Trump says it is 'time for Ukraine to get a new president,' blaming Zelenskyy for high diesel prices a day after Russia diesel deal
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Saturday, Oct. 10, called for Ukraine to "get a new president," blasting Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he departed the White House for a rally in Tennessee. "I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal," Trump told reporters. "Because he could have made many deals that for some reason he never does."
Trump aimed his criticism at Ukraine's continued strikes on Russian oil refineries, saying he had told Zelenskyy to "do what you want, don't hit refineries" — but Kyiv kept hitting them anyway. "He better damned well stop," Trump said, accusing the Ukrainian leader of "making problems for the world" and for American farmers and ranchers facing soaring diesel prices. He repeated his claim that the war should never have started: "You've lost 30% of your country and you've had over a million people killed... between the two of them, over two million people killed."
The remarks came a day after the White House announced a deal under which Russia would supply 300,000 metric tons of diesel to the United States and global markets, with the administration temporarily lifting U.S. sanctions on Russian fuel to bring prices down. Average U.S. diesel prices have topped $6 per gallon — one tracker put the national average at $6.28, up from $3.67 in 2025 — weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Zelenskyy fired back, calling the deal a "weak decision" and writing on X that Russia expressed its thanks for the sanctions relief by "dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia." A senior Ukrainian official told the Associated Press that Kyiv was unaware of the diesel deal before it was announced, and that the Ukrainian delegation negotiating with U.S. envoys in Miami, Florida, had already left for home.
European allies were equally cool. German government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said Saturday that Germany "remains committed to the decisions on sanctions against Russia" and is working with European partners on further sanctions. Notably, Ukraine has been under martial law since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, and its constitution bars elections during wartime — making Trump's call for a new president look more like a political pressure signal to Kyiv than a practical demand.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 特朗普2025年官方总统肖像，摄影师 Daniel Torok，白宫，公有领域（Wikimedia Commons）
