Trumpisms: it's "a shame" that Ukraine is striking Russian refineries + Zelensky is harder to negotiate with than Putin

US President Donald Trump called it a "shame" on Thursday that Ukraine had resumed strikes on Russian oil refineries, and said that Volodymyr Zelensky is harder to negotiate with than Vladimir Putin. In an exclusive interview recorded at the White House for Newsmax, the pseudo-conservative television channel's program Finnerty, Trump said that Zelensky is "not a good partner" for the United States, and that he himself is "not a big fan" of the Ukrainian president.

The not-mildly-crazy American president said Zelensky claims he wants a deal, but in reality he doesn't. On the strikes against the refineries, he said that Zelensky is only driving up world oil prices with them, and that in his view there are plenty of other targets to hit, but when he strikes diesel refineries that the United States and the world need, he is "not doing the world any favors." Asked whether the war would end even during his term in office, Trump answered optimistically: he believes it should end soon, and both sides want that, but he is having a harder time with Zelensky than with Putin.

The American president sees part of the obstacle to a deal in the personal animosity between the two leaders. In his view, Putin hates Zelensky, Zelensky hates Putin, and with that much hatred it is very hard to settle anything. Trump again raised the need for elections in Ukraine, saying no one could tell him that Ukrainians are happy about missiles hitting their homes — notably leaving out of the sentence the fact that it is Russia firing those missiles, and the reporter didn't bother trying to dispel the fog in Trump's head either, though admittedly why would he attempt the impossible; presumably that wasn't the main reason for this Trumpist-TV reporter, who is well versed in softball questioning. Incidentally, martial law has been in effect in Ukraine since Russia's invasion in February 2022, and under Ukrainian law national elections cannot be held under such conditions. In the interview, Trump also criticized his predecessor, Joe Biden, over the many billions of dollars in military aid given to Ukraine, and said that his administration is producing Patriot missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles at "record pace," and will only allow allies to buy them once American stockpiles have been replenished. He added that talks on nuclear disarmament are also underway with Russia and China, though he did not announce a timeline or an agreement.

The immediate trigger for the outburst was Zelensky's announcement to the Financial Times on Thursday that Ukraine would end the pause in strikes on refineries. "We're done," he said. On October 11, Trump announced on Truth Social that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to an immediate energy ceasefire, but Zelensky said he knew of no such agreement, and that after the announcement a Russian strike hit the Kharkiv thermal power plant No. 5 and a power plant in Kyiv. Nevertheless, Kyiv did not strike Russian energy targets for three days, and Zelensky said on Tuesday that during that time Russia attacked energy and critical infrastructure in 19 Ukrainian regions. On Thursday, Ukrainian drones struck a refinery in Ryazan, about 290 kilometers southeast of Moscow, where Russian authorities said a fire broke out; the strike was also confirmed by a senior Ukrainian official.

Relations between Washington and Kyiv hit a low point within a single week. On October 9, Trump announced that he had agreed with Putin to resume Russian diesel shipments to the US and world markets, with Moscow to deliver more than 300,000 tons immediately, another 500,000 tons in November, then one million tons, and, depending on the condition of the refineries, a further three million tons. The US Treasury Department issued a temporary license allowing Russian diesel to reach the world market in circumvention of sanctions until April 7, 2027. According to Axios, Trump decided on the deal after Zelensky ignored six American requests to halt the strikes on the refineries. Kyiv, however, had already offered a mutual halt: Zelensky told Trump, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner that Ukraine would stop the strikes if Moscow stopped bombing Ukrainian power plants.

A day after the diesel deal, Trump was already saying that Ukraine needs a new president, and that Zelensky "damn well better stop" attacking the refineries. Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin's envoy for American economic relations, welcomed the statement on X, writing that "diesel diplomacy" had exposed Zelensky. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham assured the Ukrainian president of his full solidarity, while German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul called for greater pressure on Russia.

According to Zelensky, the diesel deal is financing Russia's war, and he criticized the restriction of US intelligence sharing and Starlink satellite communications as weakening Ukraine's defense. He told British broadcaster Piers Morgan that he feels betrayed. "It's painful when President Trump chooses one side, and not ours. But we accept that he stands in the middle," he said.

Outrage