On October 10, Elon Musk — identified as SpaceX's owner — posted on X that Volodymyr Zelenskiy had exceeded his authority, joining calls for a change of leadership in Kyiv. Donald Trump, speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews the following day, offered his view that new leadership in Ukraine was long overdue. The exchange drew fresh attention, per a report dated October 11, to underlying tensions between Washington and Kyiv tied to the question of Russian diesel supplies.
Reports indicate that Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries continued despite an earlier request from Trump to Zelenskiy to halt the attacks, with Trump later telling him to proceed as he saw fit. Trump had told Zelenskiy not to strike refineries, yet strikes followed, prompting Trump to state that such actions needed to stop. Zelenskiy, in a separate interview, maintained that Trump held no authority to remove him from his position.
The quoted statement — in which the speaker expressed a belief that public sentiment in the United States remained supportive of Ukraine and pledged to press on until Ukrainian people achieved victory — came from a figure whose company operates Starlink, the satellite network that Ukrainian ground forces and drone units depend on to maintain battlefield communications.
Unconfirmed accounts have pointed to a possible move by the administration to cut off Ukraine's access to American satellite intelligence, a step that some outside observers assess could weaken Kyiv's battlefield positioning and limit its ability to track and target Russian energy infrastructure, including oil refineries. At a time when Russia has been intensifying its aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities and power infrastructure, the administration in Washington has moved toward loosening, rather than tightening, restrictions on Moscow.
Whether any Russia-Ukraine settlement takes shape, the terms appear largely beyond the reach of European governments that have aligned with Zelenskiy, and decisions made inside the White House remain outside their influence altogether.
Musk has not faced any formal directive from Washington to deactivate Starlink, yet his track record includes documented instances of placing restrictions on how Ukraine can deploy the network. That August, when Kyiv sought permission to use Starlink for strikes reaching deep into Russian territory, the request was not authorised, with concern over the potential for broader escalation offered as the basis for the decision, according to reports from the period. A news outlet reported on October 5 that a comparable request over Crimea had been turned down by SpaceX in 2022, with the company having since placed curbs on how the service may be used in drone operations.
Zelenskiy has indicated that Ukraine is developing its own satellite communications network along the lines of Starlink, with foundational infrastructure already in place. Fire Point co-founder Denys Shtilerman has disclosed that the drone and missile manufacturer put two satellites into orbit during the current year and intends to deploy dozens more by 2027. Starlink's position at the front line through the coming winter months is not one that any of those alternatives appears positioned to fill.
Alongside this effort, a parallel programme called Rassvet — described as a more advanced counterpart to Skylink — has been developed by Russia, with around a dozen of its satellites now placed in orbit and territorial coverage of Ukraine projected to be complete by 2027.
Officials indicated that the government had aligned behind the president, with one voice noting that popular backing from Ukrainians themselves confers on them the authority to determine that course. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha posted on X that international statements validated his work, while a separate assessment held that Zelenskiy had misjudged the prevailing political mood.
A US official, speaking to a prominent news outlet on October 10, told reporters that the continued targeting of refineries risked undermining the diplomatic rapport that had developed between the two leaders over the preceding six months. Zelenskiy described the diesel waiver as deeply objectionable, comparing it to a present timed to benefit Putin, and argued that Ukraine's delegation in Miami had served as a front while Trump and Putin concluded a separate arrangement over fuel supplies.
On October 10, Rustem Umierov and Budanov headed the Ukrainian party that departed for home before a second round of scheduled discussions with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner could take place. Dmytro Lytvyn, the presidential communications adviser, told reporters that the opening day ran longer than anticipated and took on a somewhat different character than expected.
The latest dispute between the parties joined a pattern of previous public confrontations. On three separate occasions spanning February through November 2025, Trump directed Zelenskiy to leave the White House following a confrontation in the Oval Office, characterised Kyiv's position on Crimea as detrimental to ongoing peace negotiations, and contended that Ukraine's leadership had displayed no appreciation for Washington's 28-point peace framework when Kyiv pushed back against it.
As of that September, Trump had conveyed to Zelenskiy a position that attacks on diesel fuel infrastructure inside Russia ought to cease. During a phone call that both sides described as cordial and that ran for roughly ninety minutes — on the same day Ukrainian officials were meeting with US envoys in Miami — Trump characterised Putin as the party more willing to reach a settlement. Separately, a television network reported that, addressing reporters on October 10 about a conversation with the Russian president the previous day, Trump said Putin held a strong desire for an agreement, while also raising the idea that Zelenskiy should face a vote.
According to aide Yuri Ushakov, who conveyed the Kremlin's version of the call, Putin indicated that negotiations were not on the table at present and that military operations would continue until Russia met what it described as its full set of objectives. On October 11, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov characterised Zelenskiy's conduct as emotionally unhinged in remarks to Russian media, adding — according to those same reports — that a leader genuinely oriented toward peace would demonstrate a readiness to engage in negotiations.
On October 11, the Kyiv City State Administration issued guidance urging residents of the capital to set aside a minimum three-day supply of food and drinking water, keep portable power banks fully charged, and prepare their homes against the cold ahead of winter, in response to Russian strikes on energy infrastructure across the region. Advisories from municipal authorities set daily water needs for each adult at three litres for drinking purposes and a further ten to twelve litres for non-potable uses, following weekend industrial action that halted metro services, took pumping stations out of operation, and prompted emergency cuts to the electricity supply.
The agreement outlined on October 9 called for an initial delivery of 300,000 tonnes of diesel, with a further 500,000 tonnes to follow in November and a subsequent tranche of 1 million tonnes thereafter, a figure that could climb as high as 3 million tonnes subject to the operational capacity of Russia's refining infrastructure. A general licence covering diesel transactions with Russia, valid through April 7, 2027, was issued by the US Treasury roughly three weeks after the Graham sanctions legislation — a bill aimed at curbing Moscow's energy revenues — received presidential approval. The licence, observers pointed out, covers a six-month window that opens on October 7 — the date Putin turns 74.
Kpler's tally for September put Russian diesel production ahead of domestic consumption by roughly 130,000 barrels a day, a gap that had likely persisted for several weeks and was set to widen as post-harvest demand softened further. Analysts considered it likely that the export ban would have been lifted by 1 November regardless of other factors. Prospects for lower consumer prices rested on whether Russian refinery capacity could recover from a period of sustained disruption — output had dropped by somewhere between a third and a half from May onward, after Ukrainian drone attacks hit around four processing plants per week.
On October 11, Zelenskiy put forward what he described as a possible way to move the situation ahead. He conveyed that halting Ukrainian drone and missile strikes on Russian oil-processing facilities remained contingent on Moscow pulling back from attacks against Ukraine's power grid and energy networks, though any such drawdown would need to be reciprocal and backed by verifiable commitments, according to a broadcast news outlet.
Figures from the October 10 attack on Zaporizhzhia put the death toll at 23, among them four children, as missile strikes against Ukrainian cities continued on successive days. Kyiv residents with the means to depart have been urged by the city's mayor to do so.
Legislation aimed at prohibiting all purchases of Russian oil and petroleum products — framed around the name of former President Ronald Reagan and titled a "Peace Through Strength Act" — was being drafted by Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, with Representative Don Bacon announcing his intention to co-sponsor the bill, according to reports published on October 11. Separately, Bacon told a Ukrainian outlet that he viewed the current administration's approach to Russia and Ukraine as having fallen short of its goals. Approval from both legislative chambers would be needed before the measure could advance, and a presidential veto remains a distinct possibility along that path.
Talks among the Coalition of the Willing were set to run from October 10 through 12, with Zelenskiy planning to hold separate conversations with European leaders on the middle day of that window. A fresh set of sanctions listings is scheduled to come before EU foreign ministers for approval on 12 October. Plans to exchange sanctions relief for prisoner releases have received backing, while an invitation to the G20 summit in Miami in December has been extended to Putin.
