Trump drops Zelensky: ‘It’s time for a new president. Stop attacking Russian refineries’
The statements come just a few hours after the announcement of the agreement with Putin on Russian diesel
Key points
“The time has come for Ukraine to have a new president.” Donald Trump has once again attacked Volodymyr Zelensky, accusing him of refusing to reach an agreement to end the war and of causing problems for the world, including American farmers, through his attacks on Russian refineries. The comments come just hours after the US president announced the conclusion of a bilateral agreement with Putin on diesel supplies, whilst at the same time ordering a six-month suspension of US sanctions on diesel exports.
“For some reason, Zelensky never reaches agreements,” said the US president, suggesting that Kyiv should find “a new leader capable of reaching an agreement”. According to Trump, the Ukrainian president had had many opportunities to bring the conflict to an end, but had chosen not to do so.
Trump: Stop the attacks on Russian refineries
Trump then urged Zelensky to stop the attacks on Russian oil infrastructure. “He’d better stop it,” he said, claiming that Washington had warned Kyiv to avoid targeting refineries because this would cause “a global problem”. “He wants to cause problems for the world and for our farmers with diesel. We told him not to target Russian diesel, and what did he do? He targeted Russian diesel,” he added. “It’s a war that should never have started,” he said.
On the Middle East front, the US President has not ruled out US intervention alongside Saudi Arabia following the attack on Riyadh airport. “I’ve only just heard” about the attack, he told reporters before leaving for Tennessee, adding that Washington would assess what action to take.
Dmitriev: ‘Trump wants a peaceful leadership in Ukraine’
“President Trump joins those who believe that Ukraine needs leadership that is genuinely committed to peace, rather than Zelensky’s warmongering: the time has come for Ukraine to have a new president. ‘Iconic and historic’,” writes Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian presidential envoy and negotiator, on X. In another post, Dmitriev stated that “‘diesel diplomacy’ has exposed Zelensky”. In a subsequent message, the Russian envoy posted a fake Time magazine cover featuring a photo of the Ukrainian president and the caption ‘The Endgame’.
