Russia has extended its diesel export ban for another month, worsening a global supply crunch that has prompted the US to call for an energy ceasefire in Moscow’s war with Ukraine. The decision to continue halts on sales of the fuel until the end of October means Russia is unlikely to lift its restrictions before the US midterm elections. Russia’s cabinet banned diesel exports in July after Ukrainian strikes on its refineries prompted the country’s worst fuel crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Russia was forced to import fuel from India to ease the shortfall. The ban from Russia, previously the world’s second-largest exporter of diesel, has strained global energy markets already reeling from the US war with Iran and has become a liability for US President Donald Trump. Russia has shipped about 4.6mn barrels of diesel so far this year, 40 per cent less than in the same period last year.

The White House is considering its own restrictions on US diesel exports to soften the blow of soaring diesel prices to farmers and industry. Diesel futures were trading at almost $1,500 a ton in London, almost double the price before the US launched strikes on Iran in February. In recent weeks, Trump has pressed Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy to suspend the strikes against Russia’s refineries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged the impact of the strikes but shown little interest in a proposed ceasefire.