Video: Trump calls for new Ukrainian president after Russia diesel deal
US President Donald Trump
Abdullateef Fowewe
United States President Donald Trump has said it is time for Ukraine to replace its leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Video: Trump calls for new Ukrainian president after Russia diesel deal
Trump while speaking with journalists accused Zelenskyy of rejecting opportunities to end the war with Russia and contributing to global fuel shortages through attacks on Russian energy facilities.
“I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president,” said Trump.
He added that Zelenskyy “could have settled this war many times, many many times, and he chooses not to,” and suggested Ukraine “get a new leader who can make a deal because he could have made many deals, but for some reason he never does.”
Trump also claimed Ukraine has “lost 30% of your country and you’ve had over a million people go between the two of them, over 2 million people killed.”
Independent assessments place the share of Ukrainian territory under Russian control at roughly 19-20 percent (including areas seized before the full-scale 2022 invasion), while combined military deaths on both sides are estimated in the hundreds of thousands rather than exceeding one million killed.
The comments came a day after Trump announced an agreement with Russia to ease sanctions and allow greater Russian diesel exports in an effort to lower global fuel prices ahead of U.S. midterm elections.
Zelenskyy criticized the deal, linking it to continued Russian strikes, including one on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia that killed civilians.
Trump responded by demanding that Ukraine stop hitting Russian refineries, saying he had previously told Zelenskyy there were “plenty of targets” but that the Ukrainian leader had proceeded anyway, “He better damn well stop.”
Ukraine has been under martial law since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, which has suspended national elections.
Russian officials welcomed Trump’s latest remarks, with one of Putin’s envoys describing them as “iconic and historic.”
