Trump says Ukraine should get a new leader as he spars with Zelensky over US-Russia diesel deal
CNN
By Kevin Liptak, David Goldman, Matt Egan, Ivana Kottasová, Jennifer Hansler, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump on Saturday criticized Volodymyr Zelensky as the two sparred over a new US-Russia diesel deal, saying he would “suggest” Ukraine get a new leader.
“You know what I suggest? I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal because he could have made many deals and for some reason, he never does,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Zelensky, meanwhile, has slammed the agreement between the US and Russia, casting the new deal as an “investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged.”
Trump had been fuming at Zelensky over Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries before he struck the deal, a US official said. The official said the US repeatedly asked Ukraine to halt its attacks on Russian diesel refineries, to no avail.
The back-and-forth between the leaders, who have long had a tumultuous relationship, came after Trump said Friday that he secured a deal from his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to supply markets with Russian diesel fuel as he works to bring down energy costs ahead of the midterm elections. Ukraine’s continued refinery attacks were part of what led Trump to strike the deal, according to the US official.
Trump wrote on social media that Putin agreed in a call to “immediately supply” more than 300,000 tons of diesel to global energy markets, with another 500,000 tons promised in November. Together, the amounts — equal to 6 million barrels of diesel fuel — would cover about a day and a half worth of US demand, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
But former US officials said it is unclear whether Putin even has the amount of diesel that Trump cited to sell, as Ukrainian strikes put growing strain on the country’s oil supplies.
Just this week, Kyiv has claimed strikes on five refineries across Russia, the latest of which were announced by Ukrainian authorities after Trump’s Friday announcement.
Trump said millions more tons of Russian diesel would be supplied following the first tranches “based on the condition of their Diesel Refineries.”
Asked Saturday by CNN’s Kevin Liptak about concerns that the deal with Russia could prolong the war in Ukraine, Trump said, “Zelensky could’ve settled this war many times … and he chooses not to.”
The president went on to slam Zelensky for striking Russian refineries, claiming the Ukrainian president “wants to make problems for the world.”
Zelensky said the move, which Trump announced as fresh Ukraine-US talks were getting underway in Miami, was “a weak decision of strong partners,” while analysts said the agreement was not likely to lower diesel prices in any meaningful way.
‘Helpful but not a needle mover’
Analysts cast doubt on the impact of the agreement.
“We are talking perhaps a 5%-6% increase in supply between now and year end,” Dan Pickering, founder and chief investment officer at Pickering Energy Partners, said about the president’s announcement.
“Bottom line — this is helpful but not a needle mover for global diesel markets,” Pickering said. “Side note — there is a reason Trump talked about volumes in tons instead of barrels. The tons number looks bigger to a general observer. This is more politics than a game changer.”
Russia banned exports of diesel in early July, after Ukrainian drone strikes on its refineries triggered widespread fuel shortages across the country. This cut roughly 800,000 barrels per day from the global market — at a time when supplies were already tight because of the US war against Iran.
According to the Kremlin readout of the phone call between the US and Russian leaders, Putin told Trump that Moscow was “ready to supply oil and petroleum products to the US and global markets.”
“I am confident that this will have a positive impact on the entire global economy,” Putin said, according to the Kremlin.
But analysts — and commodities traders — raised doubts that Russia would be able to live up to that promise.
At the close of trading on Friday, diesel futures were down by about 4%.
Kyiv has long advocated for tougher sanctions on Russian energy exports, arguing that oil and gas revenues are a major source of funding for Russia’s war machine.
The US president has blamed the rise in global diesel prices on the Ukraine-Russia war and called on both sides to halt strikes on energy facilities as recently as last month, to little avail.
The past few months have been brutal for Ukrainian civilians as Russia has taken advantage of Kyiv’s critical shortage of air defense missiles, launching near nonstop aerial attacks against Ukrainian cities. One such strike on a bus stop in eastern Ukraine killed more than 30 people Thursday.
More recently, a Russian attack on Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region killed 20 people, including three children, local authorities said Saturday.
Zelensky has made it clear the timing of the announcement — just as a top-level Ukrainian delegation arrived to Miami for talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — makes it more painful for Kyiv.
“In this exact moment when our team is talking to the American team in Florida, the US president has a conversation with Kremlin leader, with the leader of this war, the leader of this aggression,” he said.
Witkoff and Kushner told Ukrainian officials in meetings Friday that Trump wanted the refinery attacks to stop and that he was preparing to allow Russia to sell its diesel, according to the US official.
Richard Nephew, a former principal deputy coordinator for sanctions policy at the State Department, noted that “the message it sends and the damage it does to the broader sanctions regime is very significant.”
A former senior State Department official said it doesn’t matter if Putin can actually deliver the diesel because “now he’s achieved the result he wants,” which is Trump thinking he’s gotten a pre-election bump and a potential impact on the markets.
The timing of the call with the start of the talks with Ukraine is no coincidence.
“Putin is a lot of things, but he’s not stupid,” the former official said.
On Saturday, former Vice President Mike Pence also weighed in on the agreement, calling it “a betrayal of the legacy and leadership of the late Senator Lindsey Graham,” who advocated for the US to do more to help Ukraine.
“America should not be throwing a lifeline to Putin’s war machine,” Pence said in a social media post. “Now is the time to stand strong against Russian aggression as we did during the first Trump administration.”
Trump has been working to identify ways to bring down costs, including by temporarily lifting restrictions on “red-dyed” diesel used in farm equipment.
During the leaders’ call, Trump did not mention raising the still-unexplained death of a Russian plague lab researcher.
Instead, the US president focused solely on diesel supplies, which have concerned Republicans as higher energy prices drive up other costs.
“Between our TOTAL CONTROL of the Strait of Hormuz, and this great announcement on Russian Energy, Diesel Prices for Americans and, indeed, the World, will be COMING DOWN, IN RECORD NUMBERS, AND FAST!” Trump wrote in his Friday post.
Energy analysts quickly cast doubt on that assertion.
“So assuming this happens and Putin delivers — which would mean reversing the ban on diesel exports that has been in place for several months now — it would be a bandaid, nothing more,” Gregory Brew, an analyst with Eurasia Group’s Energy, Climate & Resources team, said in an email.
“I also have a strong suspicion Putin expects Ukraine to cease its attacks on refineries in exchange for doing Trump the favor. I have a hard time seeing Zelensky cooperate on that front,” Brew said.
This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.
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CNN’s Victoria Butenko, Kosta Gak and Billy Stockwell contributed to this report.
