Donald Trump urges Ukraine to replace Volodymyr Zelensky, accusing him of prolonging the war by authorising strikes on Russian oil refineries.
“He could have made many deals and for some reason, he never does.”
The US president confirmed on Friday that an agreement had been reached with Moscow to suspend sanctions on Russian diesel exports until 7 April.
Zelensky reacted by saying it would allow Moscow to raise new funds to source new military equipment to continue the war.
He also accused Moscow of taking the deal “to mean they can keep fighting, to mean they keep dropping bombs on cities” following deadly new strikes on Zaporizhzhia.
The Ukrainian president spoke to several allies on Saturday to discuss the latest developments, calling for “real decisions to protect lives in Ukraine” and to protect European security.
His criticism of the US-Russia diesel deal was echoed by EU’s foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas echoed Zelensky’s criticism, saying suspending sanctions “provides Moscow with more revenues to wage war”, adding: “This is not the time to ease pressure on Russia, and Europe won’t.”
She said European foreign ministers intended to approve the biggest set of sanctions on Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion on Monday.
The deal with Russia is the latest effort from Trump to lower fuel prices in the US ahead of the midterm elections, after months spent grappling with the political consequences of the Iran war.
That conflict, which began in February, has sent the cost of petrol and in particular diesel skyrocketing, which has soured his standing with the American public who have been stung by the higher pump prices and knock-on effects that led to across-the-board inflation.
