US President Donald Trump has said he believes “it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president”, responding to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s criticism of an agreement allowing Russian diesel into the US market.
Zelensky warned that the deal to release millions of tonnes of Russian diesel into the US would give Moscow money to continue its war in Ukraine, calling it a gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking as he left the White House on Saturday, Trump said the Ukrainian president “wants to make problems for the world” by continuing to authorise attacks on Russian refineries.
“He’d better damn well stop,” Trump said, before suggesting Ukraine should “get a new leader who can make a deal”.
Russia and Ukraine have recently intensified their strikes, targeting energy-generating and transport facilities, as well as major logistics hubs.
“We said, ‘you can do whatever you want to Russia, don’t hit the refineries’, because that’s a world problem that’s caused,” Trump said. “He could have made many deals and for some reason, he never does.”
Sanctions suspension confirmed
Trump confirmed on Friday that an agreement had been reached with Moscow to suspend sanctions on Russian diesel exports until 7 April.
Zelensky responded by saying the arrangement would allow Moscow to raise new funds to source military equipment and 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.
EU vows to maintain pressure
EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas echoed Zelensky’s criticism, saying suspending sanctions “provides Moscow with more revenues to wage war”.
“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, she added.
Fuel prices drive deal
The agreement with Russia is the latest effort by 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 soaring, which has damaged his standing with the American public, who have been hit by higher pump prices and knock-on effects that led to across-the-board inflation.
The average price of diesel currently stands at $6.28 (£4.74) a gallon, according to the AAA, up from last month’s $5.94 average and $3.68 last year.
Delivery schedule
Under the deal, Russia would release an initial 300,000 tonnes of diesel “to the American and global marketplace”, followed by an additional 500,000 tonnes in November.
A further million tonnes would follow, Trump wrote on Truth Social, and then another 3m tonnes “within a short period of time”. He noted that this delivery would be “based on the condition of their diesel refineries”.
Over the past 10 months, Russia has experienced two waves of severe fuel shortages across the country due to Ukrainian drone strikes on its oil refineries.
Diesel production in Russia dropped by an estimated 30%, according to the International Energy Agency.
Previous call for elections
Trump had already called for new elections in Ukraine last December, saying Ukrainian voters should have the choice to replace Zelensky.
Since the war broke out in 2022, Ukraine has been under martial law, meaning elections are suspended.
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