Follow-Up: After Ukraine's 1,000-Drone Strike on Russian Oil Sites, Trump Says Zelensky 'Doesn't Want to End This War'; Zelensky Confirms Call With U.S. Envoys
WASHINGTON — After Ukraine launched one of its largest drone attacks of the year on Russia overnight Saturday into Sunday, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Sunday, October 18, to excoriate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying he "doesn't want to end this war, and probably never did," while adding that he does not want to do anything that would drive Russia away from the bargaining table and that "great progress is being made" toward peace.
The Ukrainian strike hit targets including the St. Petersburg oil terminal and the Ruchi oil depot; Russia's defense ministry said its forces intercepted 1,015 Ukrainian drones overnight across multiple regions (reported earlier today by GSM). In his post, Trump wrote: "I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don't want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table." Trump had announced on October 11 that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an "energy ceasefire," but Kyiv says Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy sites continued, and Ukraine resumed strikes on Russian oil facilities on Thursday after a three-day pause.
Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Zelensky said the United States siding with Russia would be a "historic mistake," and disclosed that U.S.-Ukraine intelligence sharing had resumed after being "blocked for some period of time." Later Sunday, Zelensky posted on X that he had spoken with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner about the results of the October 9 meeting between U.S. and Ukrainian negotiating teams in Miami and the next steps in diplomacy, describing "nonstop communication" and saying Ukraine is doing everything to ensure "America's position is strong and helps bring peace closer."
On the ground, Ukrainian officials said Russian strikes on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Sunday killed a woman and wounded at least two other people, including a six-year-old girl. Zelensky said Russia had attacked Ukrainian energy, oil and gas facilities 76 times over the past week. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the state news agency Tass that Kyiv was "resisting" but could not "change the current course of events." (GSM, via CNN, the Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 特朗普总统2026年10月5日在 Joint Base Andrews 登上空军一号时挥拳（白宫官方照片，公共领域，via Wikimedia Commons）
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