Trump and Putin’s diesel deal has ended Kyiv’s ‘best hope for victory’

A deal between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has ended Ukrainian authorities’ “best hope for victory.”

This is reported by journalist Simon Shuster in an article for The Atlantic, citing sources in Kyiv.

Several members of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s team told Shuster that the diesel deal made a “very heavy impression” in Kyiv. One official behind the plan to strike Moscow’s airports said directly:

“If the U.S. sides with Russia, Kyiv will have no choice but to abandon escalation and make peace,” the Ukrainian official said.

The same source added that the situation requires a reassessment of Ukraine’s strategy:

“It has now become clear that Russia will not collapse because of its difficult economic situation. This means we need to change our strategy. Russia will not collapse, at least not now,” he said.

In his article, Shuster also describes an operation codenamed “M&Ms” — a plan to strike Russian airports. Western media reported on it as far back as August, after which on September 1 Zelensky announced that “the sky over Russia is closing.” Kyiv called on foreign airlines to stop flying to Russia, but almost no one heeded the call.

According to one participant in the operation, the military lacked a large fleet of specialized drones needed for a prolonged blockade of Moscow’s airports. “We didn’t finish the job,” a Ukrainian official said with frustration.

Ukrainian weapons manufacturers are still developing a specialized drone fleet using AI-powered map-matching technology to identify targets and decide when to strike. According to a second source behind the plan, Ukraine first used this new type of drone in combat in mid-September, when several of them hit targets in the Donbas. They have not yet been deployed on a large scale against Russian airports.

Instead, Ukrainian armed forces have used other types of weapons to achieve a similar effect. Drones need only appear in the skies over Moscow, forcing Russian authorities to cancel flights or close runways until the threat passes. One of Zelensky’s advisers called this a “side effect” of regular Ukrainian drone strikes on various targets in Russia, which leads to prolonged air traffic stoppages and flight delays. In one incident, debris from a downed Ukrainian drone reportedly fell on an airport in Sochi, causing a fire in an administrative building.

Meanwhile, Zelensky has so far not authorized the military to carry out the original, more aggressive version of the M&Ms operation, according to Shuster. The plan’s authors describe it as using AI-equipped drones to bypass Russian air defenses and strike directly at airports in Moscow and other cities. One of the plan’s authors said these drones would soon enter mass production.

In Shuster’s assessment, Ukraine still has many ways to make life in Russia unbearable, but it will likely take something more to compel Putin to accept a ceasefire.