Biden sent gas prices soaring long before Ukraine: Trump

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Former US President Donald Trump has accused US Vice President Joe Biden of instigating a significant increase in fuel prices well before the Ukraine issue erupted.

"What’s happening is unthinkable," Trump told his supporters at the Saturday rally in Selma, North Carolina. "Remember energy independent? We had so much we would have been double the size of Russia and Saudi Arabia put together within one year."

Trump noted that during his presidency, fuel in the United States was less than $2 per gallon. As gas prices rise, Americans are opting for smaller vehicles.

Read more: US oil imports from Russia increase by 43%

"Long before Ukraine, Biden sent gas prices soaring with the fringe left-wing energy policies inspired by the socialist joke known as the Green New Deal. Windmills. We want windmills all over the place, I don’t see any windmills here… If you’re near a windmill and you have a house, your house is pretty much worthless, kills all the birds, ruins your landscapes, and is the most expensive form of energy there is," Trump said.

According to the former President, oil prices are at an all-time high, and the Biden government intends to purchase oil from Iran and Venezuela.

National fuel prices in the United States have been rising for the past month as a result of the war in Ukraine and the subsequent cascade of sanctions imposed on Moscow.

The Biden administration stated last week that it will release 1.0 million barrels per day of oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) over the next six months to alleviate a worldwide supply bottleneck, with a total of 180 million barrels added to the market to sustain supply.

Read more: US oil reaches all-time high amid sanctions on Russia

Moreover, the impact of economic sanctions imposed against Russia by the West has already exceeded expectations, Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed during a press briefing last month.

"We've had already a dramatic impact far beyond - I think - what anyone would have expected on Russia," he told reporters in Belgium.

The suffering is likely to get worse before it gets better as long as the Ukraine crisis continues, the top diplomat added.

There have been several indications that the US and the West imposing sanctions on Russia would not only hurt Moscow's economy in the long run but would have extensive effects on the global economy.