The US President Donald Trump said he wants nothing to do with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky because he believes he is unwilling to negotiate with Russia. He also called renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries a "disgrace".
He said this in an interview with Newsmax.
According to Trump, Zelensky is supposedly “not the kind of person we should be dealing with”. He stated that a peace agreement with Russia, if it is concluded, will be without the participation of the current Ukrainian leader.
"He doesnʼt want to negotiate. He says he wants to [negotiate], but he actually doesnʼt. No, Iʼm not a big fan of Zelensky," the US president said.
He also called the strikes by the Ukrainian Defense Forces on Russian oil refineries a disgrace.
"I want Zelensky to stop, and I want the same from Putin. Now, if you tell me that Zelensky is hitting the refineries again, all heʼs doing is raising world oil prices. I think thatʼs just a disgrace," Trump said.
Trump once again reiterated that Ukraine needs elections, because "no one will convince me that Ukrainians are happy with missiles flying into their homes".
According to the head of the White House, Zelensky should make concessions to Putin, because Moscow has "many more millions" of people in the army, while Ukraine "does not have such human resources".
What preceded
On October 11, the US President Donald Trump reported an energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. On October 12, Axios reported that Trump meant a halt to mutual strikes on refineries. On the same day, FT reported that the US was threatening to block arms sales to Ukraine and intelligence sharing over its strikes on Russian refineries.
Ukraine agreed and did not attack Russian oil refining until October 15. Instead, on October 12, the Russian Federation attacked six Ukrainian energy facilities in one day, and on the night of October 14, the Russians struck all three thermal power plants in Kyiv.
In both cases, Ukraine did not receive any warnings from its partners about the planned ballistic missile strikes. At the same time, Donald Trump himself denied that the US had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine.
In addition, on the night of October 14, “SpaceX” without warning restricted the operation of “Starshield” terminals, the military version of the “Starlink” satellite communication. The “SpaceX” founder Elon Musk said that the “Starshield” systems are controlled by the US government, so their use is determined by the US military, and the final decision is made by the president.
The White House called the “Starshield” restrictions in Ukraine a “technical malfunction”. On October 15, Babel’s sources in the Ministry of Defense reported that the work of “Starshield” in motion has already resumed and is ongoing.
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