve destroyed that country, he said, before accusing the Ukrainian leader of selling missiles given to him by the US on the open market.
Zelensky is not a good guy for us to deal with, Trump concluded.
Nord Stream trial beginsAs Ukraine doubles down on its infrastructure war, the costliest infrastructure attack in history is finally being litigated in a German courtroom. Sergey Kuznetsov, a Ukrainian military officer, , accused of leading the team that sabotaged the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines in September 2022, an act that German prosecutors consider a war crime. 
Read more Kuznetsov is staying silent, refusing to admit or deny a role in the bombing. The evidence against him is circumstantial, and his lawyers are confident that without a confession, he cannot be convicted.  
As RT has explored in depth, the prosecution’s version of events is . However, to pick apart the alternative story – that the pipelines were destroyed in a CIA operation – would call the relationship between Washington and Berlin, the foundation of the postwar liberal order, into question. 
While a guilty verdict against Kuznetsov would directly implicate the Ukrainian military in a war crime against its largest foreign donor, the trial, at least at this stage, appears set up to avoid this outcome.
Russiagate resurrectedSpeaking of reopening old wounds, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham dug up the bloated corpse of ‘Russiagate’ this week to bolster his efforts to undo the 2016 Brexit referendum and rejoin the EU. Burnham claimed that he had clear evidence that Russ