A first tanker carrying Russian diesel to the United States under a new import agreement has set sail, the Kremlin said Friday, two weeks after President Donald Trump said he struck a deal with President Vladimir Putin despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The first oil tanker has sailed off to customers, and regular supplies will continue,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said without elaborating.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said earlier this week that the first shipment would amount to 40,000 tons of diesel, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency.

Marine intelligence firm Kpler said the vessel was signaling it was headed to New York to arrive Nov. 7 and would be the first Russian diesel delivery to the United States since July 2023.

The abrupt reversal of U.S. sanctions policy on Russia over its invasion of its neighbor was seen as an attempt by Trump to address high fuel prices ahead of the midterm elections.

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Kyiv has offered to freeze the front line as Trump demanded, yet the pressure keeps landing on Zelenskyy, because Ukraine, wired into American systems, is the easier party to move.

America’s reset with Russia has begun, and nobody waited for the war to end first: a fortnight-long concessions bonanza and yet another round of shuttle diplomacy between Oslo and St Petersburg have delivered deals for Moscow and no breakthrough for Ukraine.

The order was supposed to run the other way: Moscow stops fighting, then Washington lifts sanctions and talks business. Instead the Treasury has licensed Russian diesel, Donald Trump has waived most of the Graham sanctions act, and his envoy has thanked Vladimir Putin for the fuel. Asked this week why he would meet Putin and Xi Jinping, Trump explained that “Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine.”

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Russia freed an American imprisoned for the last four years. Stephen Hubbard was captured in Eastern Ukraine and convicted of fighting against Russia. The 74-year-old retired teacher was reportedly freed without a swap. U.S. special envoy Steve Whitkoff greeted Hubbard in St. Petersburg. He also met with the Russian president and praised Putin in unusually glowing terms. Nick Schifrin reports.