'Time for Ukraine to get new president,' says Trump after Zelensky condemns diesel deal
Ukraine's leader had said the deal with Russia to release diesel into the US would help Moscow fund the war.
‘Time for Ukraine to get new president,’ says Trump after Zelensky condemns diesel deal
US President Donald Trump said he believes “it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president” after Volodymyr Zelensky criticised the US diesel deal with Russia.
Zelensky had warned that a new agreement to allow millions of tonnes of Russian diesel into the US would give Moscow money to keep fighting its war in Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters as he departed the White House on Saturday, Trump said the Ukrainian leader “wants to make problems for the world” by continuing to approve attacks on Russian refineries.
“He’d better damn well stop,” Trump said, before adding that Ukraine should “get a new leader who can make a deal”.
Russia and Ukraine have recently stepped up their strikes, hitting energy-producing and transport sites, along with major logistics hubs.
“We said, ‘you can do whatever you want to Russia, don’t hit the refineries’, because that’s a world problem that’s caused,” he said.
“He could have made many deals and for some reason, he never does.”
Trump confirmed on Friday that an agreement had been reached with Moscow to suspend sanctions on Russian diesel exports until 7 April.
Zelensky responded that easing the penalties would let Moscow raise fresh funds to buy new military equipment and continue the war.
He also accused Moscow of interpreting the deal “to mean they can keep fighting, to mean they keep dropping bombs on cities” after deadly new strikes on Zaporizhzhia.
On Saturday, the EU’s foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas echoed Zelensky’s criticism, saying suspending sanctions “provides Moscow with more revenues to wage war”, and adding: “This is not the time to ease pressure on Russia, and Europe won’t.”
She said European foreign ministers planned to approve the largest package of sanctions on Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion on Monday.
The agreement with Russia is the latest attempt by Trump to bring down fuel prices in the US ahead of the midterm elections, after months spent dealing with the political fallout of the Iran war.
That conflict, which began in February, has driven the price of petrol and especially diesel sharply higher, damaging his standing with the American public, who have been hit by higher pump prices and the knock-on effects that contributed to inflation across the board.